Beyond the interest of attending the Olympians’ first outing in Ligue 1, OM’s victory in Brest on Sunday (2-3) was also the opportunity to see the first steps of Leonardo Balerdi in an official match in his new jersey. A real curiosity for a young player (21) about whom, let’s face it, we didn’t know much except a few selections with Argentina and a transfer of € 15m to Borussia Dortmund from Boca Juniors in January 2019. It is precisely this passage in the Bundesliga that questioned us, knowing that the young Argentinian did not succeed in winning among the Yellow with only 7 matches in the league for 128 minutes of play. A first season in Europe very mixed, hence the agreement of the leaders of Dortmund for this loan to OM accompanied by a purchase option of € 15 million. All this did not prevent André Villas-Boas from starting his recruit from the start in the absence of Alvaro Gonzalez, forfeit following his positive Covid-19 test. It is therefore logical to look at this first appearance.
“I saw him do two or three dribbles to get out of dangerous situations, which proves a good technical quality, and he is quite hard on the man.”
This was one of the questions asked at the post-match press conference in André Villas-Boas (video), he who was so keen on the arrival of a Balerdi who was at the top of the list of his options for this position: “I saw a very good performance. He has just joined us and this is the first time he has played 90 minutes with OM. You have seen him, he is a player with authority , he goes fast, he anticipates well, he plays right foot and left foot, he has all the qualities to become a great central defender. I hope it will continue like that for him “. A Villas-Boas logically benevolent towards his rookie, even if he certainly noted his decline in the second period and a certain responsibility for the two goals conceded by OM. But, for the former Olympian defender Fabien Laurenti, Balerdi’s service is overall a success: “I found him very comfortable in the first half with a good attitude on the pitch. I saw him do two or three dribbles to get out of dangerous situations, which shows good technical quality, and he is quite hard on the man in his interventions. He also showed a good capacity for speed. After, he was sometimes caught times behind his back and made some rough raises in the second half, which weighs a bit his overall performance. But, it’s encouraging for a first, because we must not forget that he played very little last season with Dortmund “.
“I can’t wait to see him face a higher adversity, because if Brest attacked a lot, it was still rather messy”
A rather favorable echo, even if we observe a certain disparity in the post-match scores, with a 5.5 from the Phocean, and a 4 for The team and Provence. The consequence of his approximations on the two Breton goals. Goals that it is however unfair to attribute to him, knowing that the responsibility is rather collective with an OM who was often moved in Brest, especially in the second period. Let us rather retain the positive attitudes of Balerdi for his first in the Marseille jersey, with signs that do not deceive, as Fabien Laurenti noted: “He looks pretty rough, which is not surprising for an Argentinian defender. He’s also elegant, with quite a bit of serenity in his raises, in his clearance dribbles and a good sense of placement. I can’t wait to see him face a higher adversity, because if Brest attacked a lot, it was still quite messy. I hope he will manage to have playing time, because it seems interesting to me “. It will certainly not be for the next match against PSG, where Alvaro will logically recover his place. But on what we have seen, there is something to be optimistic about for the young Argentinian.
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