Top 5 interceptors in Europe
Every football team requires certain key aspects – a solid defence, a ruthless attack and an assured midfield. But one player that is a must-have is the player that is able to halt attacks before they begin.
Rather than waiting for the situation to reach a point where there is a need to get their hands (feet, rather) dirty and go in for a crunching tackle, they choose to stay clean and use their innate reading of the game to cut out potentially dangerous passes.
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In addition, these players do not receive as much credit as they should, seeing as they are silent guardians of their teams’ fate. Clubs had better be on the lookout for these players, as they could prove to be game-changers, or even season-changers.
On that note, here are the players with the most interceptions from across Europe.
#5 Ismail Konuk
Age: 29
Club: Bursaspor
Position: Centre back
Interceptions per game: 4.2
Coming in at number five on this list is Turkish centre-back Ismail Konuk, better known in his homeland as simply Ismail. He has spent his entire professional career in Turkey, starting from Denizlispor, and debuting for the club in 2006. He is a defender in the traditional mould, a part of a backline whose job is to just boot the ball as far away from the goal as possible.
This is backed up by the numbers, which show that he makes 6.7 clearances per game, and attempts 3.1 long balls per game, figures which have been fairly constant over the last few seasons.
Now, at the age of 29, Ismail is at his peak and his number of interceptions per game this season has shot up from a relatively modest 2.6 and 2.5 in the last two seasons to 4.2 this campaign. It is staggering to think that with numbers like these, he has not yet been snapped up by bigger clubs such as Galatasaray and Fenerbahce.