Usain Bolt's 9.58 second 100m dash has given rise to a healthy debate of sorts here about who the fastest football player on the planet might be.The following data is about a year old (dated data).It gives the sprint parade top 10, commissioned by Nike and put together by Opta Sportsdata (the first figure is to the ball - on a 45 metre course - the second figure shows the speed running with the ball).
1. Cristiano Ronaldo : 20.9mph -- 20.8mph
2. Andrew Johnson : 20.6 -- 20.7
3. Fernando Torres : 20.5 -- 20.6
4. Kenwyne Jones : 20.7 -- 20.2
5. Ashley Young : 20.4 -- 20.3
6. Aaron Lennon : 20.6 -- 19.6
7. Cameron Jerome : 20.3 -- 20.1
8. Shaun Wright-Phillips : 18.9 -- 21.2
9. Jermain Defoe : 20.4 -- 19.2
10. David Bentley : 20.0 -- 19.8
this is inaccurate dude. thierry henry isnt even there and he's like dang fast.. and now theo walcott is even faster than henry and look at that list..they just dont wanna put arsenal player in it whatsoever
Football is more than raw speed. Especially when playing at the highest level when you don't get a lot of space to run. lt is in leagues with kamikazee defending and lots of poor man marking like the Premiership where being able to run so fast with the ball or without it, is going to be vital in evey game. Other leagues have a balance of thinking, creating, running and finishing. ln england the game is running, running,running...1 Hence the long list of players with speed in the list coming from the Prem. There are lots of speedy players in pain, Germany and Italy like Odonkor, Henry and suprisingly for a lot of people Kaka, but speed is only one component of the game in mainland Europe. you don't always need or get the opportunity to run to your fastest speed over there.
Vinod, Sky Sports also carries Premiership games and so their bias benefits them. Such findings are bound to cement the status of the Premiership as the global league adding more viewership.
By 'planet', surely you mean the Premiership right? Because there are players outside of the so-called 'best league in the world' (tm) who are also worthy of contention. But seeing as this whole program was an exercise conducted by Sky Sports, I can't really imagine them going out of their home grounds and bothering to conduct an actual world-wide survey before proclaiming that they have found the fastest footballers on the planet.
Of course, Ronaldo counts as a Premiership player, since the author kindly pointed out that this data is a year old.
That is strange. I thought he would have been in the top three.
walcott didn't make the top 10?
Footybanter, I guess there is a certain loping style that can keep up with the scampering Aaron Lennon's of the world.
Kenwyne Jones and Cameron Jerome on that list? Never expected that to happen!