Top 5 U23 'Expected' Goal Scorers and Assist Makers - Bundesliga

Non-Penalty Expected Goals + Expected Assists per 90 or "  npxG +  xA". This is the statistic we will be looking at in this piece, in order to identify which players (23 and under) are leading the Bundesliga in 'expectations' thus far.

*Data provided by StatsBomb*

Image from The Independent

  npxG +  xA (Non-Penalty Expected Goals + Expected Assists per 90 )

1. Erling Haaland (21, Center Forward, Norway, Borussia Dortmund) - 1.11

2. Florian Wirtz (18, Attacking Midfielder, Germany, Bayer Leverkusen) - .86

3. Lukas Nmecha (22, Center Forward, Germany/England, Wolfsburg) - .83

4. Jamal Musiala (18, Attacking Midfielder, Germany/England, Bayern Munich) - .78

5. Christopher Nkunku (23, Attacking Midfielder, France/DRC, Red Bull Leipzig) - .71

 

Image from Sports Moments

 npxG (Non - Penalty Expected Goals per 90)

1. Erling Haaland (21, Center Forward, Norway, Borussia Dortmund) - .76 

2. Lukas Nmecha (22, Center Forward, Germany/England, Wolfsburg) - .58

3. Christoph Baumgartner (22, Attacking Midfielder, Austria, Hoffenheim) - .52

4. Christopher Nkunku (23, Attacking Midfielder, France/DRC, Red Bull Leipzig) - .43

5. Omar Marmoush (22, Center Forward, Egypt/Canada, Stuttgart) - .41  

 

 

Image from Forbes

 xA (Expected Assists per 90)

1. Jamal Musiala (18, Attacking Midfielder, Germany/England, Bayern Munich) - .59

2. Florian Wirtz (18, Attacking Midfielder, Germany, Bayer Leverkusen) - .57

3. Dominik Szoboszlai (21, Left Winger, Hungary, Red Bull Leipzig) - .43 

4. Erling Haaland (21, Center Forward, Norway, Borussia Dortmund) - .35

5. Alphonso Davies (20, Left Back, Canada, Bayern Munich) - .32

Looking at these figures we see some names that have been hot topics over the recent weeks in the Bundesliga. Erling Haaland leads two lists (npxG + xA and npxG) and appears in all 3, which makes sense given he is regarded as the next great center forward and is the 2nd top scorer in the league at 9 goals (2 from penalties) and 4 assists. He has the stats to back that notion up. Florian Wirtz (4 goals and 6 assists) and Jamal Musiala (2 goals and 3 assists) again two highly sought after names in recent weeks, top the xA list and feature in the npxG + xA list. One interesting name is Christoph Baumgartner (3 goals) who does not feature on the npxG + xA list or xA list but ranks above Christopher Nkunku (4 goals) by .09 in the npxG list. Baumgartner could definitely be a center forward for a team that needs goals but is on a budget, as his transfer value (as per Transfermarkt) is 22 million Euro, where Nkunku's is at 47 million Euro, a -25 million Euro difference. It will be interesting to see how these stats and tally of goals and assists change come the end of the season.