Leicester City of England midfielder, Wilfred Onyinyen Ndidi has received a fresh round of top marks in latest global ratings, which place him 16th overall in the world and third in the English Premier League, megasportsarena.com reports.
The latest chart by CIES Football Observatory gives the former Racing Genk of Belgium central-defender-turned-holding-midfielder an index of 85.5, following a total catalogue of 852 minutes in action for his club over the first quarter of 2021.
The latest rating pits Ndidi as third best player in the EPL, ahead of the likes of Harry Kane, Luke Shaw and Thiago Alcantara, while the world’s top player remains Lionel Messi of Barcelona, whose index is 92.5 after he clocked 998 minutes of action
The ratings come after CIES put together a list of the top performing players in the five major European Leagues in the first quarter of 2021, but only players fielded for at least two thirds of minutes during this period are included in the rankings.
A report by allnigeriasoccer.com added: “In the English Premier League, Super Eagles and Leicester City holding midfielder Wilfred Ndidi appears in third position with 85.3 points, behind Jorginho Frello (89.5 pts, Chelsea) and Rubén Dias (89.4 pts, Manchester City).
“The former Racing Genk star has the thirteenth highest CIES FO performance index among players on the books of big-5 European League clubs. Super Eagles stars Moses Simon, Samuel Kalu, Ola Aina, Alex Iwobi, Kelechi Iheanacho, Victor Osimhen and Samuel Chukwueze did not make the cut.
“There is only one Nigerian representative in the top ten in the study by the independent research body based in Neuchatel, Switzerland. Since January 1, 2021, Ndidi has played ten matches in the English Premier League and was in action for 852 minutes, scoring one goal and registering three assists.”
