Of attacking midfielders bought by big clubs for 20m or more, Fabregas is towards the upper end of what you expect. Lallana is just about achieving expectations, being held back by his injuries. I think Lallana might turn out to be quite excellent for us. The first touch for his offside goal against City was as good as any I've seen.
Just as a little thought experiment I thought I might list some other AMs bought for large fees and have a go at ranking them.
David Silva - 25-30m Exact Price Unclear (EPU)
Averages 6 goals a season and 8 assists. Whilst he may not have the highest goal contribution of those on this list, he oozes quality out of every pore. Notably he also doesn't seem like a total c**t, which is rare for an Oil club player.
Samir Nasri - 25m
4 goals a season and just under 8 assists. He gets ok-ish numbers, but to me seems the essence of the MotD player, absolutely invisible for 85 minutes per game. Massive dickhead.
Fabregas - 30m
His stats have been posted already. As for my analysis I am only including premier league contributions above a certain age, there is not enough data, but it looks like he was a really high quality purchase.
Oscar - 20m
He too has little data meeting my criteria for comparable analysis but I'm including him for shits and giggles. 6 goals a season and just under 5 assists. I've never been to convinced that he is a top quality player, but it is worth noting he looks to be improving significantly each year. Little piece of chickenshit.
Willian - 30m
3 goals and 2 assists a season. Is actually much better than his numbers suggest. Often plays as a technical water carrier.
Hazard - 32m
12 goals and 9 assists per season and looking to increase that significantly this year. He does take pens though so that skews things a little. I was unsure whether to put him on this list as he really is more like a wide striker - either way, fantastic player.
Cuadrado - 27m
Nothing really to say at this point. Not been hugely impressed by him.
Cazorla - 16-20m EPU
8 goals and 9 assists. Much better first season than second season. This one looks to be somewhere in between. Can go missing at times, but even still was good value even for the high end of the fee.
Ozil - 42m
5 goals 9 assists, just off course for the same this season. Despite reasonable numbers, typically is a total passenger in the Arsenal side, and when he plays badly, so does the whole Arsenal team. If I were Wenger, I would be reticent to play him at all as when he is bad he costs the team far more than what he brings when he is good. Disaster of a signing.
Ashley Young - 20m
Just under 3 goals a season, and 3 assistswith 2/3 of both coming in his first season for united. Atrocious little sh*te.
Fellaineh - 27m
Was a number 10 for Everton, his current position seems to be target man so I feel he is worth including in this list. No goals and 1 assist in his first season. Scored 3 so far this season by having balls pinged at his oversized follically burdened head.
Di Maria - 60m
Hahahahahahahahahaha
Juan Mata - 37m
6 goals and 4 assists last season in half a season, looks unlikely to extend the same rate in a full season though. Looks out of place and lost. Great player, doesn't fit. Rubbish beard.
Nani - 20m
7 goals and 10 assists a season in his first 3 seasons, 0.3 goals and 0.6 assists per season in the next three. Been shipped out on loan to SL.
Lamela - 30m
Again too young for fair comparison, but hardly been great
Lallana - anywhere from 18m to 25m
Last season got 9 goals and 5 assists for Southampton. His current assist and scoring rates have been higher this year, but he has missed more game time. Should still match last seasons contribution if he stays fit.
1[Hazard]
2Silva
3Fabregas
4=Lallana
4=Oscar
4=Cazorla
7 Willian
8 Cuadrado
9 Di Maria
10 Lamela
11 Juan Mata
12 Young
13 Nani
14 Ozil
15 Fellaini
All data from whoscored and averaged in my head. Methodology not 100% consistent for each player, but all figures accurate enough for casual observations. All rankings based on current whims, and I think I might have been excessively harsh on Ozil and maybe generous to Willian.
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