Megs masters: Maguire was tormented by new joint leader

Matt Stead
Francisco Trincao and Luke Shaw

Manchester United defenders Luke Shaw and Harry Maguire met the new megs leader across Europe’s top five leagues and found out all about him.

 

Marcus Rashford has given everyone else an advantage in terms of claiming the crown he won with 21 nutmegs in the 2020/21 season and 13 in 2019/20.

With the help of the wonderful FBref let’s take another glance at the leaders of this particular race across the Premier League, La Liga, Serie A, the Bundesliga and Ligue Un. And yes, we know the Portuguese Primeira Liga technically usurped the French top flight in terms of UEFA association club coefficient recently but shut up.

 

Danilo Soares (Bochum) – 3
Clinging onto what is now a joint lead is Luis and Cedric’s not actual but patently much better brother, Danilo Soares. The 29-year-old left-back has failed to build on his three nutmegs on the opening weekend, managing to contain his flair in the victory over Mainz and defeat to FC Koln. You can’t just rest on your laurels in this race, fella.

 

Moussa Diaby (Bayer Leverkusen) – 3
One of the stars of the nascent Bundesliga season with two goals and an assist in three games, Moussa Diaby has also showcased his tunnelling prowess against Union Berlin, Borussia Monchengladbach and Augsburg. His performances have lifted Bayer Leverkusen to second in the table behind only Wolfsburg, as well as earning himself a debut for the France national team earlier this month as substitute for some bloke from Paris Saint-Germain called Kyle Ian.

Arsenal tried to maintain their proud Diaby heritage in the summer of 2020 but the 22-year-old would be hoping for a different clientele if a productive three years in Germany were to come to an end soon. Diaby finished just outside the top ten for nutmegs across Europe’s five leading leagues in 2021/22 with nine; he is already one-third of the way to that total.

 

Francisco Trincao (Wolves) – 3
Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw can count themselves fortunate to have escaped relatively unscathed, both emerging on the winning side at Molineux despite having their shorts figuratively pulled down by the tricky Trincao. Wolves have certainly been a frustrating delight to watch so far this season, easier on the eye under Bruno Lage while lacking that cutting edge. The Barcelona loanee was as culpable as anyone not named Adama Traore when failing to convert the winger’s cutback after about an hour of the hosts’ 1-0 defeat, but Trincao thrilled throughout. An early effort was cleared off the line by Aaron Wan-Bissaka before Daniel James clattered into him, the winger soon recovering to claim the scalps of a £107m England defensive pair.

 

17 players – 2
There are four Premier League players with two nutmegs: Milot Rashica, Ismaila Sarr, Moussa Djenepo and Emmanuel Dennis.

F365 Features Moussa Diaby