Player Focus - Europe's Top 20 Players

We analyse the top 20 players in January in Europe’s top 5 leagues.

With the New Year back in full swing, all of Europe’s top 5 leagues are back in action and the sides now have to make do with what they’ve got after the transfer window slammed shut on Friday. With January having come to an end then, here is a rundown of the top players of the month based on WhoScored’s unique, statistically calculated player ratings.The Bundesliga‘s star performers miss out having only played twice since a lengthy winter break, with the top 20 here all having made at least 3 league appearances in January.

There’s a familiar name at the top of the pile, with Cristiano Ronaldo picking up the best WhoScored.com rating of the month (8.70) having scored 4 goals in his 4 appearances, rifling off a European high of 35 shots in January – 11 more than any other player. He picked up 3 man of the match awards in turn, the best of which came courtesy of a brace against Celta Vigo in the first La Liga gameweek of 2014.

The Real Madrid icon is closely followed by Liverpool’s Luis Suárez, who also netted 4 times in the league last month but was significantly more efficient in front of goal, doing so from just 16 shots in comparison (25% conversion). The controversial forward earned a maximum score of 10 from WhoScored for his role in a remarkable 5-3 win at Stoke, scoring twice and completing 4 dribbles in the match.

With 3 goals and 3 assists Zlatan Ibrahimovic picks up the bronze in this instance, having laid on 13 chances for teammates as well as mustering 18 shots himself. The Swede also picked up a maximum rating of 10 in January for his part in a 5-0 rout over Nantes, scoring twice as well as picking up an assist.

Meanwhile it was Athletic Bilbao’s Aritz Aduriz who contributed to the most goals directly last month, with a European high of 5 assists added to a trio of strikes in January. That was enough to double his tally for the entire season, and with 2 goals and 2 assists in a single game against Osasuna he certainly put in one of the standout performances of the month.

Belgian pocket-rocket Dries Mertens ranks fifth in our ratings, with an average of 8.47 coming over the course of 4 Serie A appearances. He fired off 20 shots in that time – scoring 3 goals – and completed 15 dribbles; 4 of which came in a match winning display against Sampdoria having scored the only goals of the game.

Arsenal will be hoping that Jack Wilshere returns to full fitness ahead of the weekend after an excellent opening month of 2014 from the midfielder. The England international picked up an assist in all three of his Premier League appearances in January, as well as netting the opener in a 2-1 win at Aston Villa.

The first defender on our leaderboard, Fiorentina’s Gonzalo Rodriguez played a key role in seeing his side keep clean sheets in all 3 of their Serie A matches last month. He scored the only goal of the game against Livorno to earn the first of two man of the match awards in January, making 11 interceptions and 19 clearances over a trio of appearances.

Luka Modric continues to go from strength to strength at Real Madrid, becoming one of the most important players in a star-studded side. He picked up 3 assists in January, matching his total from the first three months of the season, completed 11 dribbles and won 14 tackles, again proving himself as one of the best all round midfielders in Europe.

Monaco’s 21-year old defender Layvin Kurzawa is the only full-back among the top 20, earning an average rating of 8.17 in his 3 Ligue 1 appearances, emerging as one of the top youngsters in his position this season in turn. The left-back netted in games against Montpellier and Toulouse last month and made 14 interceptions to show an advanced reading of the game.

Staying with Monaco, goalkeeper Danijel Subasic completes the top 10 having conceded just once in 3 matches in January, pulling off 16 saves to ensure that the French title hopefuls remained unbeaten last month. His display against Marseille particularly caught the eye, earning WhoScored’s man of the match award having made 8 saves to keep a clean sheet in a 2-0 win.

To round up the players that narrowly missed out on the top 10, Villarreal’s Ikechukwu Uche scored a month high of 6 goals from just 9 shots, while Barcelona’s Alexis Sánchez scored 4 from the same total in his 4 appearances. Arsenal’s Santi Cazorla also started the New Year in fine fettle, netting 3 times off the back of a goal in the FA Cup against rivals Spurs.

Atheltic Bilbao’s Ander contributed to 5 goals as his side continued their impressive start to the campaign, while Nice shot stopper David Ospina was crucial to his side keeping clean sheets in 2 of their 3 Ligue 1 matches, producing 15 saves. Lyon’s Gueida Fofana picked up a goal and an assist from his deep position in midfield and veteran centre-back Alessandro Lucarelli scored twice, as well as making 19 clearances, as Parma won all three of their league matches in January.

Four goals from 10 shots saw Fernando Llorente rank as Juventus’ top player in January, winning 16 aerial duels to boot, while Aston Villa’s Christian Benteke won a massive 39 as he returned to the form that saw him impress so much last season, netting in 3 successive matches having not scored since September. Sampdoria centre-back Daniele Gastaldello completes the leaderboard, with just one player making more interceptions (20) and only six completing more clearances (40) last month.