James Rodríguez: Real Madrid’s Best Midfielder? – Study Reveals

“The most productive players are not necessarily the most remembered,” was one of the phrases with which EFE Agency largely described the study published by the University of Extremadura in Spain, by researchers José M. Cordero (from said university) and Daniel Santin, from the Complutense University of Madrid.

What did the research consist of?

The study aimed compare the productivity of Real Madrid and Barcelona players, in the last 70 years (from 1955 to 2024) in five positions: goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders and forwards. To do this, they used an innovative methodology of applied economics, under an equation, in which the efficiency and changes in the productivity of units are measured, Also used for the provision of public services such as educational centers, municipalities or hospitals.

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Broadly speaking, the results showed a slight difference in favor of the Real Madrid players in terms of productivity in two of the four positions: goalkeepers and midfielders. In terms of defenders, the performance is equivalent between both clubs, while Barcelona’s forwards surpass those of Real Madrid, as a whole, although Cristiano Ronaldo was more decisive than Lionel Messi.

Criteria and variables taken into account

One of the established criteria was that A footballer must have played at least 100 official matches with his club to be included in the sample. “By standardizing the entry to the number of seasons spent at the club, players are compared in relation to the same temporal opportunity to generate results. This ensures that their potential impact on each club’s history is fairly assessed.”, they explain.

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For its part, four variables were taken into account in the study: the number of official matches played; he number of goals scored (except for goalkeepers); he number of national titles wonand the number of international titles won.

In the first variable, a multidimensional aspect of the player’s performance is captured, in which the reliability, consistency and level of integration in the team. Similarly, the goals scored reflect the ability of the players To achieve the main goal of the game, “making it the most direct and tangible measure of a player’s impact on the outcome of a game,” the authors explain.

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The third and fourth variable The contribution of each player to the team’s achievements takes a significant measure.

James Rodríguez, Real Madrid’s best midfielder, according to research

According to the research, James Rodríguez can be classified as the best midfielder (or the most decisive) in the history of Real Madrid, with a score of 77.74% in the ‘super-efficiency’ assessment, ahead of Claude Makélélé (82.00%), Luís Figo (88.51%), Toni Kroos (89.26%) o Mesut Özil (92.75%), among others. It is worth mentioning that James played 125 games for Merengue, scored 37 goals and gave 40 assists (although the latter was not taken into account).

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It is worth clarifying that, regarding the interpretation of the values, those that are less than 1 reflect that the player surpasses the other footballers in the same position, and the lower the super efficiency score, the better the player’s performance compared to other teammates. “Values ​​greater than one indicate inefficient behavior, that is, the higher the value, the greater the level of inefficiency,” the publication reads.

Taken from: José M. Cordero and Daniel Santín

James Rodríguez has fewer goals than Luís Figo, but he won more titles and did so in 20 fewer games. For his part, in the case of Michel González, he scored much more goals than James, but He did it in 8 more seasons and in 434 more games, which marks the Colombian’s influence in many fewer games, although the study did not take into account whether they did so as a starter or substitute.

However, If you compare James with the best in Barcelona, is surpassed by Seydou Keitawho obtained a score in the equation of 63.93%product of 189 games, 22 goals, 8 national and 6 international titles. Compared to the Malian, the trophies are what end up influencing. Cesc Fabregas He was second in Barcelona with 72.49%, Ivan Rakitić third with 95.24%, while Sergio Busquets was fifth with 113.02% and Xavi Hernandez seventh with 119.30%.

Cristiano, more influential than Messi

In attack there are no surprises, since the most efficient and productive players are Lionel Messi and Cristiano RonaldoWell, despite having played for many years in their respective teams, their volume of goals and titles won They place them far above any other attacker.

However, the study reveals that Cristiano Ronaldo had a more decisive impact on Real Madrid’s overall performance than the one who had Messi at FC Barcelona.

This conclusion is obtained by comparing how the overall productivity of each club’s forward group would change if the most outstanding player were eliminated from the analysis.

In the case of Madrid, Cristiano’s absence would mean a significantly greater technical deterioration than what would be implied by eliminating Messi from Barça’s group of forwards.

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