Son Heung-min is the best finisher in world football. In fact, he has been for the better part of a decade.
- Since the 2016/17 season, nobody has overperformed on their expected goals (xG) tally to the same degree as Son Heung-min in terms of percentages.
- he has overperformed on his xG total in every single season from that campaign onwards.
- In his Golden Boot-winning season a year earlier however, Son netted 23 times from an xG of 16.99, representing a 35.3% overperformance.
- Son's 22 career league goals from outside the area have come from a cumulative xG of just 9.13, meaning he has scored a staggering 12.87 more than a mere mortal would have from the same attempts.
- 44.2% of all Son's goals for Spurs have been first-time finishes and an incredible 67.9% came from either first or second-time finishes, that's more than 2 in every 3.
- The average number of touches he has taken before a successful attempt on goal works out to just 1.17.
- When you zero in on just this season under
Ange Postecoglou, as Jon's assessment of the Australian's tactics would suggest, this number falls to just 0.58.
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- Statistically, Haaland is actually a relatively average to slightly-above-average finisher, with only negligible xG overperformances registered throughout his young career to date. (and other comparisons with Hwang Hee Chan, Jota, Salah etc. )
GHod only knows what he is capable of if we made him the central point in attack consistently and a strategy that takes advantage of his speed and first time shooting ability.
How the best finisher in world football lurked just under the radar for nearly a decade at Tottenham Hotspur.
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