Kondogbia, the most similar profile to Thomas in the athletic market

Kondogbia is not Thomas. Such a big obviousness that it serves as a starting point to start a comparison between the two players. Ghanaian has grown year after year until become the starting pivot of Atlético and the leader of his team. Thomas leaves for Arsenal for the 50 million of his clause in the best moment of his career and after a 2019-20 season in which he became a fundamental player for Simeone, the third most played of the entire squad and whose loss against Leipzig in the quarterfinals of the Champions League was decisive.

In the case of Kondogbia, her career has had a different script. His arrival at Sevilla in 2012 At only 19 years old, he aroused the interest of all the great European clubs, Real Madrid included. A footballer with a privileged physique, with good ball output, command and ability to break lines, something that led him to enter the lists of the French team. However, after his departure to Monaco and later to Inter for 36 million, He did not get to make the expected leap in quality, until he returned to LaLiga to join Valencia with the feeling of not having exploited his full potential. In the team che has established himself as the starting pivot during his three seasons at the club, although physical problems have asked him to have maximum continuity.

But, under current market conditions, Kondogbia's seems the most Thomas-like profile that Atlético can find counting on the fact that he can only sign players from the Spanish competition during an extension that runs until November 5 due to the unilateral termination of the Ghanaian's contract. If Campaña or Mikel Merino go completely on budget, They are two players with more vocation to generate offensive football and play between the lines. More imaginative footballers, in the case of Merino with a great arrival and with the ability to carry the weight of the team's attack, but who always play with a pivot that escorts them from behind. Some characteristics that on the other hand would not hurt the team at all.

In the case of Kondogbia, it does adapt to an anchor position where Atlético only has the newcomer Torreira, as Saul It loses relevance when it has more demand with the ball and less arrival, Koke is used to playing closer to the opponent's area and Herrera has not had a good arrival at the club. Further, Llorente, signed to replace Rodrigo, has been uncovered as an explosive inside right or an incisive second forward. In Valencia, Kondogbia was in charge of recovering the ball, covering more field and exploiting his physical play with Parejo by his side as the initiator of the attacks.

Certain similarities

A pivot position that is more related to that of Thomas in his last stage with Simeone. And there are certain similarities between the two, beyond being born in 1993 (27 years each). Kondogbia and Thomas stand out for their physical power, their air force (1.88 measures the French by 1.85 the Ghanaian), I work on recovery, driving with a powerful stride and shooting from long range. If we go to the statistics offered by Opt of the participation in the 2019-20 League of the two, they stand out in certain similar areas. Keep in mind that Kondogbia's physical problems led him to participate only in 27 games, 21 of them as a starter, for a total of 1,806 minutes. Thomas for his part played almost everything (35 games, 29 starters and 2,552 minutes).

The French, a nationalized Central African, completed 1,194 good passes, 44 per game, with 84.68% accuracy. 479 of them were in the opposite field, and he got a shot every 66.88 minutes (Kondogbia made a goal and an assist). The Valencia player was measured in 351 duels, an average of 13 per game, with 56.41% winning. He also excelled in the recovery, with 204 steals (7.5 per game). With a good dribble per game (completing 74% of his attempts), his game led to 287 lost possessions (10.6 per game).

In Thomas's case, he completed 1,912 good passes, 54 per game, with an 83.4% success rate. The new Arsenal player made 1,095 passes into the opponent's half and fired once every 50 minutes (three goals and no assist). The Ghanaian leaves as the LaLiga midfielder with the best percentage of duels won in four seasons (from the 2017-2018 academic year) and with at least 50 games played in the competition: 61.4%, 628 out of 1023. Last season carried out 475 duels, 13.5 per game, winning 64.42% of them. He recovered 327 balls (9.3 per game), performing 2.2 dribbles per game (84.6% success rate) and with a total of 503 lost possessions (14.3 per game).

Simeone did not count on Thomas' drop for his midfield and has run out of anchor, although he was also able to register on the horn. a Torreira that should be important from day one. Now, Atlético studies the market with a very limited budget (11.25 million entered by Thomas, 25% of the 45 million that are for Atlético) and he has chosen Kondogbia to try to be his backup. Valencia will not facilitate it, but it seems the piece of the market that can be closest to what Thomas gave the Cholo, with an implicit distance in the cost difference in the transfer. For the moment Simeone will have to reinvent himself with a midfield that hasn't found a creative player in the engine room for a long time, but what also has lost Rodrigo and Thomas in the last two summers after becoming the initiators of the mattress attacks from the pivot.