Harambee Stars and AIK defender Erick ‘Marcelo’ Ouma has been ranked as one of the best dribblers among fullbacks aged 23 years and above, according to a report by International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES).
The former Gor Mahia left-back has been ranked third in the top 10 fullbacks judged by their dribbling frequency, success rate and sporting level of teammates and opponents as traced by an Italian company Wyscout.
Ouma ranks third behind Javi Galan of Spain’s Celta Vigo and Bayern Munich’s Joao Cancelo. He has the best dribbling success rate of the top three at 78.9 percent compared to Galan’s 69.2 percent and Cancelo’s 64.3 percent.
Ouma accounts for 16:05 minutes of dribbling frequency and a 0.56 score on the sporting level of teammates and opponents.
In February, Ouma was ranked as one of the players with the best take-on in the world for players outside the European big-five leagues. He was ranked in the top 10 and 59th worldwide with a score of 75.8 percent.
Last year, Marcelo was involved in seven goals (two goals and five assists) in the Swedish top-tier league, the second-most goal contributions by a defender in the league. He accumulated a total of 2,213 minutes across 26 matches.
Others who made the CIES top 10 list are Rodinei De Almeida (Olympiacos FC, Greece), Caio Paulista (Sao Paulo, Brazil), Chelsea’s Reece James, Bruno Langa (Chaves, Portugal), Juventus’ Alex Sandro, Ferdi Kadioglu (Fenerbahce, Turkey) and Olympique Marseille’s Nuno Tavares.
