How Tottenham star Ryan Mason compares to 11/12 Luka Modric

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Can Ryan Mason’s breakthrough season compare to Luka Modric?

While Harry Kane has been outstanding for Tottenham, the emergence of Ryan Mason in midfield has been one of the stories of their season.

The academy prospect has been rewarded for his patience, finally breaking through at the age of 23. His performances have been so strong that an England call-up comes as no surprise.

Mason’s performance against Leicester City at the weekend was his 23rd Premier League game of the season, 22 of which have been starts.

He is excelling occupying the midfield position once held by Real Madrid star Luka Modric, still regarded as one of the world’s best midfielders.

While the bar set by Modric is the very highest a player like Mason could aspire to, we took at look at his breakout season compared with the Croatian’s final year at Spurs as comparison.

Mason’s combative style lends himself well to the Premier League, and tackling is one of his key strengths. The youngster however generally suffers by comparison to Modric, although this is one area in which he excels.

Modric yields a far greater influence on possession, touching the ball on average 23 times more each match, although an extra four per cent pass completion rate is not as substantial a difference.

Mason has scored just one league goal compared to Modric’s four, although has just one less assist in 13 fewer matches. This is despite creating far fewer chances per game than the current Real Madrid star.

Mason’s performances give real reason for encouragement, and if he can continue his upwards trajectory, holding down and England will become his next challenge to tick off for Euro 2016.