Wolves’ center back For one amazing statistic, Toti Gomes ranks higher than every single defender in the Premier League. The 2023–24 Premier League season came to an end with Wolves sitting in 14th place.
Gary O’Neil had a respectable first season considering his injury problems and the limited pool of players from which to choose. This summer, he will try to add quality players to his roster.
Matheus Cunha, Hwang Hee-Chan, Joao Gomes, Toti Gomes, and other first-team talents saw their fortunes turn around under O’Neil, 41, who took over from Julen Lopetegui with a side bereft of confidence.
On the left side of O’Neil’s back three, Toti held his own defensively and proved to be an unyielding presence, while Cunha and Hwang flourished offensively, scoring double figures in the top division.
Despite making just 26 senior appearances under previous managers, the 25-year-old Portuguese international scored one goal and provided three assists in 42 games in all competitions in 2023–24.
It has now been revealed that he leads the Premier League rankings in one noteworthy category.
More completed dribbles than any other defender in the Premier League belong to Toti Gomes.
Toti’s primary strengths are using the ball to drive out of defense and being neat while in possession.
According to FBref, the towering center-back ranks in the top 2% of Premier League defenders for successful take-ons and has a decent 82% pass completion rate.
O’Neil’s team can play out of the back thanks to these stats, and Max Kilman is just as adept at passing the ball out of defense.
The Portuguese powerhouse (23), who ranks above Aston Villa’s Ezri Konsa (19) and Nottingham Forest’s Murillo (20), is the only defender in England’s top division to have executed more dribbles than WhoScored lists.
What a season the Wolves player has had is shown by the fact that William Saliba of Arsenal, who is undoubtedly one of the best ball-playing defenders in the division, is not even mentioned on this list.
Toti Gomes’s potential was unlocked by Gary O’Neil, who also deserves a great deal of credit for his exceptional man-management abilities since joining Molineux.
He made a brilliant choice when he started Toti in September’s 2-1 victory against Manchester City, and the Wolves defender hasn’t looked back.
Alongside Kilman and Craig Dawson, Toti has continuously shown greatness; the latter called him “magnificent” for his performance in the historic victory over Tottenham.
It simply goes to show that a manager can bring out the best in a player when he believes in them, and O’Neil has done just that with the former Estoril player.
The choice to start Toti against Man City, spurred by an epiphany, proved to be crucial and effectively launched his career at Molineux.
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