From the MLS to the Bundesliga: Alphonso Daviesâ rise has been stunning and it is far from over
Alphonso Davies has been one of the standout stars in the world this season
|In the age of Kylian Mbappe, Jadon Sancho or numerous other starlets, Alphonso Davies, at 19, has been proclaimed to be the world's best left-back despite a whole catalogue of players older than him dominating the scene. But the question on everybody's mind is the former MLS star worth the hype?
When Bayern splurged on a relatively unknown Canadian wonderkid named Alphonso Davies from the MLS, few knew what to expect. Here was a winger, who had been called the most talented star to emerge from North America and the MLS since Freddy Adu was called the next great thing. But Daviesâ first six months at Bayern saw him struggle immensely with 74 un-impressive minutes in six games under former boss Niko Kovac towards the end of last season. It effectively marked the end for Daviesâ career at Bayern and in Germany with many asking the club to take the harsh decision and cut the then 18-year-old.
Now a season and a global pandemic later, you canât scroll through Twitter, Facebook, or even watch a Bundesliga game without hearing about the phenom that is Alphonso Davies. The 19-year-oldâs rise has been sudden and startling but it is his consistency, work-ethic, and talent that has shocked the footballing world even more. His breakout performance against Chelsea saw the world truly take notice of the Canadian and since then, heâs become their new favourite toy. Not only that, recent performances and the numbers that Davies has put up have seen many claim that he is the best left-back in the world.
Itâs a big claim and one quick watch later, there might actually be some truth to that. But somehow despite only playing full-back once before his time at Bayern, Davies has not only adapted brilliantly but has turned himself into a consistent monster on that left flank. The 19-year-oldâs past as a very attacking winger has helped his cause and under Hansi Flick, Davies has truly thrived with him third according to Understat in xG build-up per 90 with 0.84. This is only for the Bundesliga however, and nobody but Joshua Kimmich and Thiago Alcantara ranks higher than Davies from a list of players who have played 1500 and more minutes.
That is ratified by Football Reference, who duly informs us that Davies has completed 36 passes into the penalty area. A quick look at that number and itâs not much. But look at it in the right context and it changes your perspective on the full-back because barring Christian Gunter and Achraf Hakimi, no-other full-back has completed as many. Even Hakimi has played largely as a wing-back this season and that does put him out of the equation. Not only that, but Davies is also sixth on the list for crosses into the penalty area with 18 and once again only Gunter and Pavel Kaderabek are the full-backs that beat Davies.
Move into Key passes and again only Gunter, Bastian Oczipka and Stefan Lainer are the full-backs that have created more key passes than Davies. Keep moving forward and we all know just how much the Canadian loves to dribble, but just how good is he at that? Well, it turns out that heâs the second best in the Bundesliga, with 87 completed dribbles according to Football Reference. Thatâs out of 139 attempted and it puts him amongst the best in the league with 62.6% of his dribbles completed successfully and itâs better than Hakimi, Serge Gnabry and a whole list of others.
But we all knew he could create and dribble past opponents with ease. He is, after all, a former winger which helps his cause there but defensively is where Davies struggles. However, a quick look at the stats within the Bundesliga and despite Bayern not being a high press team, no other full-back other than Christopher Lenz and Stefan Lainer, has applied more pressure to an opposition player in the attacking third. That could be written as Davies is out of position far too often but his tackles in the attacking third and middle third also make him one of four full-backs amongst the top twenty.
Furthermore, his tackle percentage for players whoâve completed 20 or more tackles puts him amongst the top 10 but this isnât about him being the best in the Bundesliga. That might just be true, but this about Alphonso Davies vs the rest of the world. So, we pitted him against some of the best left-backs in the world with Andrew Robertson, Jordi Alba, Renan Lodi, Raphael Guerriero, Alex Sandro, and Theo Hernandez all facing off against Davies. And shockingly, the Canadian's statistics still hold up. The first category was defensive actions per 90 and nobody tackled more players than Davies with him averaging 3 tackles per 90.
