And Olympique Lyon seems willing to do so.
Six months or so can make a huge difference. Gift Orban was one of the hottest names in the 2023 summer transfer market. There were rumors of offers close to 30 million from Tottenham e Liverpool. An attention that the Nigerian talent deserved on the pitch, with an extraordinary season in the shirt Gent. In the second part of 2023, the attention and expectations around his name have reduced, allowing the Lyon to land the coup at smaller figures (around 12 million) and ensure a 2002 with a bright future.
Orban’s first outings in a shirt Olympic they had an undulating trend. The debut against Rennes it arrived with the Bretons leading 0-3. The choice of Pierre Sagewhich he also included with him Henrique e Nuamah, had the desired effects. He brought life back to a completely stunned team, but in the end Lyon were unable to complete the comeback.
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In the following two matches, in Ligue 1 with Marseille and in the cup against the Lille, Orban started in the starting eleven, giving a sample of his qualities. With the first ones he started the match from left outside in a trident, and then go looking for balls in every area of the pitch; the former Gent player was deployed against Fonseca’s team center forward, a role that – despite his speed and ability to jump man – he seems to be able to interpret in a more natural way. It’s no coincidence that it’s in this occasion came the first French goal: burning shot up Lenny Yorosent completely off balance, and lobbed to overcome Chevalier one on one.
The network did not help him gain positions in the hierarchies. He also arrived in Lyon on the gong of the winter session Said Benrahmawhose qualities probably best match those of the captain and immovable Lacazette. In the 15′ given to him against the NiceHowever, Orban showed a couple of interesting outbursts, eager to regain his place as starter. The following week, on the field of Metzthe opportunity arrived and promptly wasted: his was the reckless back pass from which the goal was born Don’t miss it after just 13 minutes, an error that earned Orban a substitution at the end of the first half.
Benched again, in the Coup de France against him Strasbourg he took over from Lacazette, in the position that appears to be most congenial to him. After 24 lively but not very incisive minutes, Orban presented himself courageously from the spot on the occasion of the series of penalties: his achievement contributed to the passage of the round, also thanks to the miracles of Lucas Perri.
Since he arrived in Lyon, however, the OL’s performance has been clearly growing. The company’s goal was to insert fresh forces, raise the morale of a dejected squad incapable of freeing themselves from the quicksand of the relegation zone. Objective achieved: the OL is located at tenth place, won the last 5 games among all competitions.
It would be absurd to give excessive credit to Orban: we have already talked about his roller coaster in terms of performance. With him came 3 starters – Matic, Orel Mangala and Benrahma – but his youthful recklessness contributed to bringing together an understandably tense environment. After the home win against Nice in Ligue 1, the cameras filmed him intent on celebrating under the hottest sector of the stadium, even taking the trouble to act as a sort of choir launcher.
A trip to give yourself a gift
When he arrived in Europe, this energy tending towards chaos gave rise to a few too many misunderstandings. Initially, at Stabaek they struggled to understand his character, and the short circuit generated by the meeting between Gift Orban and the Norwegian culture he also put his football career in danger. His expansiveness and a sense of humor, according to his companions, bordering on surrealism did not go particularly well with the proverbial Nordic reticence. Over time, Orban has learned to recalibrate his behavior based on the context and to channel this electricity to make it available to the locker room on and off the pitch.
In Gift Orban’s young career, one thing has always been clear: the boy knows how to score goals. He was the first to notice his qualities Torgeir Bjarmann, DS of Stabaek. Bjarmann has built a good network of connections with the Nigeria, knows African football well and every year he personally goes scouting in the Black Continent. However, the process of convincing the club of what he had seen was not easy. After an initial trial period in Norway, therefore, Orban was sent back, temporarily, to Bison FC. His way of playing was in fact considered too confusing, and the anxiety of his reconfirmation influenced his technical choices on the pitch.
When he got a second chanceHowever, his approach has changed radically. First with the reserves and then with the main team, Orban began to demonstrate a precision in front of goal and superior football ability to the level he had to juggle, and not by little. His performance in the Norwegian second series was almost unstoppable. In just over half the season he collected 16 goals (19 in total) as a result of promotion to the first division. Numbers that have inevitably attracted the attention of various teams, especially in the Central European area. Among these, the most decisive was the Gentwilling to shell out around 3.5 million euros to get it.
