Who has played the most league minutes for one club over the past decade?
The CIES has compiled a list of the players who have played the highest percentage of league minutes since the start of the decade.
The CIES football observatory has released a report compiling the ranking of the players who have played the highest percentage of minutes for a big-5 domestic league team over the past decade (precisely from 01/01/2010 to 15/11/2019).
Somewhat unsurprisingly six-time Ballon d’Or winner Lionel Messi tops the list of outfield players and is second overall behind goalkeeper Olympique Marseille goalkeeper, Steve Mandanda, who has been Ligue 1 Goalkeeper of the Year on five occasions.
Since the start of the decade until mid-November last, Messi had clocked up 28,309 minutes, or 83.4% of the available minutes, just 110 minutes less than Mandanda (84.2%).
Sergio Ramos comes in sixth
After the Argentine striker come two more keepers, ex-Monaco and current AS Saint-Etienne shot stopper Stephane Ruffier (80,9%) and Manchester United’s David Gea (77.1%), followed by Thomas Muller to make up the top five (76.6%).
Real Madrid captain and Spain’s most capped player, Sergio Ramos comes in sixth, with a total of 25,172 domestic league minutes played, or 74.2% of the total.
His fellow centre back and former Atlético Madrid rival Diego Godín is in 10th. The Uruguayan played 24,138 minutes (71%) for Atlético before leaving for Inter Milan in the summer.
Top 20 Ranking
84.2% Steve Mandanda - Olympique Marseille
83.4% Lionel Messi FC - Barcelona
80.9% Stéphane RuffierAS - St-Etienne
77.1% David de Gea - Manchester United
76.6% Thomas Müller - Bayern München
74.2% Sergio Ramos - Real Madrid
72.8% Marek Hamšík - SSC Napoli
72.6% Vitorino Hilton - Montpellier HSC
71.3% Samir Handanović - Internazionale
71.0% Diego Godín - Atlético Madrid
70.6% Leighton Baines - Everton FC
69.8% Bernd LenoBayer - Leverkusen
68.6% Leonardo Bonucci - Juventus FC
68.0% David Silva - Manchester City
65.9% Gorka Iraizoz - Athletic Club
65.5% Hugo Lloris - Tottenham Hotspur
64.0% Marcel Schmelzer - Borussia Dortmund
63.9% Danilo Larangeira - Udinese Calcio
63.8% Laurent Koscielny - Arsenal FC
63.8% César Azpilicueta - Chelsea FC