Stats: Would Bolasie be a good signing for Liverpool? Does he outperform young winger?

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The Reds have been linked with a move for the Crystal Palace winger, so how does he compare to Raheem Sterling?

Liverpool have been linked with a move for Crystal Palace winger Yannick Bolasie, reports the Daily Star.

It says the Reds are interested in a £2.5m move for the 25-year-old, but one wonders if he is needed at Liverpool.

Raheem Sterling has been in fine form and can play out wide so he would be the main competition, so do the statistics show that such a move would make sense?

An important aspect of a winger’s play is their dribbling and how they take on a man, if they regularly lose the ball then they are not effective in the game. As the statistic below shows, despite making fewer appearances and playing fewer minutes, Bolasie managed to overrun three times more than Sterling.

This statistic also comes up in favour of Sterling and shows that the youngster is leading the way when it comes to contesting against his opponent and trying to take them on. But further to that, as a result of winning more contests, it might suggest that he is more inclined to try and take on his man than the Eagles winger, hence he has been dispossessed on 17 more occasions.

What is perhaps not a surprise is the chances created for the sides by the two players. It is expected that Sterling would be ahead of Bolasie here purely on the fact that Liverpool had a season where they created lots of chances, resulting in them scoring 101 goals, whereas Crystal Palace only found the net on 33 occasions.

It does seem a little odd that Liverpool would go for Bolasie with a view to giving him a regular starting place at Liverpool given the form Sterling has shown that has got him into the England squad, along with the emergence of Jordon Ibe who looks like a promising talent who is worth putting a lot of faith in.

Bolasie has also failed to find the net in the Premier League this season with Sterling scoring on nine occasions. It would seem to be a bit of an odd move as Liverpool would be buying a player a low fee and the statistics suggest that he won’t be seen a lot. If a deal were to happen it could end up like Oussama Assaidi, who seems to be on the verge of leaving Liverpool to move to Stoke City, where he has spent the past season on loan.