Nabil Fekir’s paradox

Nabil Fekir is being one of the stars of this Betis de Pellegrini that despite living a last black week before the break, culminating in the painful defeat in the derby, is 5th in the league standings and 2nd in the Europa League group. The Verdiblanco team keeps its options intact, thanks in part to the improvement of the French World Champion, whose numerical contribution, however, is less than what the sensations he leaves on the field indicate.

Fekir, in fact, only slightly improves so far the numbers from last season with Betis, when he scored 5 goals and gave six assists in the 38 duels he played between the League and the Cup. On average, 0.29 decisive actions per game, for the 0.31 he has been in so far this season. The Frenchman has participated in 16 games, 12 in the League and 4 in the Europa League, in which he has scored two goals and has made three decisive passes.

The season of his debut with Betis, in fact, was finished better by Nabil: seven targets and seven assists, which was an average of 0.42 in the 33 duels he played. Numbers that, in any case, were always worse than those he had at Olympique de Lyon, when he lived through brilliant seasons. The best, in 2017-2018, when he scored 23 goals and assisted his teammates 8 times in 40 games. 0.77 decisive actions per encounter.

Just before signing for Betis, at 18-19, he added 0.54 (12 goals and 9 assists in 39 games) and in the 16-17 0.53, with 14 points and 12 crucial passes. A year before he had suffered a crusader break that condemned him to play only 9 games, in which he had time, however, to score four goals and give an assist (0.55). In 14-15, the season of his consolidation with Lyon, he was also brilliant: 15 goals and 13 assists in 39 games, 0.72 decisive actions per game.