Son Heung-min’s verdict underlines Patrick Bamford’s unrivaled value to Leeds United

Only Tottenham Hotspur’s Son Heung-Min has sprinted more off the ball than Patrick Bamford this season from forwards in 30 leagues around the world, a new study has found. Work-rate and pressing have often been cited as key strengths that Bamford has brought to Leeds United’s teams since 2018, and this new data only underlines how much the number nine puts in.

The CIES Football Observatory, a FIFA-backed research group specializing in the statistical analysis of sports, has ranked wingers and forwards from 30 elite leagues around the world in terms of the defensive work they do. The study uses distance traveled at high speed and the number of pressures exerted on opponents without physical contact or with the ball.

When it comes to the former, the South Korean was the only forward to rate higher than Bamford. Sam Greenwood, while playing for Middlesbrough, came fourth on the same index. The Leeds men posted higher numbers than Richarlison, Anthony Gordon and Cody Gakpo among the hundreds who didn’t even make the shortlist.

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In its explanation of the data, CIES said: “The index was calculated on a base 100 from the average of the recorded values ​​for the two variables considered, themselves projected on a base 100. Only footballers who played at least 1,200 minutes in national championship in the current season were included in the ranking.”

Bamford indexed at 69.9 for pressures, which wasn’t particularly remarkable, but only Son (100) could beat his 96.2 rating for high-speed defensively. Greenwood scored 90.5, Richarlison was fifth with 89.9, Gordon ninth with 82.4, Gakpo was further down with 79.9 ahead of Miguel Almiron (78.2).

While the numbers may seem a bit abstract, the bottom line is how impressive Bamford scores against other attackers at the top of the world game for others when their teams don’t have the ball.