Antonio Nusa Among Europe’s Best Dribblers With Only Lamine Yamal Ahead

Antonio Nusa has spent much of the opening weeks of the season making defenders backpedal. Across Europe, only Lamine Yamal has managed to get past them more often.

According to data published by PopFoot, Nusa has completed 37 dribbles from 67 attempts across Europe's top five leagues this season, giving the RB Leipzig winger a success rate of 55 percent.

Only Barcelona's Yamal has completed more with 38.

Behind Nusa are Michael Olise with 32, Yan Diomande and Désiré Doué with 30, and Omar Marmoush with 28. Jude Bellingham, Kylian Mbappé and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia are also inside the top ten.

For Leipzig, the company is significant.

Nusa Is Becoming Leipzig's Difference Maker

The numbers reflect something that has become increasingly obvious when watching Martín Demichelis' side. Give Nusa the ball with a defender in front of him and something usually happens.

His first instinct is rarely to recycle possession. He wants to engage the defender, shift the ball onto either foot and attack the space behind him.

That unpredictability was always part of the attraction when Leipzig signed him from Club Brugge in 2024. What has changed is how consistently he is now producing it.

Nusa has started the season with three goals and two assists from his opening six appearances, establishing himself as one of the most dangerous players in Leipzig's rebuilt attack.

The dribbling numbers show another side of that influence.

This is not simply volume. Nusa has completed 55 percent of his attempts, the same success rate as Olise, who sits third on the list. Only Diomande and Doué have completed at least 30 dribbles with a higher percentage.

Only Lamine Yamal Is Ahead

There is obviously no need to turn the numbers into a direct comparison between Nusa and Yamal.

Their roles, teams and circumstances are different. But being separated by a single successful dribble after the opening weeks of the season says something about the level at which Nusa is currently operating in one of the defining aspects of his game.

Yamal has completed 38 from 83 attempts.

Nusa has completed 37 from 67.

That means Die Roten Bullen winger has attempted 16 fewer dribbles while ending only one successful take-on behind the Barcelona star.

And this is increasingly what Leipzig want from him.

The departures of several major attacking players over recent windows have created room for Nusa to become more than another young talent in the squad. At 21, he is beginning to carry genuine responsibility in the final third.

The Attention Will Only Grow

It also provides some context for the transfer interest surrounding him.

Arsenal have again been linked with Nusa ahead of January, although according to our own sources, Leipzig have not placed a price on the Norwegian and have no intention of selling him during the winter window.

Performances like these explain why the calls keep coming.

Nusa is scoring more, creating more and, when the ball reaches him in isolation, beating defenders at a rate almost nobody in Europe's major leagues can currently match.

For now, there is only one player ahead of him.

His name is Lamine Yamal. And the question is, can Nusa surpass him?