United's Phil Jones features in best U23 players list alongside Madrid, PSG stars

07 May 2015 09:01

Manchester United may have had defensive problems for much of this season but Phil Jones has actually turned out to be the best defender in his age group according to the CIES Football Observatory. The ratings are based on shooting stats, chance creation, distribution, recovery and rigour. Below is a listing of the top three players in each position.

Centre Backs

1) Phil Jones (Manchester United)

2) Jose Gimenez (Atletico Madrid)

3) Raphael Varane (Real Madrid)

Full Backs

1) Layvia Kurzawa (AS Monaco)

2) Ricardo Rodriguez (Wolfsburg)

3) David Alaba (FC Bayern Munich)

Defensive Midfielders

1) Marco Verratti (PSG)

2) Paul Pogba (Juventus)

3) Gramit Xhaka (Borussia Monchengladbach)

Attacking Midfielders

1) Isco Alarcon (Real Madrid)

2) Bernardo Silva (AS Monaco)

3) Yannick Ferreira Carrasco (AS Monaco)

Forwards

1) Felipe Anderson (Lazio)

2) Neymar Junior (FC Barcelona)

3) Clinton Njie (Lyon)

Younger players are often unfairly judged because they play for the first team but ratings like these help to put into perspective the true quality of a player.

Source: DSG