JESÚS NAVAS WILL FINISH THE LALIGA SEASON AS THE OUTFIELD PLAYER WITH MOST MINUTES

Jesús Navas has broken another record. The club captain has now played in 3,281 minutes in LaLiga this season, meaning he will finish the season as the outfield player with more minutes than anyone else. Raúl Albiol had been within touching distance of Navas, but he did not feature for Villarreal against Real Madrid and is now unable to catch the Sevilla man. Iago Aspas has since moved into second place ahead of Albiol with 3,179 minutes but will be unable to move into first place.

Despite being the oldest player in the squad, he has played in all 37 matches and is one of the first names on the team sheet for Julen Lopetegui. He has started in 36 of those 37 matches, making his only substitute appearance against Villarreal at La Cerámica. Beyond that match, he has missed very few minutes, being brought off late on in some matches. Curiously, only two goalkeepers have played more than Navas. They are David Soria, who has not missed a minute for Getafe, and Jan Oblak, who missed 24 minutes in Matchday 4 due to injury.

Navas is looking to break his record from the 2012/13 season

Last season, Navas featured in 2,712 minutes across 32 matches, so the increase this season certainly shows that age has no bearing on his class and courage. There is one record that the academy graduate can break, and that is his minutes played record from 2012/13, the season before he left for Manchester City. The full back played in 37 matches that season too, reaching 3,294 minutes on that occasion.

With those stats on the table, Jesús Navas, the most used outfield player in 2019/20, could well beat his record for minutes played on Sunday as Sevilla FC face Valencia CF in Nervión.