The Swansea star is having another superb season in the Premier League, but is he comparable to the Liverpool and Arsenal England internationals?
Swansea City midfielder Nathan Dyer continues to be overlooked by Roy Hodgson for England, despite being one of the country’s most outstanding wide talents.
Against Manchester City on Saturday, Dyer collected his first assist of the season, setting up Wilfried Bony’s opener with a sublime through ball that the Ivorian chested down before finishing past Joe Hart.
It was another highlight of what has been an impressive campaign for the 26-year-old, who has been a consistent performer for the Welsh outfit during their 4 years in the Premier League.
The Southampton academy graduate certainly demonstrates that the Saints have had a solid history in producing outstanding wingers in recent years, but unlike the likes of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Theo Walcott and Gareth Bale, Dyer is yet to be recognised by his country.
Below we look at how Dyer matches up against the wingers selected in Hodgson’s recent England squad:
| Team | Goals | Goal Assist | Passing Accuracy | Won Contest | Was Fouled | Mins Played | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nathan Dyer | Swansea | 3 | 1 | 88.75% | 11 | 15 | 684 |
| Raheem Sterling | Liverpool | 3 | 3 | 78.92% | 30 | 29 | 913 |
| Stewart Downing | West Ham | 2 | 4 | 84.10% | 8 | 14 | 989 |
| Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain | Arsenal | 1 | 0 | 79.95% | 38 | 6 | 738 |
| Andros Townsend | Tottenham | 0 | 0 | 83.87% | 1 | 5 | 153 |
The table above shows that Dyer is pretty competitive when compared to the existing England wingers, the majority of which have more minutes than him. He has as many goals as Liverpool star Raheem Sterling, while also setting up one goal for his side, something that Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has failed to do for Arsenal.
He boasts the strongest passing accuracy of all wide prospects for England, with an 89% accuracy higher than Stewart Downing and Andros Townsend who share 84% accuracy.
But while Dyer proves himself top of the tree when it comes to passing and goalscoring, he isn’t quite up to the level of Sterling and Oxlade-Chamberlain when it comes to dribbling accuracy, with the two England stars boasting 30 and 38 successful attempts at beating their man. However Dyer is ahead when compared to Downing, and is also second to only Sterling when it comes to drawing fouls.
As the statistics above show, Dyer is well worth a chance for Roy Hodgson’s England side, especially compared to the likes of Andros Townsend and even the much improved Stewart Downing.
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