The invisible value of Dimata

Nany Dimata participated in 11 actions of the game in Castellón in the 45 minutes she played. He saw a yellow, caused the expulsion of Iago Indias who decided the match in favor of Espanyol, gave seven passes to a teammate and lost a ball. He did not finish on goal. A priori, discrete numbers for a center forward of a dominating team like the parakeetBut the Belgian, who arrived this winter market, has an invisible value, which goes beyond the actions in which he comes into contact with the ball.

It is customary to judge the strikers by their statistics of shots and goals, leaving aside that the game is collective and not individual, and the important thing is the collective performance and not the goals of the forwards. With him on the pitch, for example, Espanyol's second row has found more spaces in the last two games. Proof of it, players like Óscar Melendo, Adrián Embarba, Javi Puado or Nico Melamed, even Sergi Darder, have been able to take advantage of their movements and their depth to appear from behind and hurt the opponent. Unlike RdT, Dimata is another forward profile that caused different relationships in the game, just as decisive for a Espanyol that has found an alternative to Madrid.

With the magnifying glass, the best facet of Dimata is the aerial game. The Belgian averaged eight winning disputes until the match against Castellón, well above the second, which is David López with 5.4. Raúl de Tomás averages 2.9 per game. Dimata also helps the parakeet team recover balls in the attack zone, improving pressure. His mobility per game is 10.7 kilometers, and he is among the ten players who travel the most distance per game, far from the 9.13 averaged by the Madrid striker and top scorer for this Espanyol.

The Belgian forward arrived on loan until the end of the season but with a compulsory purchase option for two million euros if Espanyol were promoted. In the barely two months that he has worn blue and white, he has already surpassed Álvaro Vadillo and Pol Lozano in minutes played this season and accumulated two goals. But its value is invisible, and it is barely seen in the statistics. With him, Espanyol has found a different formula to be a more complete team. Good news considering the risk involved in his signing after practically two years injured and without minutes.