Anel Ahmedhodzic is off to an excellent start this season after signing for the Blades from Malmo in the summer.
The Bosnian defender scored a brace in United’s 4-0 win on Tuesday night against Reading. Ahmedhodzic met a Tommy Doyle corner perfectly with a side foot low driven finish. He then got himself into the box for an attack and Norwood whipped in a cross which Ahmedhodzic headed into the net past Joe Lumley.
According to SofaScore, Ahmedhodzic is the 3rd best performer in the league currently, with Norwood in 2nd and the Rotherham goalkeeper top.
The 23 year-old has 4 goal contributions in his 5 league starts so far.
Here is Anel Ahmedhodzic’s heat map for the season:
Ahmedhodzic is averaging just under 1 chance created per game at 0.98.
He is getting into the box and half spaces often during games and this is where he becomes such a threat as for a centre-back he has great attacking qualities. Currently, Ahmedhodzic is touching the ball inside the opposition box 2.56 times per90. The centre-back average for this number across the top divisions is 0.87.
Offensively Ahmedhodzic has been magnificent, defensively he’s been flawless. He has recorded a tackle success rate of 75% and he’s making on average 7 ball recoveries per game
Here is a look at Anel Ahmedhodzic’s polar chart in comparison to the average defender in the top divisions:
Paul Heckingbottom said that there were some high profile clubs in for Anel Ahmedhodzic this summer and I think we can all see why. The Blades signed him and I tried telling everyone that he is a Champions League calibre player, having seen him handle top teams in that competition last season such as Juventus and Chelsea.
He will be playing Premier League football next season, with or without the Blades.