World football has seen the emergence of short centre-backs such as Cannavaro and Mascherano, who have written legendary chapters. With the development of contemporary football paying more and more attention to attack and high pressing, as well as faster offensive and defensive conversions, a small centre-back with strong sweeping ability can bring more and more tactical value, which is why Manchester United, Barca, Chelsea, Real Madrid and Liverpool all have a good intention.
01. The 23-year-old small centre-back was robbed: Chelsea are relatively closest
There is no shortage of success stories of small centre-backs in La Liga history, with Ayala, who is 1.78 meters tall like Conde, a typical representative, and the more recent Mascherano, who is only 1.74 meters tall, but has also successfully defended the Barca defense for many years.
After switching from Ligue 1 to Sevilla, Comte quickly showed his good skills, flexibility and fast movement on the top, making himself a landscape in La Liga. Among the top 10 talented centre-backs of the new generation of talents in France, Comte ranked 2nd.
At first, Real Madrid were very interested in him, but after signing Alaba and partnering with two flexible and weak air defense centre-backs, The interest in Conde temporarily faded. Barca, by contrast, are more eager to get Conde, with the new coach Xavi even expressing the desire to use Conde to promote Garcia, but the team is unable to compete due to limited funds.
The teams closer to getting Conde came from the Premier League, with Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea all having been in contact with him. Among them, Manchester United was quite fond of Comte before Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's dismissal. Chelsea once offered 55 million euros + 5 million euros to float, but unfortunately Sevilla asked for 70 million and ultimately failed to negotiate. Famous journalist Romano reported last summer: "Chelsea and Sevilla have begun negotiations with Sevilla for the transfer of Conde, he is the first choice for the London giants to attract central defenders, and Conde himself is willing to use the Blues as his next stop." "With the contract of three centre-backs expiring next summer, Chelsea are likely to launch another attack on Comte.
02. Good foot skills & Single-player defense slightly overrated
In La Liga, the centre-back here is not only focused on defense, but also has to have a strong playing role. In October 2020, in La Liga's away game against Barca, Conte touched the ball 92 times in a single game, becoming the most away centre-back in the Camp Nou since the 2005-06 Opta statistics.
Comte was confident in his ability to do his feet, daring to take the ball past the defender line or even in his own penalty area, and then carry the ball forward.
This time Haldane's pass was a bit short, but Conde deftly let the ball go and suddenly picked up speed, allowing the opponent to save. In the end, the ball was given to the teammates on the flanks, and an offensive and defensive conversion was successfully instigated.
Comte not only can carry the ball, his straight ball is also very good. This time, Atletico's high-handed rush created chaos in the Sevilla backcourt, but Conde used a beautiful straight ball to instantly break the formation of Atletico's front pressure and let the ball pass through the midfield smoothly.
The most impressive thing is last season's Copa del Rey semi-final against Barca, where Conde scored after three consecutive goals, which at one point brought Koeman's team close to being eliminated. Comte's foot skills, passing and dribbling skills are sufficient to be full-backs, and he is even better as a centre-back. Essentially, his strength comes from excellent physical flexibility, dribbling technique is better than passing, and as far as the passing itself is concerned, there are some low-level mistakes from time to time.
However, if you look closely at the data, Comte's defensive performance is not very good. He had a 66.7 per cent steal success rate in La Liga last season, with a 23 per cent centre-back. It should be noted that this is not the success rate of the upper grab, but the success rate of the upper grab when the opponent has superior intentions.
Comte's movement is more flexible, he will often complete the grab when the opponent does not fully grasp the ball, but his explosive power is actually average, if the opponent has entered the power state, Comte's defensive efficiency is low.
When La Liga played against Barca last season, this time Dembele broke through and Conde wanted to chase back. As a result, the Frenchman swung a slam past Conde, but unfortunately returned the pass to Messi, who failed to hit the bounds of the goal frame.
03. Defensive end selection and continuous movement are the advantages: the best fit for Chelsea's three centre-backs
Born on 12 November 1998, Conde is now only 23 years old, he is about 1.8 meters tall (there are also reports of 1.78 meters), good flexibility on feet, and the large coverage of the course is characteristic. On the defensive end, he is best positioned as a right centre-back who is biased towards the three-centre-back system, with a good ability to break the ball in front of the top and defend against secondary drops.
From the technical point of view, Comte is indeed very suitable for the requirements of Chelsea manager Tuchel, as well as Tottenham boss Conte. If he moves to the Premier League Blues this summer, it will not be a surprise.
This time it was Conde who suddenly grabbed the ball and made a mistake when Suarez took the ball. However, the number of times Comte has actually received the ball is not particularly large, and many balls still play a destructive role. The three-centre-back system will be more suitable for his style of play. Sevilla often have the back or left-back parallel to the centre-back to release Conde's character.
When Conde is defending, he has the characteristics of fast movement frequency and strong continuous movement ability. His first shots are average in handling power and explosiveness, not necessarily able to completely clean up the ball, but with a quick move secondary remedy, he can complete some wonderful defense.
Comte showed a good selection prediction and foot movement ability when he fell into the penalty area to limit the opponent's cross, and Correa could not make Comte lose his position no matter how he changed his center of gravity and positioning. He showed his ability after retreating in the middle of the road and steadily breaking the siege.
Let's look at this wave of offensive and defensive conversions, dembele broke the ball and launched a counterattack. He sped up his breakthrough and crossed, and Comte retreated from the right rib position and followed De Jong in front. Because of Comte's frequency advantage and tight heel defense, De Jong was ultimately unable to deliver a threatening pass, and the soft cross was directly given to the goalkeeper.
Since Lopetegui became Sevilla manager, the team has completed a total of 45 clean sheets in 2 and a half years, which is the first existence in La Liga. Comte played a big role in this process. Of course, this is also related to Lopetegui's tactics, allowing Kondejan to avoid weaknesses.
It is worth mentioning that Comte is quite characteristic when attacking from a corner. Despite his modest height, Conde moves very fast and bounces well. So when he attacked from a corner, it was threatening to move suddenly to compete for the first point. The header against Betis this time is an example.
Facing Barca at Camp Nou last season, It was also Conde who won the lead when he competed with Franki de Jong for the first drop point, successfully helping teammate Luc De Jong score.
epilogue:
With both Barca and Real Madrid more focused on visa-free, Conte's move to the Premier League this summer is a high-probability event. In the end, whether the short center-back with good flexibility wears a blue or red shirt may determine whether he can take the next step. This is a centre-back with distinct tactical value and also flaws. Once used improperly, there is also the possibility of becoming a parallel cargo.