FOOTBALL: Revealed: The top five players in each European league so far this season according to their stats

Every professional footballer is monitored nowadays in a way their predecessors never were.

Every tackle, pass and run is noted for distance and accuracy – and on top of that, each player’s work rate is worked out by metres covered.

There’s no escaping the stats and with the current season around six weeks old, the Switzerland-based CIES Football Observatory has published the top five players in each of Europe’s top five leagues based on six criteria: Rigour, recovery, distribution, take on, chance creation and shooting.

All the stats are provided by OptaPro and so far this season, players from Arsenal are dominating the Premier League, Bayern Munich ruling the Bundesliga, PSG and Marseille the dominant forces in Ligue 1, Real Madrid holding slight sway in La Liga and AS Roma making waves in Serie A.

It's these stats that attract directors of football and managers when it comes to the transfer window - so here are the top five players in each league so far this season who could theoretically command a huge fee and weekly wage.

PREMIER LEAGUE

Centre back: Laurent Koscielny (Arsenal)

Full back: Cedric Soares (Southampton)

Defensive midfielder: Santi Cazorla (Arsenal)

Attacking midfielder: Mesut Ozil (Arsenal)

Attacker: Riyad Mahrez (Leicester)

LA LIGA

Centre back: Inigo Martinez (Real Sociedad)

Full back: Marcelo Vieira (Real Madrid)

Defensive midfielder: Luka Modric (Real Madrid)

Attacking midfielder: Fabian Orellana (Celta Vigo)

Attacker: Lionel Messi (Barcelona)

LIGUE 1

Centre back: Thiago Silva (PSG)

Full back: Serge Aurier (PSG)

Defensive midfielder: Lassana Diarra (Marseille)

Attacking midfielder: Wahbi Khazri (Bordeaux)

Attacker: Michy Batshuayi (Marseille)

BUNDESLIGA

Centre back: Jérôme Boateng (Bayern Munich)

Full back: Wendell Nascimento (Bayer Leverkusen)

Defensive midfielder: Ilkay Gündoğan (Borussia Dortmund)

Attacking midfielder: Douglas Costa (Bayern Munich)

Attacker: Robert Lewandowski (Bayern Munich)

SERIE A

Centre back: João Miranda (Inter)

Full back: Alessandro Florenzi (AS Roma)

Defensive midfielder: Miralem Pjanić (Roma)

Attacking midfielder: Roberto Pereyra (Juventus)

Attacker: Antonio Floro Flores (Sassuolo)