A closer look at Bianchi's recordUpdated: August 8th, 2007
With The Times already poking fun at Bianchi’s goalscoring record, I thought it was worth looking at it in more detail.
The paper eagerly points out that Bianchi only scored four goals in 60 Italian games before last season. But a closer look at the player’s record at Sky Stats Centre reveals he only had three starts in 2005-06 and seven starts in 2004-05.
His record should also be viewed in the context of the serious ligament injury he suffered in October 2005, while during the 02-03 season he was a 19-year-old constantly in and out of the side.
In all, Bianchi has scored 22 league goals in 6,040 minutes of football during his career. That works out a goal every 275mins, while last season he averaged a goal every 177mins.
Judging by the list of Premiership goalscorers, a repeat of last season’s form would prove outstanding value for £8.8m, while 10-12 league goals would still be good value for money.
Below is Bianchi’s career record in the Italian league. The 00-01 and 01-02 seasons (where he played a combined 79mins) have been omitted. Figures do not include injury time.
Bianchi’s previous clubs:
Reggina: Jul 2005 to Jul 2007
Cagliari: Aug 2004 to Jul 2005
Atalanta: Jul 2001 to May 2004
~ Bianchi was a team-mate of Ousmane Dabo at Atalanta for the 01-02 and 02-03 seasons. Dabo scored four of his career-total nine league goals in 02-03 season, and Bianchi played in three of those games.