da bet7： This article is part of Football FanCast’s In Numbers series, which takes a statistical look at performances, season-long form and reported transfer targets…
da heads bet： According to a report from The Sunday Mirror (print version, November 24, page 72), Tottenham right-back Kyle Walker-Peters is set to reject interest from both Southampton and Crystal Palace in favour of staying at Spurs and fighting for his place.
The youngster was given the nod by Mauricio Pochettino following Kieran Trippier’s summer exit to Atletico Madrid, starting the first three games of the current Premier League campaign.
However, Walker-Peters quickly lost his place to Serge Aurier and has failed to win it back.
In Southampton’s case, the south coast side are in desperate need of a right-back, with Ralph Hasenhuttl even playing midfielder Stuart Armstrong in the position against Everton recently – neither Yan Valery or Cedric Soares are outstanding candidates for the role.
In that respect, Walker-Peters would be a necessary addition, right?
Well, judging by the statistics, not exactly.
As you can see, the 22-year-old really isn’t that much better than Cedric or Valery – two players who have contributed to what is currently the worst defence in the Premier League with 31 goals conceded in 13 games.
While Walker-Peters does admittedly win more tackles than the Southampton duo, he makes the least clearances per game out of the three of them and registers the same interceptions per game as Valery, with just one.
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The Tottenham academy graduate also records slightly more dribbles per game than Valery, albeit only 0.3 more.
Quite simply, the bottom line is that Walker-Peters really isn’t a substantially better option than what Hasenhuttl currently has at his disposal, and for that reason, his rejection of Southampton’s interest in him really isn’t that much of a blow to the Saints.
There are far better options out there, and even if no new right-back does arrive at St Mary’s, the stats suggest they’d be better off sticking with Valery and Cedric rather than just add another average option to their ranks.
In other news, these Southampton fans have been discussing a transfer target’s excellent performance at the weekend…