WORLD LEADERS (TOP 20) TEAM % of active internationals Chelsea 78.3 Real Madrid 77.3 Barcelona 74.1 Bayern Munich 73.1 Dortmund 71.4 Manchester City 70.8 Liverpool 68 Arsenal 66.7 PSG 65.2 Zenit 58.3 Roma 55.6 Everton 55.6 Fenerbahce 54.5 Inter Milan 54.2 Tottenham 53.6 Manchester United 53.6 CSKA Moscow 52.2 Dinamo Moskva 52.2 Dynamo Kyiv 52 Napoli 52 Chelsea’s ‘active internationals’ percentage of players is 78.3 per cent, according to new figures published in a ‘digital atlas’ by expert analysts from the Football Observatory in Switzerland. This places Chelsea at No 1 in Europe - and the world - ahead of Real Madrid in second place. The richest team in on planet football may be able to splash more money than anyone else on stars from Gareth Bale to James Rodriguez but ‘only’ 77.3 per cent of their squad have played full internationals this year. Barcelona are in third place (74.1 per cent), Bayern Munich in fourth (73.1 per cent) and Borussia Dortmund in fifth place (71.4 per cent). Both of those German teams contain multiple members of the triumphant World Cup-winning team this summer. The leading five clubs are followed by three more from England in Manchester City (70.8 per cent), Liverpool (68 per cent) and Arsenal (66.7 per cent), with PSG of France (65.2 per cent) and Zenit St Petersburg of Russia (58.3 per cent) rounding out the top 10. Louis van Gaal’s Manchester United do not appear on the list until 15th place (53.6 per cent, the same as Tottenham - and below Everton (55.6 per cent). The ‘active’ element of the measurement is key because it indicates that the players concerned are at the top of their game, being picked for their countries, not retired, and not merely ‘up and coming.’ United’s ratio of full active internationals is so relatively low because Van Gaal has been forced - or has chosen - to use so many young players this campaign, uncapped as yet by their countries at senior level. Among them are Tyler Blackett, 20, Jesse Lingard, 22, Paddy McNair 19, Tom Thorpe, 21 and 19-year-old James Wilson.
Posted on: Thu, 18 Dec 2014 03:39:15 +0000
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