Only Theo Hernandez and Renan Lodi came even close to competing with Davies with 2.5 and 2.76 respectively. The list goes on, as only Hernandez has made more tackles in the defensive third (1.56) than Davies (1.24), only Lodi has made more in the middle of the field (1.30) than Davies (1.13) and only Robertson (0.55) made more in the final third than Davies (0.50). His let down, however, is the 19-year-oldâs tackle success rate against dribblers with is only 52.1% but that is still higher than Robertson (50%), Lodi (49%) and Guerreiro (50%). But the Bayern man isnât far ahead although further down the road and only Theo Hernandez (17.9 per 90) has attempted to pressure more offensive players than Davies (16.6 per 90).
Move even further and only Guerreiro (42.9%) has a better successful pressure percentage than the Canadian (42.5%). Not only that, but only Davies (3.87) and Robertson (3.24) have also managed to average an above 3 pressures per 90 in the final third. As for the middle (6.22) and defensive third (6.51), only Theo Hernandez has averaged more pressures in the defensive third (8.60) and middle third (6.37) than Davies. Nobody else even comes close. All this is despite Bayern Munich not being a high press side although a few of the defensive statistics do prove that Davies is well on his way to being the best left-back in the game.
But this is the modern day and in the new age, defending cannot be the only tool a full-back has. That brings us to the second category i.e. offensive actions per 90. It is here that Davies does shine although like any other budding 19-year-old footballer, the Canadian has his faults. Even then only Andrew Robertson (2209) and Raphael Guerriero (1926) have attempted more passes than Davies (1706). But given the amount they pass, only Guerreiro (87.7%) has a better passing accuracy than Davies (86.2%) although Alex Sandro (86.2%) and Jordi Alba (87%) have better percentages.
Yet, theyâve attempted fewer passes than Davies has. But this doesnât give you an accurate score of how good a player is from just the number of passes attempted or their percentage. What does, however, is where the passes are played into and how many chances they create per 90. Thatâs what differentiates the best from the rest and somehow, again, Davies is amongst the best. By the simplest measure, only Andy Robertson has more assists (7) than Davies (5) with the others hovering around 2s and 3s. Dive even deeper into the offensive pool and again only Robertson has a better-expected assists ratio (5.6) than Davies does (3.6).
Although that does show us that both men are overperforming their xA. That does tend to happen but moving deeper shows that at 32 key passes, Davies ranks second behind the great Liverpool Scot although Alex Sandro has two less than the Canadian wonderkid. Itâs still beyond impressive but the 19-year-old still has a lot to improve in other areas with him fourth on the list for passes per 90 into the final third. Thatâs a statistic that Jordi Alba dominates with him averaging a stunning 5.52 passes per 90 into the final 1/3. Robertson comes second this time with 4.82, Guerreiro in second with 4.49 and Sandro is just behind him at 4.43 which puts Davies behind all four at 3.99.
Thatâs still not all that bad but again he falls third in passes into the penalty area per 90 with an average of 1.51. Itâs amongst the best in the German top tier for full-backs but when it comes to the worldâs best left-backs, Davies ranks behind Robertson (1.76) and Sandro (1.81). But it is in our final test, possession, where Davies truly excels at although on a world wide scale his numbers do drop a little. He does have the most successful dribbles at 87 and the most attempted at 139 but his percentage of dribbles completed successfully (62.6%) is outdone by Sandro (64.9%) and Guerreiro (63%).
Alphonso Davies
â Mercado a Mexer (@imatemynameis1) May 26, 2020
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Although one does need to add the fact that together the latter two have completed and attempted less than Davies has alone. Yet at the same time, no-one has carried the ball a further distance than Davies (9235) has managed with that being an average of 388 yards per 90 although he has been dispossessed the most. Together both Alex Sandro and Raphael Guerriero have managed to get dispossessed 46 times so far this season which is one less than Davies has managed on his own. It does show that the Canadian has a tendency to charge forward recklessly and lose the ball but as the eye test has proved, his ability to win it back has been brilliant.
But does that make him the best in the world? It doesnât and at 19, Alphonso Davies really doesnât need to be the best in the world. He is, however, setting impossible targets for young and budding left-backs across the world but more importantly, he has the ability to become Bayernâs best. The question of becoming the best in the world will never really die down but for now, Davies packs quite a punch.
