Arsenal struck gold on “world-class” star worth millions more than Wirtz

It might not even be July, but Arsenal feel like they’re falling behind in the transfer window.

Manchester City have already signed a handful of incredible players, including Rayan Cherki and Tijjani Reijnders, Manchester United have picked up Matheus Cunha, and Chelsea got Liam Delap through the door at the start of the month.

However, the most significant transfer to be completed by a rival, and the most worrying for the Gunners’ Premier League prospects next season, has been Liverpool’s acquisition of Florian Wirtz.

The German international has been the talk of the window so far, and it looks like he could be a superstar for the Reds.

How Wirtz compares to Premier League stars

With the level of excitement that has followed Wirtz to Liverpool and the enormous £116.5m fee it took to get him out of Bayer Leverkusen, there is an expectation from fans and rivals alike that the German will hit the ground running next season.

With that in mind, how do his numbers from this season stack up against some of the more prominent attacking midfielders in the league?

Well, given the amount of money he has cost the Reds, it should come as no surprise that none of the Premier League’s top attacking midfielders were more productive than the 22-year-old across all competitions last year.

In his 45 appearances, the former Leverkusen gem produced 31 goal involvements, which comes out to an average of 0.68 per game, and the only player to get close to that was Bruno Fernandes, whose 38 goal involvements in 57 appearances came out to an average of 0.66 per game.

Bringing it back to Arsenal, the sad reality is that the team’s captain and previously mercurial Martin Odegaard didn’t get anywhere near to being as productive as the man of the moment.

In fact, the Gunners’ Norwegian leader was only able to score six goals and provide 12 assists in 45 appearances this season, which comes out to a rather underwhelming average of 0.40 goal involvements per game.

In short, the North Londoners’ midfield maestro appears to be no match for the effectiveness of Liverpool’s new superstar.

Still, it’s not all doom and gloom, as Mikel Arteta has his own monster talent at the Emirates, someone worth millions more than Wirtz.

The Arsenal star worth millions more than Wirtz

While Arsenal are blessed with an abundance of talent, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that there are not many players worth more than the monstrous fee Wirtz has cost Liverpool.

However, one of those players who is worth more is, of course, the simply sensational Bukayo Saka.

According to the CIES Football Observatory, the Hale End icon is worth up to €157.3m, which converts to about £135m, or £18.5 more than the Liverpool star’s price tag.

Now, there will undoubtedly be some out there who look at such a price and rubbish it, but if we look at how the pair stacked up against one another this season, it might be easier to see where the CIES were coming from.

For example, despite missing over three months of action, the “world-class” winger, as dubbed by Rio Ferdinand, was able to score 12 goals and provide 14 assists in just 37 appearances, which comes out to an average of 0.70 goal involvements per game – 0.02 better than the German.

Moreover, when we look under the hood at their respective underlying numbers, the 23-year-old international once again comes out looking better.

For example, he produces a higher non-penalty expected goals plus assists figure while also playing more key passes and making more tackles, which only helps to demonstrate the way in which he takes responsibility for all areas of the game.

Ultimately, it’s this ability to have an outsized impact on the attacking side of the game while still putting in the dirty work while still being relatively young that makes Saka so valuable, and if he continues on his current trajectory, we aren’t sure Wirtz’s valuation will ever catch up.