There is a lack of transfer gossip involving Arsenal today, however, one player that has been linked with us is Leicester City’s, James Maddison. Now, some context, he is only being linked with us because TV pundit Tony Cascarino reckons he would be perfect for us, so it is not really what you would call transfer gossip.
But it did get me thinking, is James Maddison an adequate replacement for the departing Aaron Ramsey? And I have to say after looking at the figures, absolutely!
What I did is look at this season’s statistics courtesy of PremierLeague.com and the figures for this season are revealing.
Some context is required, Ramsey has not played anywhere near as many minutes as Maddison.
Minutes played
Maddison 2416
Ramsey 1259
Therefore the base figures can be misleading and that is where percentages come into play
Goals per match
Maddison 0.23
Ramsey 0.15
Shooting accuracy
Maddison 35%
Ramsey 43%
Passes per match
Maddison 40.27
Ramsey 26.22
Crossing accuracy
Maddison 33%
Ramsey 29%
Tackle success
Maddison 68%
Ramsey 53%
So, you can see, that in almost every area Maddison has a better record this season than Ramsey, that said, what cannot be gauged is the influence on a game each player has, the timing of a particular tackle or pass or goal and so you cannot judge on statistics alone.
But it sure does give an indication and based on those stats I am of the opinion that Maddison would be a great replacement for Ramsey and he is six years younger than the Welshman.