Madrid
Updated:06/11/2020 01:52h
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There were many who put their hands to their heads when the Athletic payment 127 million by Joao Felix. The outings of that summer, especially that of Griezmann to Barcelona, they forced to remodel the staff, and the Portuguese was chosen as the new star of the project. PatienceThey repeated from the club, knowing that current football does not wait for those who need time, no matter how much they are a teenager. Thus, in his first rojiblanco season, Joao Félix showed what he was capable of, but the final balance did not quite meet expectations. Of course these were through the roof.
The current scenario, on the other hand, is very different. Joao Félix, Atlético’s most expensive signing and the third in football history, has taken less than a year to start questioning whether the millions that were paid for him were few. An amount that on the other hand has haunted him from day one. And while some doubted, others never did. Abel ResinoAs an Atlético player and coach in the past, he was one of the second: “Joao Félix is spontaneous, ambitious, has imagination, and what’s more, he has the makings of a leader, something that not everyone has. He endured the doubts of last year and knew how to be above and adapt to what his coach asked him. Each player needs time to adapt and he has done it in less than a year.
Simeone He has been one of those who has treated the player with the most caution, repeating over and over again that last was a transitional season and that there was much to improve. He was right, although perhaps that process ended sooner than he thought. In the eighth of the Champions League, ante el Leipzig, Simeone chose to leave Joao Félix on the bench. He entered the field at game time and was the best of the match, with a goal that was ultimately insufficient to advance to the quarterfinals. That day, despite being eliminated, many Atlético went to bed thinking about what Joao Félix could give of himself the following season.
Become Atletico leader
The summer passed, football returned and Joao Félix began to shine. Not like before, but more regularly, with more stripes in the team, also favored by the change in style: «Atleti has changed the way they play. Now he is more attacking, which has greatly benefited Joao Félix. If you box him in and make him worry more about defending, he feels restricted, because it is something he does not dominate. It limits him, ”explains Abel.
Comparing the statistics on League From this season to the last, the conclusions come out alone: we are talking about a Joao Félix who intervenes more in the game, overwhelms more rivals and sees the door more times. Thus, on 19/20 he scored 6 goals in 27 games, what translates into one goal every 291 minutes; in the 20/21 carries 3 goals in 6 games, one every 132 minutes. This season he averages twice as many key passes per game (1,3) than the previous (0,6) and successfully dribble three times as many times: 2.2 regattas per game against 0,7. In addition, he comes in more contact with the ball (14.8 passes per game before vs. 24.2 now) and he does it more in the opposite field (10.4 vs 19.3). Numbers that speak of the evolution of the rojiblanco seven and that are even better in Champions, where it leads 2 goals in 3 games.
“He is a fantastic player called to do great things. He has tremendous potential, incredible qualities and unprecedented self-confidence in a boy his age, ”says Abel. In this sense, Simeone knows what to ask of his player, who is responding: «We all want to see this Joao. It had regularity and is fantastic. When he generates everything he has generated today in commitment, game, dynamics, speed… It will continue to grow and hopefully we can help it. With a great Joao the team is more competitive, “he assured after his exhibition against Salzburg. Days later, he was the best against Osasuna, with a doublet, and Locomotive, being again the most prominent.
It is not known how far Joao Félix will go or if he will maintain this level all season, but for now, Atlético plays something else largely for him. “I am really liking the team and I don’t think Simeone has betrayed his ideas. It was something that the players themselves demanded. It is also important to convince players like Joao Félix that they are part of a group and seek that symbiosis so that both the player and the team improve each other. They have to understand it and if they understand it, their qualities will improve even more », sentence Abel.
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