Aston Villa have recently been linked with a move for Wilfred Ndidi, but how does he compare with key midfielder John McGinn?
According to Football Insider, Leicester City are set to soon begin negotiations with the player regarding a new possible contract. The Villans are reported to have a keen interest in the Nigerian international, so will no doubt watch the situation with great interest.
If a new deal can’t be agreed upon, and Villa do land their man, it would be interesting to see how Ndidi would fit into Steven Gerrard’s midfield.
With that in mind, let’s compare the two players using statistics website FBRef.
John McGinn
The first thing to note is that McGinn is a more attacking player. He has played 86 Premier League games and has nine goals and 10 assists. In Ndidi’s 162 outings, he has just seven goals and nine assists – which is fewer despite playing nearly double the number of games.
This is backed up by the fact that McGinn takes more shots per game, and also hits the target with more frequency, even though he takes his shots from an average of 22 yards, compared to the Ndidi’s 19.5 yards.
The Villa man is more progressive with his passing and attempts more long balls – though this would explain why the Foxes man has a better pass completion percentage.
Wilfred Ndidi
Ndidi is a more defensive-minded player undoubtedly. On average, he makes an impressive 4.43 tackles per game, compared with McGinn’s reasonable 2.31. He also makes more interceptions, blocks and pressures each game.
On top of that, he gets on the ball more frequently. Per game, he will have 68.9 touches, whereas the Aston Villa player gets it just 47.3 times. Though, as explained earlier, he is more conservative in possession, plus McGinn is about twice as likely to get the ball in the opposition’s penalty box.
While the Villa player is also more likely to dribble at and past rival players, the Nigerian runs with the ball at his feet across greater distances, caring it up the pitch – showing he can be progressive, too.
TIF verdict…
As is evidenced above, McGinn is far more likely to contribute something to the attack, while Ndidi is better at providing defensive cover.
Even so, that doesn’t mean either man is poor in the other department – as seen by Ndidi’s ability to get on the ball and carry it upfield, and with McGinn’s respectable tackling rate.
Should Aston Villa spend £50m on Yves Bissouma?
Yes
No
Up to this point in the season, Villa have a -6 goal difference – essentially meaning they need to score more and concede less often.
Truth be told, their opposing skills complement one another, meaning they would probably work pretty well together when paired in the middle of the park.
With Villa midfielder Douglas Luiz subject to plenty of transfer speculation, perhaps Ndidi would be the perfect replacement for the Brazilian rather than McGinn.
In other news: Player in danger: £16m AVFC ace will be sweating as journalist drops transfer claim – opinion