The 10 Bundesliga players to explode in the last six months
Stefan Bienkowski
- 5 Feb 2022 16:27 GMT
- 11 min read
Borussia Monchengladbach and United States international Joe Scally is the most improved player in the Bundesliga over the past six months.
Using in-game data to calculate the performance of every player in the league, the young American has statistically enjoyed the greatest improvement in his personal level.
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Signed in January of last year from New York City, Scally has worked his way in the Foals starting XI and become an ever-present member of Gladbach’s team this season. And despite the club’s poor form in the league, Scally has been one of the few bright sparks for the troubled side.
The next best improved player in the German top flight in that period according to SciSports is none other than Jamal Musiala, who continues to develop with remarkable speed in Julian Nagelsmann’s Bayern Munich team.
First promoted to the starting XI as a No.10 or wide forward, Musiala has shown some impressive ingenuity to slot in as a central midfielder at times for the Bavarian giants this season.
Next on the list is another impressive young player in the form of Josko Gvardiol, who is quickly developing into a very promising defender at RB Leipzig.
The Croatian talent made the move to Saxony in the summer as a replacement for Dayot Upamecano and has impressed his new club immensely in that time.
Gvardiol isn’t the only central defender that has made it into the top 10, with Piero Hincapie of Bayer Leverkusen and Freiburg talent Nico Schlotterbeck also making it due to their impressive performances over the past six months. Goalkeeper Mark Flekken also makes the list as another defensive player from Freiburg.
As is typically the case, the list is primarily made up of attacking players, with Alexis Tibidi of Stuttgart in sixth place, Hoffenheim forward Georginio Rutter in eighth, Florian Wirtz of Leverkusen in ninth and his team mate Armine Adli in tenth
How is the SciSkill ranking calculated?
Over the course of a season in La Liga, there are players who will enjoy increasingly poor performances and increasingly positive performances.
FootballTransfers, in partnership with SciSports, has determined 10 players over the last six months within La Liga whose performances have improved to a higher degree than anyone else.
SciSports explains how our development ratings are gathered:
"Among others, a positive development could be boosted by more playing time, playing time on a higher level or better performances on the pitch.
"A negative development could be due to the player being active on a lower level than he used to play, bad performances or the fact that he does not play that often as he used to do.
"A SciSkill Development of 0.0 could indicate that a player is performing exactly like our algorithm expects him to do. Another reason could be inactivity (e.g. a long-term injury or suspension)."
It should be noted that vast improvement does not necessarily mean that a player was underperforming previously.
Using those metrics, we can determine the 10 most improved La Liga players of the last six months.
