The penultimate episode of WhoScored.com's feature focussing on the world's top crossers and dribblers of the ball, compiling the best 5 players from each of the top 5 divisions, heads to Ligue 1 and France.
All players to have played fewer than 20 games from the wing were filtered out in order to prove who had repeated strong performances and wide-man relevant statistics on a consistent basis. The top 5 were analysed in terms of their threat from wide with regards to crossing and dribbling statistics, key passes, assists and chance conversion rates to give a detailed overview of just why the respective performers are so effective.
Having gathered our results it is evident that there is plenty of quality on the wings in France throughout the league, with none of the top 3 represented. PSG were fortunate to have arguably the league’s best winger, whilst the likes of mid-table sides such as Toulouse, Valenciennes and Caen were all to feature with a wide man making our leader board. Lens were the remaining side to have one of the league's top 5 attacking wingers on their team, though this couldn't prevent their relegation from the division, finishing 19th.
Nene
PSG's Nene made 34 of his 35 league starts last season from the wing and bombarded full-backs with his consistent attacking threat on his way to a league high WhoScored.com rating of 7.67. The Brazilian topped our leader board in no less than 8 of the 12 categories analysed, proving his all-round ability when going forward. His leading figures include total crosses (209), total dribbles (164), dribbles per game (4.82), key passes per game (3.29), assists (9) and goals (14). These exceptional scores helped his side to a 4th placed finish and the 30-year-old shows very few signs of slowing down.
In terms of his attacking prowess Nene has very few real faults. His third placed finishes in dribble success rate (35%) and shots per goal (6.31) are still commendable, while his lowest score and ranking of 4th having reached his target with 21% of his attempted deliveries is still a decent figure considering the winger's willingness to get the ball in the danger zone. In fact, this facet to his game helped him weigh in with his side's best goal contribution by some margin.
Yohan Mollo
22-year-old Caen midfielder Yohan Mollo was on-loan from Monaco last season and like Nene, operated on the left-flank for much of last term. With his parent club surprising many by being unable to beat the drop, some would suggest that they were foolish to let the youngster leave after a number of eye-catching performances will have alerted the attention of a number of potential suitors. Undoubtedly Mollo's greatest attribute is his crossing, having attempted a list high of 6.41 deliveries per match. However, his fantastic record doesn't end there having also hit his target with more than any of the other contenders with a laudable 28%.
Considering his still young age, the Frenchman offers plenty going forward and his lowly figure of 2 assists for the season is somewhat false having made 2.07 key passes per game, suggesting Caen's strike force could have done better with the service he provided. The winger will want to improve upon his finishing however, having netted just 3 times last season at a rate of 1 goal every 9 shots attempted.
Gael Danic
29-year-old Frenchman Gael Danic was a key player for Valenciennes last term operating from the left wing like those ahead of him. In his 30 starts from wide the experienced midfielder managed consistent scores across the board but shone in a couple of aspects in particular. His contributions of 9 goals and 6 assists were second only to Nene, while his strike rate led the way by some distance having netted a goal every 4.67 shots attempted on average. However, his standout statistic came in his dribble success rate, despite trying the least runs at opponents per game with 1.4. A figure of 64% is a remarkable feat and suggests that Danic should take on defenders more often, almost doubling all of our remaining 4 contenders scores in this regard.
The Valenciennes man showed very little weaknesses having completed an impressive figure of 25% of his 165 crosses attempted, finishing outside the top 3 just once. However, the category in which he did so saw him come 4th, not only in our leader board, but in the entire league having attempted 5.5 crosses per game.
Kanga Akale
Ivory Coast international Kanga Akale is the fourth man to make our leader board despite playing for relegated Lens. The 30-year-old winger’s attacking statistics show that his side may have been better off by showing more faith in him, with the experienced wide man making just 21 league starts last term. Though he failed to top the leader board in any of our 5 categories, standout figures include second place finishes in both cross accuracy, with a highly economical 25%, as well as shots per goal having taken just 5.67 attempts on average to find the net.
Akale's good conversion rate shows that he may offer his side more goals than the 3 he managed last season if he attempted more than 0.8 shots per game. His only other list-low ranking came in his key passes per game effort having made 1.29, which is respectable but a full 2 less per match than the list leader in this regard.
Paulo Machado
Toulouse's Portuguese winger Paulo Machado concludes our top 5. The 25-year-old shows great confidence having attempted 3.21 dribbles per match and 2.1 shots a game, second only to Nene in both categories. He also chipped in with 8 goal contributions for his side last season, 4 from assists and 4 from goals scored himself, proving his worth having started 28 games from wide.
Machado does however have some downfalls. While figures such as an 18% cross accuracy and 34% dribble success rate rank bottom of our leader board, they are hardly of any real concern. Undoubtedly a more immediate area for improvement in the Toulouse man's game is his chance conversion rate, with his aforementioned confidence sometimes getting the better of him when it comes to attempts at goal. His tally of 4 goals came from a very high number of attempts, giving Machado a goals per shot ratio of 14.75 which, hardly needs stating, is not great!
