Next in the series of ‘who’s on offer?’ is the Super League. For those of you that don’t know, it’s the top tier in Greek football. The Greek league is very much like how the Scottish top division is now, one team absolutely dominates while the rest are inconsistent in where they lie, although they do often alternate between which place they occupy towards the top end of the table or at the bottom of the table.
Olympiacos have proved to be run away champions year after year of late. Panathinaikos, Atromitos and PAOK Thessaloniki usually have a battle between who finishes where in the top four. It’s quite a young league in terms of the average age of the teams as no team have an average of over 28. The youngest is 22.6, which one of the youngest in top flight European football. Enough said about the Super League, lets see what’s on offer.
1. Konstantinos Mitroglou
He has an average of over a goal a game and has an rate of almost two direct contributions per appearance, also. That’s right, Mitroglou is in scintillating form as he found the net on 14 occasions this season in just 10 games – he’s also grabbed 2 assists in the process. A rising star in Greek and European football as he now has quite a few admirers from afar, with Arsenal supposedly being one of those.
2. Javier Saviola
The 31-year-old has quite some CV to hand into employers in terms of the clubs he’s been at in his career – Barcelona, AS Monaco, Sevilla, Real Madrid, Benfica and Malaga all make the list. When given the chance he’s quite a deadly finisher of the ball as well as being efficient in setting up team mates. He’s a real team player that can also be a little bit selfish, but that’s expected in a striker.
3. Miroslav Stoch
The Slovakian also has a history of playing football at the top level for various different teams as he’s spent time at Chelsea, FC Twente and Fenerbache all before the age of 24. Now he’s at PAOK Thessaloniki and is enjoying a good debut season as he already has 4 goals and 4 assists in 11 games.
4. Sotiris Ninis
Earned a reputation at Euro 2012 as being a livewire in attack and, because of size, he was very hard to stop when his wheels are in motion. He already has 31 caps for Greece which is brilliant for a 23-year-old. An attacking midfielder by trade, but can operate elsewhere, especially on the wings.
5. Leandro
The Brazilian centre-back has been a regular feature for AEL Kalloni this season at the age of just 19. He already has 11 appearances under his belt in the league and looks set to get a whole lot more as the season progresses.
6. Pablo de Blasis
The Argentine is another player in great form this season in more ways than one. He’s been in and amongst the goals but also the assists as he has a combined total of 9. An attacking midfielder who can be quite the handful on his day.
7. David Fuster
The 31-year-old is just starting to grind to a halt in terms of form and progress. Although he has 2 goals and 6 assists in 8 games, he still hasn’t enjoyed his football these past couple of years. However, there is still a good player to be had and he definitely has the experience behind him.