Spurs' Son Heung-min outperforms Messi and Ronaldo as 'most clinical' finisher in Europe

Tottenham forward Son Heung-min has set a statistical anomaly that marks him out as the deadliest finisher in Europe, ahead of the likes of Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo and Robert Lewandowski over the past four-and-a-half seasons. The manner in which the South Korean forward is performing in comparison to his expected goals (xG) is simply remarkable as he has eclipsed all of football's top marksmen in the European continent since 2016. 

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What is Expected Goals (xG) and how does it work?

Expected goals (xG) ranks the quality of each chance in comparison with thousands of similar chances before it. A number of different measures go into it, such as the location of the shot and quality of pass leading to it. These variables are then used to give a value between 1 (certain goal) and 0 (impossible chance). 

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Son stats and xG for Tottenham since 2016

According to reports from understat.com, Son's consistent ability to score more times than the chances predict is the highest among all players in Europe since August 2016. During that period, Son has scored 61 league goals at an exceptional 44 percent above his the mean xG - the most among all players in Europe. According to these stats, this makes Son the most lethal finisher in Europe. 

Son's style of play may well have something to do with it. The Spurs attacker enjoys breaking from deep and charging forward on the counter-attack, searching for those clear-cut chances afforded by a scattered defence. One of those prime examples was when he scored against Liverpool. 

Son also scored four past Southampton earlier this season, highlighting his lethal finishing ability in front of the goal. He's scored 15 times for Spurs across all competitions this season. However, it remains to be seen how long Son can keep up his extraordinary xG. 

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Next on the list is Son's teammate Harry Kane, who is scoring at 21.33% above the mean XG. The England captain has scored 104 goals during that time. Barcelona talisman Lionel Messi is third on the list, scoring at 21.31% above the mean xG.  Lazio's Ciro Immobile has scored 113 goals since August 2016, scoring at 21.14% above his xG. Liverpool's Sadio Mane takes fifth place on the list, scoring 69 goals at 16.36 above the mean xG. 

Surprisingly, Cristiano Ronaldo comes in at 13th place on the list despite his 117 goals, finding the net at 0.67% above the mean xG. Although Ronaldo is only narrowly above the mean, Lewandowski, Neymar, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Sergio Aguero are in the negative column.

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Image Credits - Tottenham Instagram