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The top 11 PL players with the best conversion rate from outside the box

Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United players all find themselves among the Premier League’s best ever long-range finishers.

You cannot beat somebody tw*tting it in from outside the box, as showcase by Sergio Aguero this weekend.

Opta has been compiling the stats on shots from outside the box since 2006, and Aguero sits second in the entire list, based on conversion rate, since then.

But there is one surprise name at the top of the list, while a couple of other unexpected players appear throughout. We’ve taken a look at the cream of the crop.

Jordan Ayew

With six goals from 52 long range attempts, Swansea’s Ayew has the best conversion rate from outside of the box out of any Premier League player since 2006, with 11.5%.

Ayew and brother Andre also made the record books this weekend as they joined just three other pairs of siblings to play for the same Premier League club, after the latter made his debut against Burnley.

Sergio Aguero

The Argentine has hit 17 goals from outside the box from 172 attempts – making his conversion rate 9.9%.

His four-goal haul against Leicester put him on 21 Premier League goals this season, behind only Mo Salah and Harry Kane.

READ: Sergio Aguero and the curse of making brilliance the norm

Mauro Zarate

Impressively, of Zarate’s nine goals in England, more than half (five) came from outside the box, leaving him with a conversion rate of 9.6%.

He is technically still a Premier League player with Watford, though he is currently out on loan at boyhood club Velez Sarsfield.

Pedro

Perhaps underrated at Chelsea, the former Barcelona man has averaged almost a goal every four games in the Premier League, netting seven from outside the box with a 9.3% success rate.

Xherdan Shaqiri

Eight of Shaqiri’s 13 Premier League goals for Stoke have come from outside the box, with 9.2% of his shots from range finding the back of the net.

“You don’t know me very well, obviously. I always score nice goals,” the ‘Alpine Messi’ said to a reporter when asked if his 20-yard bicycle kick at Euro 2016 was the best goal of my career.

Shaun Maloney

Now we’re getting to the good stuff. Across spells at Aston Villa, Wigan and Hull, the former Scotland international hit seven goals from range, with a conversion rate of 8.9%.

The Celtic legend is now back working with his old club as a youth coach, and we couldn’t leave out this scorcher in an Old Firm derby.

Juan Mata

The Spaniard has netted 11 times from outside the box, from 127 attempts, giving him a 8.7% success rate.

Anyway, we really we love him.

READ: Seven reasons Juan Mata has become ingrained in every football fan’s heart

Kevin Davies

Furrowed brow? Confused expression? Yep, Davies’ four long-range goals from 52 shots give him a 7.7% success rate and put him eighth in the all-time list.

It might have even been higher if the stats stretched far enough…

Christian Benteke

He does have a taste for scoring some absolute belters. The striker has hit five goals from distance from a total of 66 shots – a 7.6% conversion rate.

Seb Larsson

Who can honestly say they didn’t used to love seeing Larsson standing over a free kick?

He took exactly 200 shots from outside the box in his Premier League career, scoring 15 times.

Carlos Tevez

Now back at Boca Juniors for his third spell, Tevez sneaks onto this list by equalling Larsson’s 7.5% success rate – with 17 goals from 228 attempts.

That also means that one in five of his Premier League goals came from outside the box.


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