Player Focus: French Starlets Conquering

Spain
by David Cartlidge at Thursday, Apr 18 2013 15:56

If France go on to dominate International football in a few years, they might have Spains La
Liga to thank. Why? Because some of the best young French players around are currently
earning their trade in Spains top flight, and importantly theyre playing regularly despite
their tender years. The more physical, slow paced French game places limits upon the
development and the Spanish league has emerged as an ideal training ground for these
players.

Raphal Varane (Real Madrid)

Raphael Varane has so far shown that he hasnt a chink in his armour. The 19-year-old weighs
in with a 7.08 overall rating with WhoScored, one of the best around in terms of young
players operating in Europes top 5 leagues, and in turn made his way into WhoScoreds
under-21 team of the season. Varane has been operating adeptly with Real Madrid for quite
some time, but his performances against FC Barcelona truly brought him into the spotlight.
His combative nature makes him a fearsome opponent, and hes won 3 aerial duels per game,
made 6.7 clearances on average - the most in the squad - and only been dribbled past by
opposing players twice in the league all season. Such is the immensity of his performances
with Madrid, Jos Mourinho has found it almost impossible to drop him. Didier Deschamps
was so enamoured with Varane too that he decided to call him up to the full France squad,
and in March he won his first cap. The lack of risk taking, brutal efficiency and speed of
thought and body are the main aspects to Varanes game, of which is developing perhaps even
better than expected.
An area Varane will need to work on will be his distribution out of defence, with Pepe and
Sergio Ramos taking in the majority of work here. The teenager is improving however, and in
the game against Mallorca recently he hit 4 accurate long balls out of a possible 5 though
Ramos made double that. Hes been extremely neat with his passing in general though,
finding a teammate with 85.6% of his attempts, of which he has averaged 29.6 per game.
When were looking at the top centre backs in the world in a few years, its a given that
Varane will be there. The determination, confidence and desire hes shown thus far in one of
the most high pressure, prestigious environments possible suggests he might well just end up
being the best.

Aymeric Laporte (Athletic Bilbao)

The youngest of the featured group and the one with most to learn; make no mistake that
Aymeric Laportes rise has been rapid. Still only 18-years-old, Laporte has been thrust into
the limelight this season as Fernando Amorebietas status decreased with the Basque outfit.
Although improvements need to be made on his anticipation and concentration during games,
Laporte is clearly a player with the focus to get to the top. He harnesses all the attributes of
the modern central-defender in the Gerard Piqu/Mats Hummels mould; confidence moving
out of the back-line, incisive passing and a composed nature about his defensive duties.

Marcelo Bielsa has shown huge confidence in the France U-20 captain, and has even
deployed him at left-back due to lack of options there. Currently hes making 2.9 tackles per
game, more than any other defender in the squad and second most overall. This shows
another key aspect of Laportes game, offering his physical presence and negating the notion
hes simply a lightweight defender unwilling to do the dirty side of the game his
Interceptions statistics back this up too, making 2.8 on average per game which is the most of
players in the team with over 10 appearances.
The Frenchman has made 5.6 clearances too, reducing the pressure on his backline, while
also only being dribbled past by opponents on 0.6 occasions per game. At 62 hes the
tallest outfield player who has played regularly this season (over 10 starts), and is using his
frame better and better as the campaign has gone on.
Geoffrey Kondogbia (Sevilla)
All of a sudden everyone wants to talk about Geoffrey Kondogbia and for those who have
been watching him, it wont come as any surprise. In his first two games after signing for
Sevilla, the Frenchman was deployed in an advanced midfield role. It simply didnt work, or

suit his skill-set. His shooting was wild, passing misjudged, and movement restricted. The
decision to drop him deeper in midfield, working in tandem with Gary Medel in the Sevilla
engine room, has proved to be a fine one.
Kondogbia, after those first two games, has gone on to become one of the most exciting
prospects in European football. Strong, powerful, decisive, skilful and intelligent; theres a lot
about Kondogbia to enjoy. His box-to-box ethics are a rare quantity in Spanish football, and
this has only become more prominent as time has gone on. There is such wonderful presence
about the 20-year-olds running and the way he shrugs of challenges with fine body balance
before laying off the ball into a key area. Despite only averaging 29 passes per game they are
well judged, leading to an 86.5% pass accuracy.
The impressive way in which he roams forward is highlighted by an average of 1.1 successful
dribbles per game too, which is remarkably second highest in the squad behind only winger
Jess Navas. Defensively, however, he protects the back four very effectively alongside
Medel, perhaps offering a more composed presence than the electric Chilean. Kondogbia has
made 2.7 tackles per game, slightly more than his partners 2.4, while also making an average
of 1.5 interceptions a match. Hes not blessed with great pace, but such is the volume of his
strides he covers a great deal of distance.
If all three of these youngsters two of whom are still in their teens remain in form and in
Spain, they are threatening to outshine some of even the brightest Spanish stars.