Manchester City have fallen off the pace in the Premier League this season, and now it seems like one of their players is struggling after being revealed as the slowest player in England’s top flight for 2024/25.
A difficult defence of their Premier League title currently sees Manchester City lying in fifth, with injury to Rodri and a lack of form throughout the team contributing to a season to forget for Pep Guardiola and his side.
There’s still an opportunity for glory in the FA Cup and inaugural Club World Cup, but as Guardiola suggested, no one deserved a bonus for any silverware after falling short of the high standards they have previously set. The aging squad has certainly played a factor, and that has presented itself with the latest revelation from statistics guru Opta.
Manchester City star has clocked the slowest pace in the Premier League
While Jeremy Doku, Omar Marmoush and Erling Haaland are all absolutely rapid and capable of blitzing past their opponents with their speed, Manchester City’s squad also contains some slightly slower individuals.
Ilkay Gundogan, Mateo Kovacic and Jack Grealish aren’t notorious for their pace, but all have still managed to clock quick top speeds than the statistically slowest outfield player in the Premier League this season.
Instead, that unwanted honour lies with Bernardo Silva, who is one of just three players to have failed to register a top speed quicker than 30km/h in 2024/25. The Portuguese midfielder has only managed to hit 29.4km/h, while Wolves defender Craig Dawson and Arsenal’s Mikel Merino have barely run faster.
Casemiro of Manchester United and West Ham midfielder Tomas Soucek round out the top five of slowest outfielders, and though it must be noted that goalkeepers aren’t included, David Raya has managed to sprint at a pace of 32.7km/h this season.
Fulham goalkeeper Bernd Leno is the player in the whole of the Premier League who has the lowest top speed, hitting a height of just 23.6 km/h.
Bernardo Silva, though, runs a lot during games – of the players who have 1,500+ minutes in the top flight this term, he has completed 11.9km every 90 minutes. That places him fourth on the list, behidn Dejan Kulusevski, Soucek and Sandro Tonali.
The top five slowest Premier League players
Bernardo Silva: 29.4km/hCraig Dawson: 29.6km/hMikel Merino: 29.8km/hCasemiro: 30.2km/hTomas Soucek: 30.2km/h
