Geoffrey Kondogbia has had a hectic last few weeks. The departure of Thomas on the last market day (October 5) for the amount of his clause He gave Atlético an extra month to reinforce himself with a LaLiga player and the French-born footballer was the first option from the start.
The disputes between the midfielder and Valencia president Anil Murthy, that were made public on social media, were accompanied by a sore heel that removed Kondogbia from the team. If in the first five days he had started in all the games, losing only 10 minutes against Betis, in the next three he would not go or summon.
Until October 31, when Atlético was running out of the stipulated period to sign, the negotiations accelerated and the rojiblanco team and Valencia agreed on their transfer. The mattress club announced the signing of Kondogbia on November 3 when he chained exactly a month without having minutes with the ches. The 27-year-old has already had his first minutes with the Atlético shirt in the defeat of Cádiz, where he entered for Koke in the 72nd minute to form a double pivot with Torreira.
With the arrival of the break, Kondogbia has left to play its two international commitments to the Central African Republic, both against Morocco. International with all the lower categories of France since the U-16, he played five friendlies with the absolute of the bleus. But nevertheless, in 2018 he decided to play for the Central African Republic, place where his parents were born and where he serves as captain. Yesterday, he completed the match in the 4-1 loss to the Moroccans where he was one of the most outstanding players on his team. Kondogbia did not dispute a full game since last September 29 in the victory against Real Sociedad.
On Tuesday he will face Morocco again before returning to training to prepare for next Saturday's game against Barcelona. If for the bulk of athletic internationals the accumulation of minutes during this break is a problem (Trippier, Savic, João Félix, Luis Suárez, Giménez …), in the case of Kondogbia it can be beneficial. The African is taking advantage of the concentration with his national team to pick up pace after so long standing still and yesterday he showed again that he is a fundamental footballer for the center of the field. With certain characteristics similar to Thomas, His entry into the team seems to be little by little (he cannot play in the Champions League), but it is essential that he picks up his peak of form as soon as possible to put Simeone in serious trouble to make his lineups. The more complicated Cholo has it due to his internal competition, the better Atlético will do.