New statistics suggest that Arda Güler is the most inform midfielder in Europe

Real Madrid fans are all currently wondering; what is the reason behind their team's recent upturn in form? On Sunday, los Blancos swatted aside Racing Santander 3-0 at El Sardinero, all the goals coming in the first half; Kylian Mbappé, Jude Bellingham and Yan Diomandé on target.

That made it six successive victories for José Mourinho's side, most notably beating Barcelona 2-1 at Camp Nou in the Clásico. With AEK Athens at Agia Sophia Stadium and then Valencia at the Bernabéu to come this week, they will fancy their chances of a perfect eight wins out of eight in-between the two international breaks, following the Madrid derby disaster at the Metropolitano.

With Vinícius Júnior currently banned, many are pointing to the Brazilian's enforced absence as the reason why los Merengues suddenly look cohesive now. Meantime, weekend scorers Mbappé and Diomandé are the ones earning most of the plaudits. However, is Arda Güler the true unsung hero?

So far this season, the Turkish international has three goals and six assists to his name, which equates to a goal contribution every 85 minutes on average. Pretty good. However, it is his underlying statistics that are even more impressive.

Players most chances created in La Liga 2026/27

• Note: Statistics courtesy of Statmuse.

Güler leads the way in La Liga this season when it comes to chances created, having racked up more than double the next-highest Real Madrid players on this list; Mbappé and Bellingham both currently on 19.

On a per 90 basis, considering that the 21 year old has featured in only 67% of los Blancos' minutes, is even more clear-cut, with Güler at almost 5.5 per 90, while Isco is second, all the way down on 3.7.

This creativity dominance though extends beyond just La Liga. As documented by Statmuse, only one player in Europe's big five leagues currently meets all of the follow criteria.

• 1+ big chances created per 90.
• 0.4+ expected assists per 90.
• 3.25+ chances created per 90.

According to Statmuse's numbers, 20 players across Europe's top-five ranked leagues fall into at least one of these criteria, when it comes to chance creation. Lamine Yamal, Michael Olise, Nadiem Amiri of Mainz and Lens captain Florian Thauvin have managed two of them, but Güler is the only man to tick all three boxes.

Thus, with Vinícius available to play in Athens, and his domestic ban coming to an end this month, Mourinho may have to rethink his forward line. However, he simply cannot even consider dropping Güler to the bench, given what the 21 year old is producing at the moment.

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