His opening games were Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham, where you are almost putting him to sink or swim and he certainly learnt to swim.” – Roy Hodgson on Aaron Wan-Bissaka.

Injuries at right-back in February of 2018 meant Aaron Wan-Bissaka was rushed into the first team ahead of schedule against a Spurs team that were in full flight in February of 2018. He was introduced to the watching world as a winger that was now plying his trade as a right full-back, hence it was fair to make the assumption that the Spurs wingers would rip into him.

However, the young Englishman handled himself astutely, barely putting a foot wrong in a narrow 1-0 defeat to Tottenham. Since then his stock has risen with him being the first choice right-back at Crystal Palace, putting in performance after performance against the likes of Leroy Sane, Anthony Martial and Sadio Mane and nullifying their offensive threat to a large degree.

Funnily enough, growing up, the defender’s idol was one that would potentially be his toughest opponent had they played in the same generation, a certain Frenchman by the name of Thierry Henry, who had a knack of putting opposition full-backs in a tizzy spinning in of the left flank.

Wan-Bissaka attributes a lot of his attacking prowess down to idolizing Henry growing up, evident from the success rate of his dribbles.

So what makes the young full-back one of the hottest commodities in the Premier League? A player so good that he is being followed by all of England’s elite, whether it be Chelsea, Man United or Man City.

Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s biggest strength lies in his ability to win a tackle. In the Premier League this season, he makes 3.8 tackles a game with a 73%+ success ratio and commits only one foul every two games on average, an astonishing number for a full-back in this division.

That stat, however, arises from his pace and ability to make up ground on a winger. He also makes around 2.3 interceptions a game, showing that he has more than just the 1 on 1 defending ability. He gets dribbled past only 0.3 times a game.

His youth team coach Richard Shaw spoke about Wan-Bissaka’s willingness to learn in his formative years at Palace:

“He was very keen to learn, He’d come back out in the afternoons, after training, to work on his heading, his clearances, his delivery up to the front player. That wasn’t like Aaron when I first knew him. He had previously been happy to shoot off. But his persona changed.“

“He was always a bit of a follower, getting into a bit of mischief with his mates, who were quite boisterous. But we kept on at him, telling him what it takes to be a footballer, asking him what he wanted to become and it began to click for him. He became more focused and before you knew it, he was training with the first team more often than not.”

This dedication clearly displays how much hard work he must have put in pre the positional switch from winger to full-back.

So much so, that from a winger that averaged several dribbles per game in the U23s to 80 tackles in the league 3 behind Idrissa Gueye, arguably the best retriever in the league it is fair to say his rise has been astronomical.

On the 83 occasions, an opponent has approached Wan-Bissaka with the ball this season, he has only been beaten 6 times, meaning he has an incredible success rate of 92.8% in these situations. (Until game week 23)

He has been at the club since he was 11, and with Roy Hodson at the helm, a master of the defensive side of the English game, the sky is the ceiling for Wan-Bissaka.

These graphics from September, comparing him to the average full-back are quite astonishing. Barring generating chances, Aaron Wan-Bissaka is not just competing with his seniors, he is showing them up in some style, playing for mid-table Palace. (But one point to keep in mind is that – a defender playing for a mid-table side is called into more defensive actions as compared to defenders playing for the top-6 sides, hence Wan-Bissaka’s high numbers are a result of a Palace side that is put under pressure by the opposition very often.)

Aaron Wan-Bissaka candidly spoke about his rise to stardom over the last few years: