DANNY INGS is more clinical than Cristiano Ronaldo and Erling Haaland this season – and he has the stats to prove it.
Out of his 16 big chances this season, the Southampton man has scored 11, securing a rather impressive conversion rate of 68.8 per cent.
Danny Ings has been deadly in front of goal this season, scoring 11 of his 16 big chancesCredit: PA:Press Association
That puts him just ahead of five-time Ballon d’Or winner Ronaldo who has a record of 68.2 per cent.
The Juventus hero has 21 Serie A goals this term – Ings has hit 15 in the Premier League – while no one tops his number of big chances and number of big chances converted, with 22 and 15 respectively.
Marcus Rashford completes the top 20 and matches Ronaldo’s record of 22 big chances this season, although the Manchester United striker stuck 13 of them in the back of the net.
Haaland only moved to the Bundesliga from Austria in January but already boasts a record of converting two-thirds of his 12 big chances, tying him with Getafe’s Angel Rodriguez and meaning he pips Borussia Dortmund team-mate Jadon Sancho.
The England winger’s 13 big chances taken from 20 means his rate is 65 per cent.
However, Ings’ record only places him sixth on the list across Europe’s top-five leagues among players to have had at least ten big chances.
Opta define a “big chance” as: “A situation where a player should reasonably be expected to score, usually in a one on one scenario or from very close range when the ball has a clear path to goal and there is low to moderate pressure on the shooter. Penalties are always considered big chances.”
Manchester United and Chelsea are eyeing up moves for £60million-rated Lyon striker Moussa Dembele.
And it is easy to see why when you see his conversion rate of 72.2 per cent, second in Europe.
That is good enough to just pip Atalanta hit man Josip Ilicic (70.6), Tottenham hero Harry Kane (70.0) and Andrea Petagna from Italian side SPAL (69.2).
But there is a shock name at the top of the tree: Rouwen Hennings.
The Fortuna Dusseldorf striker, 32, is a bit of a journeyman in Germany but did spend a year in the Championship with Burnley in 2015/16, scoring once in 26 league appearances.
This term, though, he has already notched up 14 Bundesliga goals, his best return in the top flight, and needs just one more to secure the best return in any season.
In terms of big chances, Hennings is the definition of clinical, a true fox in the box.
Like Dembele and Rashford, he has converted 13 big chances this season despite his side battling to avoid relegation – but those 13 have come from just 17 big chances.
That equates to a sublime conversion rate of 76.5 per cent, putting him way out in front.
Elsewhere, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Mo Salah – who along with Sadio Mane shared the Premier Leauge golden boot last season – have identical records with 13 goals from 21 big chances (61.9 per cent).
Finally, just ahead of Rashford, no fewer than five players have finished off six of ten big chances.
Veteran Italian Fabio Quagliarella, Real Madrid target Lucas Ocampos and Lucas Alario, who opened the scoring for Bayer Leverkusen against Bayern Munich at the weekend, are among the five.
Incredibly, though, it means there is no place in the top 20 for Lionel Messi, Robert Lewandowski, Kylian Mbappe, Jamie Vardy or Ciro Immobile – the top scorers in each of the five leagues taken into consideration.
They have a combined 113 league goals between them this season – Lewandowski grabbing 30 of them – but have clearly squandered their fair share, too.
Former Burnley striker Rouwen Hennings, now No28 at Fortuna Dusseldorf, tops the pile with a conversion rate of 76.5 per centCredit: Getty – Pool
Ronaldo is down in seventh on the list but there is no sign of his long-term rival Lionel MessiCredit: Alamy Live News
Erling Haaland is ninth, just in front of his Borussia Dortmund pal Jadon SanchoCredit: AP:Associated Press
Cristiano Ronaldo is football’s first billionaire ahead of Lionel Messi
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
