An interesting statistic has been revealed following the opening four games of our Premier League season, highlighting that the average age of our 4 teams played so far is younger than any other club in the league.
The Chronicle’s Mark Douglas unearthed this revealing statistic after yesterday’s win, showing that our average of 24.6 is the youngest in the top flight thus far, with SIX of the starting 11 at Swansea being 24 or under:
NUFC average age of their 4 teams so far is 24.6. Youngest of any PL club: https://t.co/SHciwl3zhP https://t.co/zrS6CIILB3
— Mark Douglas (@MsiDouglas) September 10, 2017
Whilst some may suggest we’re therefore lacking experience, it could be argued this is a stat that bodes well for the future, with the majority of our 25-man squad being 25 or under:
Woodman (20), Manquillo (23), Lascelles (23), Mbemba (23), Yedlin (24), Merino (21), Hayden (22), Shelvey (25), Aarons (21), Atsu (25), Murphy (22), Perez (24),Mitrovic (23).
We don’t have a 25 man squad. 25 is the maximum number of over 21 year olds you are allowed. We have a 27 man squad, with two under 21s and 25 over.
So, the majority of the squad are not 25 years or younger, it’s just under half.
Still, it’s a very interesting stat. Many lapped up the lie put forward that Rafa would be bringing in players (and lots of them) with Prem League experience, including marquee players for lots of money, and therefore mainly older players. He did largely the opposite. And it’s clear that was his plan all along. He seems to have preferred to bring in young, hungry, keen to impress, players, om top of those, like Hayden and Atsu brought in last year. And to promote Woodman rather than bring back the jaded, and possibly going through the motions, Krul.
I’m not convinced that if more money was available he would have done it differently. Fortunately, we didn’t get anyone like Smith, Viduka, Geremi, Duff, ****, Owen… I defy anyone to tell me a central MF player brought into the Prem over the summer that looks better than Merino. 21 years old, hardly any top flight experience. I don’t care whether Rafa got him “cheap”. He’s a gem. And I’d prefer him to a number of players that would have broke our transfer record.
Him and Hayden would be a team you could build around for years to come. Rafa intends to do just that.
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