WhoScored has decided to scour its plentiful statistics to ascertain the best crossers in Europe based on the accuracy of those who are most prolific across the top 5 leagues. Only 9 players made the grade in our search, filtering out all of those who haven't attempted at least 2 crosses per game and reached an accuracy of above 30%.
League Analysis
To get a greater gauge of just how consistent these ball swingers are with their deliveries, we first collected the league averages for cross accuracy, with some interesting outcomes. At the top of the pile was the Premier League, with its players finding their target with 23.9% of crosses on average.
England's top flight is closely followed by the Bundesliga (23.6%) and La Liga (22.9%), while Serie A (22.2%) and Ligue 1 (22%) languish behind a little. Perhaps the most surprising outcome with regards to the 9 outstanding performers, therefore, was that the French league was the best represented, with 3, while Spain's La Liga had none.
Europe's Top Four Accurate Crossers
A clear indication of the excellence in each of the players' crossing ability is shown by the fact that the least accurate of the candidates still had an accuracy up 8.9% on the average of his respective league, proving the following are the best in the business;
In terms of accuracy, one of our 9 expert crossers stood out from the rest. Stuttgart's experienced Hungarian international Tamas Hajnal just made the grade for crosses per game (2) but reaching the target with 26 out of 64 attempted deliveries brings the 30-year-old an outstanding 40.6% accuracy.
A key creator for the German outfit, Hajnal makes 3 chances a game for teammates on average, meaning his tally of just 2 assists is somewhat unfortunate. Nevertheless, for his efforts, he has accumulated a WhoScored rating of 7.11, ranking him as the best player this season for 7th placed Stuttgart.
While Hajnal's accuracy is quite remarkable, the prolific nature in which Mathieu Valbuena finds a teammate with a cross is equally commendable. Picking out a Marseille colleague with 2.8 accurate crosses per game, the France international is accurate 35% of the time; with his successful deliveries a key source of an exceptional 3.3 key passes per game. His chance creation has reaped the rewards with the diminutive winger picking up more than double the assists of the other players analysed, with 7
Swansea's Mark Gower is the first of two Premier League representatives in the top 4, and all despite starting the season out of the side. Injury to Kemy Agustien thrust him into the limelight and his set-piece expertise and superb crossing has kept him there. An average of 2.7 per game have come from 70 attempts in total, leaving Gower with a success rate of 34.3%, bringing 3 assists from 8 starts.
One player who hasn't had his strikers to thank for a tally of 0 assists is Jamie O'Hara, with the Wolves-man minimally less accurate with his crosses than Gower (34.2%). A tally of 1.8 key passes per game is the lowest of our analysed candidates but has still warranted some reward, having found his man with 25 out of 73 crosses.
Top Crossers Continued: The Chasing Pack
While nothing can separate Christian Tiffert and Pablo Armero in terms of accuracy (33.3%), WhoScored ranks the former as the 5th best crosser in Europe having attempted more deliveries. The German has completed 2.5 per game from a total of 105 attempts but like O'Hara before him, has been let down by poor finishing from his Kaiserslautern counterparts, failing to register an assist as of yet.
Udinese's Armero has 3 in comparison, completing slightly more key passes per game than Tiffert (2.7 to 2.4), with his identical cross accuracy reached having managed 21 accurate crosses out of 63 for the high-flying Italians.
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Another inclusion from the Serie A sees Parma's Sebastian Giovinco, co-owned by league leaders Juventus, come in 7th. The little playmaker has proven his worth this season to both his club and country, netting 7 Serie A goals - half of Parma's overall tally. However, his goalscoring exploits are not all that is catching the eye, with an ability to deliver an astute and accurate cross also coming in very handy, finding a man with 31.9% of 72 attempted balls.
A French, Ligue 1 duo complete our leaderboard, with Franck Tabanou just pipping Camel Meriem with an accuracy of 31.3% to 31.1%. The young Toulouse winger is a real prospect and already a key player for his side, with 3 assists proving his ability to create, while the converted full-back has also struck twice to show composure in front of goal.
Veteran Nice playmaker Meriem is only beaten in WhoScored ratings for his side by left-back Fabian Monzon, with a figure of 6.82 heralding from 3 assists and 2.9 key passes per game, despite only starting 10 of his side's 15 league games this term.