The adaptation to the new football for Orban was immediate. In recent years, the Belgian championship has launched the careers of many attackers with different profiles, but paradoxically it has always been more suitable for structured and more or less classic attackers. The Nigerian instead brought a breath of fresh air, made up of the search for depth, transitions and runs aimed at varying the entire attacking front. Despite his young age and a sometimes inconsistent play selection, Orban has always been a tactically very interesting player, with a strong sense of space. On the chessboard of Van Haezebrouck his role was that of second striker next to Cuypers, a physical and opportunistic center forward but also very generous. The interchangeability between the two was one of the coach’s best intuitions, and allowed both to express themselves at their best.
An essay by the award-winning firm Orban-Cuypers.
A couple of Gift Orban’s performances, within a (half) season of 20 goals in 22 games, captured the media’s attention, putting his name on the map of European football in less than a week. In the championship, against him Zulte WaregemOrban scored 4 gol in a 6-2 victory. What impressed, beyond the number itself, was above all the stylistic variety of the markings. A left-footed shot from the center of the area after a misunderstanding between the goalkeeper and the defender, a right-footed tap-in from a low cross from the left, a right-footed shot from the edge running in tow to collect the pass, and a direct free kick from the right, an unusual position for a right-hander. A perfect compendium of his football technique and pure nine-man aggression with which he tends to attack the ball. Among other things, during the 3 goals from open play Orban never needed to stop the ball, such was the level of confidence in his football, positioning and body balance.
Just 3 days later, in Conference League on the field of Basaksehir, Orban scored a decisive hat-trick for the final 1-4. He had already left his mark in the first leg with the 1-1 goal, but a hat trick in an inside or outside match certainly has an echo and a greater importance. Also in this case it was 3 different goals, which also arrived within three minutes of pure omnipotence. A sensational right-footed shot from outside the area, a left-footed control and shot from close range with the goalkeeper coming out, and another left-footed shot after the opponent’s goalkeeper had blocked his first right-footed shot.
After the general exaltation and a few too many market rumors, Gift Orban had an abrupt return to earth. In the first part of 2023/24 with Gent, he has struggled especially in the championship. The reasons are difficult to find, but they can be summed up in a cocktail of excessive responsibility, more specific measures by the opposing defenses and a physiological decline for a boy who is still very young. Complications which among other things probably also cost him the call-up for the Africa Cup of Nations.
At first, Orban picked up where he left off, but the tail end of his good performance only dragged on in Europe against lower-ranked teams. In the championship, the 2002 class has often found himself surpassed in his coach’s choices Tarik Tissoudali, and at the dawn of January he had scored only 3 goals. In numerical terms this data can be found both in the goals/shots ratio (0.09, 26th percentile among Pro League attackers) and in the negative difference between goals and xG. Last season, the two statistical entries had him in the 96th and 99th percentile respectively. The number of has also decreased shah (0.05 vs 0.19) e shooting actions (2.71 vs 2.86) per 90 minutes, with an increased number of touches and attempted passes.
Judging his experience at Lyon would objectively be hasty, but in this first transalpine glimpse other problems seem to have arisen, mainly of a tactical nature. Sage does not seem willing to give up a lineup with three attacking players, light years away from Gent’s 3-4-1-2 or 3-5-2. In the wing position Orban seems to find difficulties in terms of the portion of the pitch to occupy: the use in the lateral area highlights his current little physical impact. In the league, Orban won only 30% of his tackles and completed 40% of his dribbling attempts. In the cup, as a center forward, the sample it’s definitely too sparse to make a full assessment, but both figures still reflect an improvement (1/1 in dribbling, 4/9 in tackles won).
Playing as a center forward in a 4-3-3 is in any case different from playing as a second striker in a two-man attack. Gift Orban has shown that he needs to touch a lot of balls and at the same time has to play close to goal, a combination of events that the current Lyon cannot guarantee him with continuity. The assignment of number 9 shirt – Paquetà, Cherki, Moussa Dembelè, Memphis and Lisandro Lopez, just to name some of the 9 of the OL of the New Millennium – as well as a nice induction, it seems to suggest that the French club also has precise plans for the development of its path future. In the meantime, the boy from Benue will have to be good at exploiting every opportunity and committing himself to trying to enrich his baggage. Calmly. Because Emmanuel Gift Orban must be waited for.
2024-03-07 14:00:00
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