Best players in the world by xG: Expected Goals rankings - February 2019
Expected Goals(xG) is a performance metric developed by analytics company Opta. It has been widely used in the media solely for the fact that it provides a better comprehension of a player's performances.
xG takes into account each and every shot attempted by a striker and assigns it a value, considering the probability of the said shot being converted into a goal. Simply put, it tries to quantify the quality of a goal.
While football today has no shortage of fearsome strikers around the globe, the xG metric helps in the perfect individual measurement of their quality. The best attackers always score goals more than what is expected of them.
On that note, let's have a look at the top 10 players in the world based on their xG values.
Also Read: Expected Goals explained: What are xG and xA and why are they a good measure of player performances
#10 Krzysztof Piatek (AC Milan)
After watching Krzysztof Piatek plunder a brace against Napoli on his debut for AC Milan, the Rossoneri fans must have thanked heavens for successfully signing him in this window.
The Polish marksman left Genoa to sign for Milan in a £31.5m deal, courtesy to the scintillating form he displayed for his former club.
Piatek has scored 13 goals in 20 league games in the Serie A. He has successfully beaten his xG value of 9.09 by a margin of 3.91 points. Simply put, he has netted 4 goals more than what was expected of him.
Watching how he has grown throughout the season, the sky is the only limit for the Polish striker, and only time can tell if he manages to touch it.