Burnley have been one of the most eye-catching teams not just in the Championship this season, but in the whole of Europe. Vincent Kompany and his men have taken the Championship by storm, sitting at the top of the table with an impressive 13-point lead.
What has been most impressive with Burnley is that their squad contains a number of exciting youth players that have stepped up to their potential and delivered in one of the most demanding leagues in the world. One such player is Nathan Tella, on loan from Southampton. The midfielder who can also play as a forward has lit up the Championship with 17 goals and is Burnley’s top scorer this season so far.
The below visualisation shows where Tella ranks for some of the key metrics when compared with similar players from the Championship.
The 23-year-old, originally of the Arsenal youth ranks, moved to the Saints academy in 2017. Having been promoted to the first team during the 2019/20 season, Tella has since struggled at Southampton for game time and the move to Burnley in the summer was most welcome to everybody involved but it is fair to mention that Tella has indeed exceeded expectations for the season. Playing on the left side of an attacking front four, Tella has racked up impressive attacking numbers this season. Only two other players, Akpom and Gyökeres, have scored more goals than the Burnley man this season.
Tella’s impressive ability to finish off moves and find the back net has put him on the list of one of the biggest overperformers of xG in the league. With an xG of only 8.5, Tella has scored 17 goals. It might not look like Tella is strong aerially looking at the visual but the Englishman has four headed goals to his name — joint-third for headed goals in the Championship.
Looking at his defensive numbers, Nathan Tella is not yet a complete player but playing in one of the most complete systems in the league, he has not been required to contribute massively on the defensive side of the game.
After finally getting the chance to prove himself, Tella has impressed a number of people not just at Burnley but at his parent club Southampton as well. It will be interesting to see where Tella plays next season because Burnley look set to be promoted to the Premier League but his parent club Southampton are well on course to be relegated to the Championship!
