Losing Erling Haaland was a huge loss for RB Salzburg. But they think have found a replacement in just a few months.
The player is from the club's academy and he has scored 25 goals and got six assists in just 38 competitive appearances. We are talking about Patson Daka.
A young 21 year-old striker who arrived in Europe thanks to Kanoute and is practically unknown for many, but he has been dubbed the 'new Haaland'. He is the man who has made the Austrians forget about the Norwegians.
Daka is the first Zambian player to score in the Champions League and has taken advantage of Haaland's departure to improve his goalscoring figures.
But is the new Salzburg man as good as Haaland? 'ProFootballDB' has analysed it and the results are simply spectacular.
June 12, 2020
Haaland has better stats than Daka
If we focus on the 2019-20 season for Salzburg, Daka scores a goal every 90 minutes on average while Haaland scores 1.55 goals in the same amount of time. Haaland also scored 68% of his chances compared to Daka's 48%.
And if we compare Haaland at Dortmund to Daka now? The results, since January, are similar. Although the Norwegian drops to 1.13 goals every 90 minutes, he is still well over the Zambian (0.89). Both players accuracy increases: Haaland 72%, Daka 50%.
The new Dortmund star is miles better than a Daka who, despite having great stats, is well off Haaland's numbers.
What is more, if we compare both players throughout the whole of 2019-20. Daka is on 0.98 goals per 90 minutes while the Norwegian is on 1.37. Haaland scores 69% of his opportunities, Daka 48%.
But there is something which Daka is better at
Despite the fact Haaland is much better than Daka in front of goal, the latter is better in other aspects. His key passes rate is 0.82 compared to Haaland's 0.58.
He also wins more aerial battle (1.76 to 1.19). And finally, the Salzburg man helps more in defence. He gets the ball back 1.96 times in the opposition half. Haaland does it 1.74 times.
We cannot, in summary say that Daka is as good as Haaland and his astonishing goalscoring stats, but it is true that his hunger for goal and his commitment on the field of play make him one of the best players at the moment. Will he beat the Norwegian one day?