This will come as a shock to some. If we were coaching Manchester United we would have Wayne Rooney taking the free kicks that mattered. He hits the ball so hard and low but regularly manages to get the ball over the wall and place it into a top corner. Rooney is a super dead ball man.
But, when he does step up to take them he is usually shadowed by Juan Mata. The Spaniard has had his critics since he joined Manchester United after some quiet displays. We at soccersweep have never been his most vocal fans.
But, according to figures released by The Press Association, Mata is the most efficient free kick taker in The Premier League over the last 15 years. The Express says:
According to the stats, Mata has the best free-kick conversion percentage of any other player from the 2001/2002 season onwards.
The report is at pains to point out that others have scored more goals from free kicks in that time. But the Manchester United star has the highest ratio of goals to games with 28 shots and 5 goals. That’s a conversion rate of 17.9%.
Perhaps Mata will cement a place in this Manchester United side after all. But sometimes you feel that he is in the wrong place at the wrong time, having joined Manchester United when there is another number 10 and superb free kick taker in his prime at the club – that’s captain Wayne Rooney of course.
Here is the top ten, according to the report. Surprisingly there is no place for CR7 whose conversion rate was 6.1%.
1. Juan Mata 2. Sebastian Larsson 3. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink 4. David Beckham 5. Nolberto Solano 6. Thierry Henry 7. Danny Murphy 8. Ryan Giggs 9. Leighton Baines 10. Laurent Robert
