Alex Iwobi says Arsenal have a £27m player who’s the absolute best in the world at heading

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Alex Iwobi has been tasked with naming who he believes are the best players in the world in certain attributes.

Indeed, speaking to the Champions League on TikTok, Alex Iwobi was asked to pick the best of the best in a number of key attributes.

Of course, some of these categories pick themselves, Kevin De Bruyne was named as the best passer on the planet by Iwobi, while Harry Kane was named as the best finisher in the world.

Interestingly, Iwobi picked an Arsenal player as the best in the world in terms of aerial ability.

Indeed, Iwobi has a soft spot for Arsenal, and according to the Fulham ace, Gabriel Magalhaes is the best in the world when it comes to heading the ball.

Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images

Alex Iwobi says Gabriel Magalhaes is the best in the air

Iwobi was asked to name who he believes is the best player in the world in terms of aerial dominance.

The midfielder didn’t have to think long before naming Gabriel Magalhaes as the winner in this category.

“Best in the air?” Iwobi was asked.

“Gabriel,” Iwobi said.

Iwobi made a few other interesting calls here, picking out who he believes are the best in the world in a number of important attributes.

Attribute Best in the world according to Alex Iwobi
First touch Pedri
Passing Kevin De Bruyne
Dribbling Lamine Yamal
Finishing Harry Kane
Set-piece taking Hakan Cahlanoglou
Aerial ability Gabriel Magalhaes
Pace Alejandro Balde
One on one defending Nuno Mendes
Leadership Marquinhos
Shot stopping Jan Oblak
Mentality Marcus Thuram

The most dominant aerial forces in Europe

Iwobi says that Gabriel is the best player in the world in the air, but the stats tell a different story.

Ben White says Gabriel is ‘scary’ from set-pieces, and his goal record in recent times does back that up.

Gabriel is great at scoring goals from set-plays, but in terms of winning aerial duels, there are some that outdo the Brazilian.

Most dominant aerial players in Europe Aerial duel win percentage
Jon Martin 82%
Nicolas Valentini 78%
Duje Caleta-Carr 77%
Yann Bisseck 76%
Denzel Dumfries 76%

According to the numbers, Real Sociedad’s Jon Martin is the best player in Europe in the air, winning a mammoth 82% of his aerial duels.

Meanwhile, the Premier League’s best is James Tarkowski, boasting a 75% win rate.

Gabriel wins just 59.6% of his aerial duels, so he’s some way off being the best in the world in this regard.

The £27m man is great in the air, but, sometimes, he does come off second-best.

Intriguingly, the worst player in Europe in terms of aerial duel win percentage this season is none other than Iwobi himself, winning just 13.9% of his aerial duels, with Eberechi Eze being the next worst player at 14.3%

Gabriel’s ability from set plays is certainly an important weapon for Arsenal.

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