Liverpool trio and Man Utd target among Europe’s top 10 most worked players
Liverpool account for three of the top five players to have played most minutes in Europe this season. But a Chelsea defender tops the list.
Here are the 10 busiest players this term, including all club and international action…
1) Antonio Rudiger (Chelsea and Germany) – 5466 minutes
Club appearances: 54
International appearances: 5
Total appearances: 59
Chelsea certainly eked all they could out of the centre-back in the final year of his contract before he swans off to Real Madrid. Remember when Frank Lampard didn’t fancy him? Good times…
2) Virgil van Dijk (Liverpool and Holland) – 5340 minutes
Club appearances: 51
International appearances: 8
Total appearances: 59
The centre-back is the busiest of three Liverpool players on this list, making up for lost time after spending most of last season on the sidelines.
3) Mohamed Salah (Liverpool and Egypt) – 5215 minutes
Club appearances: 51
International appearances: 14
Total appearances: 65
Salah scored 31 goals for Liverpool, claiming a Premier League Golden Boot to be shared with Son Heung-min, but the Egyptian king netted only twice for Egypt in 14 internationals this season.
4) Milan Skriniar (Inter Milan and Slovakia) – 5190 minutes
Club appearances: 48
International appearances: 9
Total appearances: 57
The Inter centre-back missed only four of Inter’s 52 matches in all competitions. It’s been a month or two since a Skriniar-to-Spurs story so we must be due one…
5) Luis Díaz (Porto, Liverpool and Colombia) – 5184 minutes
Club appearances: 54
International appearances: 15
Total appearances: 69
No one in Europe made more appearances this season than the one Liverpool player who won a league title winner’s medal.
Luis Diaz: from undernourished to roasting Europe’s top defenders
6) William Saliba (Marseille and France) – 5141 minutes
Club appearances: 51
International appearances: 7
Total appearances: 58
The on-loan Arsenal defender was named Ligue 1 Young Player of the Season and enjoyed his 51 appearances for OM so much that he’s apparently told Arsenal that would rather stay in France than return to north London.
7) Pau Torres (Villarreal and Spain) – 5110 minutes
Club appearances: 47
International appearances: 12
Total appearances: 59
The kind of reliability that could end up costing Manchester United £50million…
8) Tomas Soucek (West Ham and Czech Republic) – 5099 minutes
Club appearances: 51
International appearances: 9
Total appearances: 60
Soucek has been as reliable as ever for West Ham, despite playing a more disciplined role while Declan Rice bombs between boxes. The Hammers wouldn’t really sell him, would they?
9) Joao Cancelo (Man City and Portugal) – 5064 minutes
Club appearances: 52
International appearances: 5
Total appearances: 57
Cancelo has played a whopping 674 minutes more than any other outfielder in Pep Guardiola’s squad.
10) Harry Kane (Tottenham and England) – 5030 minutes
Club appearances: 50
International appearances: 11
Total appearances: 61
It may have been Kane’s joint-worst season in eight for Premier League goals but you can’t fault his reliability this season. In only one campaign has he managed more league appearances, missing just one game on the opening day of the season.
