The rumour is Nico Schlotterbeck could be on his way from Borussia Dortmund to Man Utd. How would he compare to United's current backs?

When compared to United’s 4 other outright Defenders/Backs, in the 7 Defensive Actions categories covered (graphic above) he comes out top in 4 of them so he definately looks like he would improve United’s defensive capabilities at first look.

However that should be countered with the fact that comparing stats from the German Bundeslega to the Premier League is not comparing apples with apples. In my research I looked at a number of factors to compare global leagues to then rate the qualty of the league out of 100. My results were:

If you do take that into account and factor that into his stats (reduce his stats by 24%) then Schlotterbeck does not come out top in any of the categories.

Another stat to consider is that in Tackles Made per 90 Mins, Schlotterbeck ranks 22nd in Bundesliga for Defenders who have played a total of 360 mins or more this season. That does not exactly put him in the top echelon of Bundesliga Defenders

Could be a good defensive aquisition for Man United if the rumour turns into a fact, but maybe not a great aquisition.

Of course this is all subjective at this point.

Lets see.

All stats for this analysis are provided by FBref