Who was the best debutant in the Premier League's first weekend?

                              

Nothing beats the beginning of a new season. The novelty of new teams, new faces and a clean slate on Fantasy football is immense, every year - not even Covid could change that. Indeed, the afflicted 2020/21 campaign seems to be particularly rich in nice kits, and the few games played so far point towards a decent distribution of quality in the league. Throw Bielsa into the mix and my excitement for this season is immeasurable. The coronavirus has had an impact on the football transfer market, though - I as a Liverpool fan know this more than most - resulting in fewer marquee transfers than usual for Premier League teams (our clubs spent £30 million pounds or more on 12 players last summer - we’ve only done the same for 7 new arrivals in this window, so far.) Nevertheless, 28 players (approximately) made their Premier League debuts in the past weekend of football - a handful of others made League debuts for new clubs (e.g. Willian for Arsenal). The former group of players captivated me, and I’m writing this article in honour of them. I’ll be picking out the four newbies who most-impressed me, in hopes of identifying the debutant of Gameweek One by the end of my analysis. To keep things interesting I’m sticking to Premier League debutants only, as opposed to club debutants, like the aforementioned Gooner. I’ll work through my men in order of appearance.


The season kicked off at 12:30 on Saturday, when Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal travelled to face Fulham at Craven Cottage. The away team negotiated an early scare on their way to an impressive 3-0 victory. After Aboubakar Kamara failed to capitalise on a mix-up at the back, Arsenal took the initiative, and Fulham didn’t get another sniff. The Gooners’ new centre-back, Gabriel Magalhaes, signed from Lille for £23.5 million, was excellent at both ends of the pitch on his league debut. Truly, it seems almost erroneous to say that the defender was making his first start: he had all the confidence and assurance of a man with 100 Premier League appearances (ironically, David Luiz is the opposite). Gabriel won 6 duels; completed 95% of his 114 passes (a league-leading stat); made three clearances and two tackles; scored a goal and found himself in WhoScored’s team of the week with a 7.96 rating. Arsenal had dearly missed a presence like this at the back - calm under pressure with accurate passes, but capable of getting his hands dirty. The Brazilian’s thunderous headed goal on 49 minutes capped a near-perfect display. You can’t really ask for much more from a centre-back: clean-sheet, goal and reliability at the back. That’s why Gabriel is one of my four newbies of the weekend.



Later that same day, Leeds faced Liverpool at Anfield in one of the most exciting opening-day rumbles of recent history. Liverpool managed to emerge victorious, but Leeds dominated the post-match chat - for all the right reasons. The Yorkshire club were brilliantly swashbuckling in transition, but resolute at the back, making more tackles at Anfield (33) than any other away team in the Premier League since Klopp’s arrival. Kalvin Phillips, positioned at the base of Bielsa’s midfield, was at the heart of everything the team in white did well. The Yorkshire Pirlo lived up to his nickname with multiple Hollywood passes, one of them weighted perfectly onto Jack Harrison’s boot for the latter’s goal in the twelfth minute. Phillips’ highlight reel on Match of the Day was highly impressive; the accuracy of his long-balls was incredible. He finished the match with: 51 passes at 80% accuracy; a superb assist as one of two key passes; 2 tackles and 8 duels; a combined 6 clearances, blocks and interceptions, and a 6.9 rating on WhoScored. Admittedly, I was unable to watch the game, but these stats, in combination with the highlights I’ve seen, speak of a complete midfield performance from Kalvin. He kept the Leeds machine ticking over on Saturday with intelligent passing, and formidable defending. Once again, you can’t ask for much more from a holding midfielder. I’m thus happy to present Phillips as my second newbie of Gameweek One.


It’s with delight that I tell you Leicester’s Timothy Castagne is the third of my four premier debutants. I took a gamble on the Belgian in my Fantasy Team - he was only owned by 1% of players (give or take) when I forked out £5.5m for him, hours before the deadline. My risk was rewarded by his goal and clean-sheet at the Hawthorns on Sunday. The versatile wing-back, signed from Atalanta, has large Portuguese boots to fill, what with Ricardo Pereira’s injury - his performance on Sunday was a shoehorn in this regard. Castagne marauded down the right for 90 minutes, to great effect. His second half goal was borne out of a late arrival into West Brom’s box. The Belgian is built perfectly for such a role - he’s tall (6ft), strong and pacey, which may even give him the athletic edge over Pereira. The defensive side of his game did not suffer for his attacking prowess: he made three tackles, two interceptions and won five aerial duels. He also completed 49 passes, and two crosses. A multifaceted performance like this is impressive by any standards, let alone for a Premier League debut. That’s why Timothy Castagne finds himself in contention for debutant of the weekend.


I could end the article here: the prospect of having to choose between the three men I’ve written about so far is daunting enough. Unfortunately, for writer and readers alike, I must go on. There’s a man I can’t ignore; a debutant who turned out a performance of such silky classiness on Sunday that words don’t seem enough - only an epic poem would do justice to this player’s escapades at Spurs’ Stadium the other day, I believe. As you may have guessed, James Rodriguez is the man in question - the Columbian gem in Everton’s new-look midfield (Allan and Doucoure are his partners.) Carlo Ancelloti deployed all three of his new men against Tottenham last weekend - Allan was making his League debut alongside James too. I could’ve realistically picked either of the aforementioned duo for praise (the Brazilian was imperious), but I’ve got a particular soft-spot for Rodriguez, so he’s the man for me. The Columbian was simply a cut-above the other day: like Gabriel, he played with the careless ease of a seasoned Premier League campaigner. He looked good doing it too, with his sharp haircut and Everton’s delectable Hummel Kit. I was worried James might struggle in England, but he hit the ground with a swagger in this fixture: the ex-Galactico had a highlights reel to die for against the North Londoners - his long-range passing in particular was totally astounding. The Everton newbie managed 5 key passes, 3 shots and 2 dribbles - his defending wasn’t bad either, with 3 interceptions, 2 tackles and 12 duels. WhoScored rated him at 7.68 - very impressive for a debutant away at Spurs, no less. Whilst there may be a touch of sentimentality behind my decision to include James on this list, the cold-hard facts and numbers make it impossible to leave him out of contention. I’m happy for him to complete the best newbie roster.

With all four contenders now properly recognised, it’s high-time to actually answer the titular question: who was the best debutant in the Premier League’s opening weekend? Well, I’m finding it hard to pick a winner. This article contains more goal contributions than Moise Kean’s 2019/20 season (that’s not really hard though), not to mention three clean sheets and a stellar average WhoScored rating. There’s really not much to split my men; I’ve not come this far to leave the question unanswered though. My choice for newbie of Gameweek One is James Rodriguez. The Columbian cannot claim any debut goals or assists like the other three can, but I feel as if he had the most distinguished debut of the four competitors. James stamped his authority in a new league, playing for a new team, against quality opposition, uncannily. This is true, to some degree, of the other contenders too, but Gabriel was playing Fulham, Castagne, West Brom, and Phillips has had 2 years to hone his role in Leeds’ system. Their debut feats are no less impressive for this, but it just puts James’ performance into perspective. Rodriguez has a history of making people sit up and take notice - he didn’t disappoint in this regard last weekend. James’ scintillating efforts on Sunday see him crowned as my debutant of the weekend.