Manchester United and Arsenal might be a couple of teams whose attacks are always in the limelight but we shouldn’t forget that both the clubs also have a couple of young defenders who are tearing the Premier League apart.
Manchester United’s signing of Matteo Darmian was certainly seen as a great purchase by the United team. The Italian started his career at Old Trafford on a high but hasn’t been all that great in the last couple of games. On the other hand, Hector Bellerin has come up leaps and bounds for Arsenal and has continued his great form since the end of last season.
We compare the two fullbacks thanks to Squawka.com; we would be looking at per game averages to compare the two youngsters based on their outings in the Premier League.
Darmian vs. Bellerin
Both players love to pass the ball around and need to when linking with the other players in the team. It is Darmian, surprisingly who has a higher pass success rate with 85% per game compared to 82% for Bellerin. When it comes to winning tackles it is the Italian who tops Bellerin. Darmian wins 2.75 tackles per game while Bellerin averages just 1.57 tackles won per game.
When it comes to taking on the opposition and beating them, it is Bellerin who beats the Italian. Bellerin averages 71% successful take-ons while Darmian only limps home with just a 25% success rate when taking on other players and beating them.
However, Darmian is slightly better than Bellerin when it comes to winning headers as the Manchester United defender averages a 62.5% winning rate in aerial duels while Bellerin has only averages 53% this season.
Bellerin does pick up in a lot of other facets of the game and in defending. The Spaniard averages 2.71 interceptions per game while Darmian only intercepts the ball 1.75 times per game for Manchester United. Bellerin also ensures double the number of blocks per game compared to Darmian; the Arsenal youngster averages 0.29 blocks per game while the Italian averages just 0.12 blocks per game. Even in terms of clearances per game, it is the Arsenal youngster who does more than Matteo. Bellerin averages 4.14 clearances per game while Darmian only averages 2 clearances per game.
Damian seems to be a better player going forward and taking on defenders, but Bellerin seems to be a better player when it comes to doing the dirty work. Either way both the players are incredibly important for their clubs and that importance is sure to grow as these players spend more time playing in the first team.