Pascal Struijk trumps Ben White to top Premier League U-24 defensive statistic
Pascal Struijk is reaping the rewards of Marcelo Bielsa’s unstinting faith in him and is trumping a former Leeds United favourite in a key statistic.
Struijk, 21, has made 21 Premier League appearances this season, 18 of them as a starter, despite battling three other senior central defenders in the process.
Diego Llorente and Robin Koch were both signed at the start of the season to battle captain Liam Cooper in the heart of the Whites backline, and few would have expected Struijk to make so many outings after just five Championship appearances last season.
One of the players that kept him out of the first-team last season was Brighton’s Ben White, who was an ever-present during his loan spell in the 2019/20 campaign.
Leeds were desperate to sign him, and were prepared to pay upwards of £25million [The Athletic] to secure his services, but the Seagulls dug their heels in and he has remained on the south-coast this season.
White may be ruing that decision given the perilous position Brighton find themselves in, hovering around the relegation zone on 34 points while Marcelo Bielsa’s side are cruising in tenth on 46 points.
At 23, White has a couple of years on Struijk and much more experience but the Belgian-born defender trumps him in a key statistic in their maiden Premier League campaign.
FIVE YARDS, an online scouting platform, tweeted an infographic with defensive duel statistics from Under-24s, and Leeds fans will love the results.
Struijk comes out on top with a 73% success rate while Whites comes in third with 67%, with highly-rated Leicester City youngster Wesley Fofana sandwiched between them.
Aaron Wan-Bissaka and Reece James are other high-profile youngsters who feature in the top six, but Struijk’s success rate defeats them all while he also completes a substantially higher amount of defensive actions, with 10.3 per 90.
His star is on the rise while White’s has waned a little during a troubling campaign for Brighton, and our failure to capture him may have saved us a fortune with Struijk proving to be a more than capable replacement.
He’s impressed Cooper, who told BBC Radio Leeds [03/04/21] that he has been “unbelievable” and “different class” this season.
It’s high praise, but no less than he deserves.
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