For the first time in his playing career, Landry Dimata can join the selection of the Red Devils. National coach Roberto Martinez surprised friend and foe with this, but Dimata had been on the Spaniard’s list for some time. At Anderlecht, the reborn striker finds his way back to goal, and at Neerpede it is hoped that Dimata can maintain that positive line. The signals are already very promising.
ANDERLECHT-ARMADA
On Tuesday, national coach Roberto Martinez announced his selection for the upcoming diptych in the Nations League against Denmark and Iceland. In addition, the Spaniard had a lot of space available for the players of RSC Anderlecht. Hendrik Van Crombrugge, Elias Cobbaut and Yari Verschaeren have been part of the Belgian team for some time, but for Jérémy Doku and Landry Dimata it will soon be their very first encounter with the Red Devils.
The Anderlecht armada therefore assumes great proportions in the most recent selection of the Red Devils. For such a large share of Purple & White internationals we have to dive back to October 12, 2010, when Belgium finished a spectacular 4-4 against Austria. Almost ten years ago, Silvio Proto, Olivier Deschacht, Guillaume Gillet, Jonathan Legear and Romelu Lukaku were part of the selection under then national coach Georges Leekens.
Landry Dimata’s first summons in particular caused quite a stir among analysts and fans. The attack leader of RSC Anderlecht started the new season in a promising way, but before that Dimata did not play a single official match in a year and a half. “Dimata has a specific profile as a deep striker”, Roberto Martinez explained the choice for Dimata. “He played three times 90 minutes and trained everything along. We have always followed him closely. Also at Wolfsburg and Ostend. Now is the right time to summon him. ”
PROPHET LUKAKU
Flashback to September 2018. “He (Dimata, ed.) Is the man who will take over within two years,” Romelu Lukaku predicted on Proximus Sports at the time. As if he knew. “I’ve always said it. And when I say something, I mean it. ” Dimata retorted to Lukaku’s words. “He keeps telling me that. He’ll give me two more years and I’ll be there. He’s even going to give me his number 9 shirt. He says I have what it takes to reach the highest level and take charge of my career, and that I need to keep that winning mentality. ”
In September 2018, Dimata was in super shape and was working on a real blasting season. Despite his thirteen goals – and that in only twenty league matches – Dimata was unfortunately unable to complete that 18-19 year in question. Just after the turn of the year 2019, the physical discomfort started to play tricks on him and Dimata disappeared into the background due to this – still – mysterious knee injury. At that time, there was really no one at Anderlecht around the fast-scoring striker, and in the Jupiler Pro League he was almost unparalleled.
KILLER PUR SANG
Dimata closed that season with an impressively high average of 0.73 goal per match, and that is a frequency that Anderlecht could only dream of last season. Michel Vlap and Nacer Chadli then came closest to Dimata’s high regularity, with an average of 0.59 and 0.55 goals per 90 minutes respectively. If Dimata had kept his 0.73 goal per game at the time in the last edition of the Jupiler Pro League, he would have been the fastest scoring central attacker in the competition. David Okereke (Club Brugge – 0.72), William Togui (KV Mechelen – 0.66), Stipe Perica (Mouscron – 0.65) and Renaud Emond (Standard – 0.64) complete the top ten of the past year.
During his first season in the Purple & White shirt, Dimata almost blindly found his way to goal, and he also needed few opportunities to score effectively. The chance of a goal per shot at goal was 26%, and that is quite a high turnover ratio. Last season, for example, Togui (36%), Perica (35%) and Yohan Boli (Sint Truiden, 30%) were even more efficient, but Dimata’s 26% are well in line with other killers of the past season such as Dieumerci Mbokani ( Antwerp FC, 26%) and Igor de Camargo (KV Mechelen, 25%).
NU AL TOP IN JUPILER PRO LEAGUE
In the current year of the Jupiler Pro League, Landry Dimata still achieves high averages for the time being, although it must be said that he managed one of his two hits from the dot. However, goals remain goals and Dimata can currently submit 0.88 goal per 90 minutes, a frequency that is higher today than his first (super) season at Anderlecht. Obviously, that average, making him the seventh fastest scoring central striker in the Jupiler Pro League for the time being, will decrease somewhat as the season progresses. Or maybe not?
To get to his two goals, Dimata had to kick eight times to the goal, which means a turnover ratio of 25%. At the moment that ratio is not very impressive, but if he can maintain it in the long term, then Anderlecht does have a potential Golden Bull. In the pure efficiency list of the Belgian league, Terem Moffi (KV Kortrijk) and Youssouph Badji (Club Brugge) score just as efficiently as Dimata, but Yuma Suzuki (STVV), Kaveh Rezaei (Charleroi), Ike Ugbo (Cercle), Guy Mbenza, Nelson Balongo (STVV) and Harlem-Eddy Gnohéré (Mouscron) are even better for the time being.
MARTINEZ’S TRIES
The basis of Landry Dimata’s selection with the Red Devils, however, does not entirely lie with his three finished matches at Anderlecht this season. During the 18-19 season he made a huge impact on the Jupiler Pro League, but also before at KV Oostende he could already score fourteen goals at the highest Belgian football level – which ultimately resulted in a lucrative transfer to VfL Wolfsburg. Dimata has reportedly been on Martinez’s extensive list of ‘players to watch’ for quite some time.
During that period, Dimata was also invariably part of the Young Devils, where he became the top scorer in the qualifying campaign for the European Championship 2019. The relevant European Championship in Italy, however, Dimata had to pass by due to his much-discussed knee injury. At that time, Dimata explicitly applied for his first selection with the A-team of the Red Devils. “It was frustrating for us because we wanted to call him up many times, but because of injuries that never went through,” said Roberto Martinez during his press conference.
Despite the fact that Dimata is not yet at full cruising speed, he does prefer Michy Batshuayi and Christian Benteke, the two worried children of Martinez who were hopelessly out of shape in the last edition of the Premier League. So it is up to Dimata to claim his permanent place in the national selection. And who knows, we may be experiencing the full bloom of the Anderlecht striker this season, because Dimata is still only 22 years old to date. He has therefore not reached his peak and Dimata still has plenty of progression.
POLL: Will Dimata be the top scorer in the JPL?
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