Stats Scouting: Evan Ndicka

Learning about the center back that Arsenal reportedly have a pre-agreement for him to join next summer after he becomes a free agent.

Arsenal might have a new left-footed center back with the team next season. There are reports out of Italy that Evan Ndicka of Frankfurt has already come to an agreement to move to London.

The French youth international has been in Germany for five seasons, having broken into becoming an every match starter last season. He has played, 75%, 56%, 67%, 93%, and now 99% of the available minutes for Eintracht Frankfurt. That is pretty impressive as he just celebrated his 23rd birthday as the season kicked off. Overall he has played 119 matches in the Bundesliga and clocked over 10,000 minutes.

The stats above are we he has done in his 20’s and it looks pretty good.

One of the big difficulties of looking at defenders is that while team effects are something to consider with every player, they are something that is even more prevalent with defensive players. Frankfurt are a decent team, currently 4th in the Bundesliga but stylistically they are quite different than Arsenal so that should be something that is taken into account as we go through things.

Arsenal compared to Frankfurt

Ndicka is primarily a left center back but has also played as a leftback. That would make him a nice cover option for Arsenal, who are a bit short on left-footed players in defense.

Ndicka is a large fellow with his listed height ranging from 6’2” to 6’4” and 180 to 190 pounds (got to love that something measurable is still something that gets agreement across different sources).

Let’s dig into what the stats say for him for the first half of this season: