There are few things as majestic on a football pitch as a player who is equally comfortable using either foot.
Usually, ambipedal footballers are highly sought after in the transfer market as they offer excellent flexibility in the more fluid tactical system of modern football.
Goalscoring is a highly valued and players who have the ability to rocket them home with both feet are rarer than you might imagine.
We would have loved to include the mind-blowing ambipedal creators such as Santi Cazorla, but without statistical evidence to include other two-footed marvels, we decided to make a list based on numbers.
Squawka has looked through the data and found every player to score 10+ league goals with both feet since 2014/15 in one of Europe’s top five divisions.
We have then sorted the list by which players have split their efforts most evenly – excluding headers for this calculation – to find the reigning ambipedal king.
Read on, you might just be surprised…
10. Duvan Zapata
Current club: Atalanta
Total goals in Europe’s top five leagues since 2014/15: 41
Right-footed: 21
Left-footed: 10
Right/left split: 67.7%-32.3%
The Colombian star has made a habit of scoring big goals after signing for Napoli in 2013. Previously out on loan to Udinese and Sampdoria, he now find himself in Bergamo with Atalanta.
Sometimes unfairly marked out as purely a target man, the Colombian has proven that he can find the net with both feet scoring 24.4% of his total goals with his weaker foot. Although not entirely relevant to this particular article, the 10 headed goals he has makes him the complete forward threat.
9. Christian Eriksen
Current club: Tottenham
Total goals: 35
Right-footed: 21
Left-footed: 13
Right/left split: 61.8%-38.2%
Although Eriksen has struggled to find the net this campaign, he ended the 2017-18 Premier League season with 10 goals, six of which were scored with his ‘weaker’ left foot compared to four from his right.
In the 2016/17 season, Eriksen also scored more with his left than with his right, and strangely it took him 28 games to break his goalscoring duck that season with his right foot when he scored in injury time during a 3-1 win over Swansea City, adding another a couple of weeks later against Crystal Palace.
It seems Spurs’ chief playmaker has waves one wand for creating chances, and the other for putting them away.
8. Michy Batshuayi
Current club: Valencia
Total goals: 41
Right-footed: 22
Left-footed: 14
Right/left split: 61.1%-38.9%
For a player that has struggled to find a home, Michy Batshuayi has been showing an exceptional ability to net with his weaker foot.
The Belgian star has scored 34.1% of his total goals with his weaker left foot and this perhaps was one of the reasons he was so sought after in the summer.
After netting seven times in just 10 Bundesliga appearances for Dortmund last season the Chelsea striker was hot property in pre-season but has struggled to be as prolific in Spain.
7. Marek Hamsik
Current club: Napoli
Total goals: 32
Right-footed: 17
Left-footed: 12
Right/left split: 58.6%-41.4%
Napoli’s long-serving captain has been a reliable source of goals throughout his 11-year stint at the club, resulting in him breaking Diego Maradona’s all-time scoring record for the club.
The Slovakian scored seven times in Serie A last season and they were spread out nicely with three from his right and four from his left. Beyond the goals, Hamsik is a delight to watch and trying to work out which foot is his strongest is always brilliant fun.
6. Edin Dzeko
Current club: Roma
Total goals: 59
Right-footed: 29
Left-footed: 20
Right/left split: 59.2%-40.8%
Edin Dzeko is one of the most effective two-footed players in the whole of Europe… and he is not bad with his head either.
With 33.9% of his strikes being delivered by his weaker foot the Bosnian striker is a lethal player for Roma and has netted a mightily impressive 55 league goals in 112 appearances since signing from Manchester City.
Never quite appreciated for how technically gifted he really is, perhaps you’ll look at the Dzeko in a different light now.
5. Son Heung-Min
Current club: Tottenham
Total goals: 44
Right-footed: 24
Left-footed: 18
Right/left split: 57.1%-42.9%
Since netting just four goals during his maiden campaign in the Premier League with Spurs, the South Korean has rediscovered his Bundesliga goalscoring form, netting double digits in consecutive Premier League seasons.
Last term, the 26-year-old scored 12 goals spread out equally after he netted five apiece with both his feet, while also bagging a further two with his head, proving how versatile his overall gameplay is.
4. Ivan Perisic
Current club: Inter Milan
Total goals: 37
Right-footed: 12
Left-footed: 17
Right/left split: 41.4%-58.6%
A slightly contentious one, this, as we’re not even sure that Ivan Perisic knows which of his feet he prefers using.
However, when you watch Perisic playing for Croatia or Inter he generally plays as an inside forward on the left wing, using his right foot to complete most on-ball actions.
Judging by his spread of goals though it is clear that he has had far more success over the past five years shooting with his left foot than his right while also carrying a big aerial threat as well.
3. Pedro
Current club: Chelsea
Total goals: 32
Right-footed: 17
Left-footed: 13
Right/left split: 56.7%-43.3%
Pedro’s two-footed finishing has blown minds ever since his time at Barcelona. And, given his ideal role in the Sarri-ball machine at Chelsea, we’re starting to see it more regularly again.
He has scored 26 times in 110 appearances in the Premier League for Chelsea, six of those coming in just 15 games this season.
2. Wissam Ben-Yedder
Current club: Sevilla
Total goals: 58
Right-footed: 29
Left-footed: 28
Right/left split: 50.9%-49.1%
The French striker has been in exceptional form this season for La Liga surprise package Sevilla. With seven goals in just 13 league matches this season, the two-footed striker is averaging better than a goal every other game.
His ability to net with both feet has been a key reason for his productive career and makes for a formidable duo alongside Andre Silva as Sevilla challenge Barcelona for the title.
1. Ousmane Dembele
Current club: Barcelona
Total goals: 27
Right-footed: 13
Left-footed: 13
Right/left split: 50%-50%
Ousmane Dembele has only played professional football for three full seasons, but he has made some start to his career after exploding onto the scene with Rennes. The French winger then continued his rapid development with Dortmund before ultimately securing a sensational move to Barcelona last summer.
Ousmane Dembélé's first-team goals and assists for club & country by foot:
Left foot: Right foot:
• 16 goals • 18 goals
• 18 assists • 16 assistsLooking for his weaker foot like… pic.twitter.com/lraQcWDAJP
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) November 28, 2018
The lively forward is a wonderfully balanced footballer and is able to wreak havoc on his opponents with either foot through scoring goals for himself or assisting others.
Since his breakthrough in the 2015-16 season, Dembele has scored 13 goals with his right foot, the one he claims is his weaker despite the fact he takes penalties with it, compared to another 13 with his left.
His even differential between his left foot and his right foot make him the undisputed ambipedal king of European football.
Ambipedal
[adjective]
1. having the ability to use both feet equally well.
2. Ousmane Dembélé. ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/Kmw6nTpApF— Squawka Football (@Squawka) June 21, 2017
Stats provided by Opta and data correct as of 21/12/2018.
The post The 10 deadliest two-footed players in Europe right now appeared first on Squawka News.
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