European Team of the Season: AMC - Emil Forsberg (RB Leipzig)

As far as first seasons in a major European league go, Emil Forsberg made the step up to the Bundesliga with consummate ease. Creator in chief for a RB Leipzig side that can claim to have done the same thing, exceeding expectations, the Sweden international is now believed to be the subject of interest from the likes of Bayern and Arsenal.

It’s been quite the rise to prominence for a player that failed to show his potential at Euro 2016, but Forsberg certainly proved his quality over the course of the campaign. A move into a more central position from the left wing certainly brought the best out of the 25-year-old’s creativity, averaging the most key passes per game in the Bundesliga (3.1).

Whilst he also weighed in with a valuable eight goals for the Bundesliga runners-up from a modest 1.6 shots per game, there’s no question as to where the Swede excelled. His quality over set pieces and delivery into the box from open play to boot helped Forsberg to a massive 19 assists, which was a record across Europe’s top 5 leagues. An average of 1.6 accurate crosses per game was bettered by only two players in Germany after all.

That said, his vision in open play was the main contributing factor to such a superb return, and only teammate Naby Keita played more accurate through balls in Germany’s top tier (5). Moreover, an average of 2.4 successful dribbles per game showcased Forsberg’s ability to carry the ball forwards himself as well as playing a defence splitting pass, with that figure also enough to rank among the top ten players in the Bundesliga.

His stellar displays earned a league-high of 9 man of the match awards from WhoScored.com, contributing to a rating of 7.75 to earn a place in our European team of the season.