Finding the best goal-scoring U21 midfielders in elite women’s football
Football is about goals—scoring and preventing them. In order to do the attacking part of it you will need players who can score multiple goals. Now with the way football is played, it isn’t just the strikers and the wingers who have to provide the goals. Midfielders are more and more tasked with scoring goals and that’s what this data analysis is about too.
In this analysis, I will focus on the best-scoring midfielders from the elite leagues in Europe: Spain, France, England, Germany and Italy. I’ve made a few changes towards the criteria. As we are well aware of the players that are top now, I want to focus on:
- Players that are U21
- Make a distinction between league competition: Spain, France and Germany are stronger leagues than Italy and Spain.
- A player should have played at least 500 minutes across the 2022–2023 season, which is also a reason why NWSL hasn’t been included.
- I will use a few key metrics which I think will help the most
The metrics I’m going to use for this analysis are:
- Shots per 90
- Expected goals per 90
- Goals per 90
The data comes from Opta.
In terms of shooting quality it’s important to measure how the quantity of shots relates to the quality of chances. We can do this by measuring the shots per 90 compared to the expected goals per 90.
When we look at the players with the top expected goals per 90 we see a top 3 of Riola Xhemaili (Freiburg), Gia Corley (Hoffenheim) and Chiara Hahn (Werder Bremen). When we look at the highest shots per 90 we have a top 3 of Sara Carrillo (Alaves), Fiamma (Valencia) and Daniela Arques (Alhama). What’s interesting is that the shot volume are all from Liga F players, while the npxG comes from Frauen-Bundesliga players.
In the end, the most important thing for an attacker is her output: goals. I’m looking at the probability of scoring a goal with a certain short and looking at the actual goals scored by a particular player per 90 minutes.
When we look at the players with the top expected goals per 90 we see a top 3 of Riola Xhemaili (Freiburg), Gia Corley (Hoffenheim) and Chiara Hahn (Werder Bremen). As we continue and look at the actual goals scored, these players come out on top: Riola Xhemaili (Freiburg), Gia Corley (Hoffenheim) and Clara Pinedo (Athletic Club).
We can’t say a lot about finishing quality, but it’s evident that these player not only create high quality chances, but also convert them — which is a good sign for their goalscoring abilities.
