Sell people in 3 years to earn 423 million euros! Nicknamed Pep Guardiola, is he worth Manchester City's 100 million?
When it comes to selling players to make money, Benfica, Porto and Dort are often mentioned. However, RB Leipzig, which sold Nkunku and Sobosroy in succession, and gave Gvadior 100 million euros, is moving towards the throne of the "first black shop".
Three deals with the Premier League are expected in one summer, and Gervadior is the most famous of them. Beating Real Madrid and Liverpool, Manchester City will have to pay more than 100 million euros to get the Croatian iron defender, is it worth it?
01. Europe's No. 1 black shop! Sellers for 3 seasons received 423 million euros
a. Nicknamed Pep Guardiola: he has been a Liverpool fan since he was a child
The son of a fisherman, Gervadior set foot on the green field with a dream that his father had failed to fulfill--- to become a professional footballer.
Gervadior is not a man of great ambition, his dream since childhood was to reach the first team of Dinamo Zagreb, he painted himself a picture at the age of 6, and that shirt was the target he chased.
If you look at the whole of European football, Gervadior grew up loving Liverpool, and he once dreamed of going to Anfield.
However, when Pep Guardiola extended an invitation to him, Guevardior decided to move to Manchester City. He has been down-to-earth since he was a child and has always been able to face his heart.
As a child, he was ridiculed as a "fisherman's son", but Gervadior was not ashamed, and even after going to play football in the Bundesliga, he even said: "My dad is a very good fisherman, if I hadn't played football, I would have been as good as him." ”
It is worth mentioning that when playing in the Bundesliga, he was called "Pep" by his teammates.
Because Joško Gvardiol's name is really similar to Josep Guardiola. I don't know if my teammates will continue to make such jokes with him when he goes to Manchester City next season.
b. Europe's No. 1 black shop: 432 million euros in 3 years
When RB Leipzig first arrived in the Bundesliga, the aim was to challenge Bayern's dominance. Gradually, however, they realized that it was an impossible goal.
Slowly, RB Leipzig began to transition to a "black shop model", knowing that after selling the starter at a high price, they can often quietly "replenish" from Red Bull Salzburg, an advantage that other teams do not have.
In the 2021-22 season, RB Leipzig sold players for 113.5 million euros, and then won the first top-level championship trophy in the club's history--- the German Cup.
If Nkunku's €60 million move to Chelsea is included last season, their revenue in the transfer market would be €136 million.
Winning the German Cup in the past two years in a row, and being able to ensure that he finished in the top four of the Bundesliga for many years in a row, and won the Champions League ticket consistently, has become the pride of RB Leipzig.
This summer, after selling Sobosloy, Gervadior will also move to Manchester City, which will be another year of good money (3 years of total sales income of 423 million euros).
02. Gervadior's strengths: Foot technology and movement awareness
a. Good sense of movement: useful in a good defensive overall
From the perspective of positioning in the World Cup, the biggest advantage of Gervadior, who plays central back, is good passing, good movement and positioning.
This player is not known for being a one-man opponent on the defensive end, and it is still a common thing to be passed. His real strength lies in choosing the right position to fill in the gaps in the overall defensive operation.
As you can see from the picture below, when the Japanese player has the ball from the outside, there are 2 attackers on the left back point. At the moment, Gervadior moved ahead of time and stepped back into the box to make the overall defensive position better.
So as the opponent prepared to pass the ball, Gervadior retreated to a position where the line was stuck. The Japanese attack, either from the outside or from the far end of the back point with a higher arc, requires further detours and cannot directly hit the core area.
Looking at the defense this time, Gervadior first went to the wing to destroy Bayern's counter-attacking chances. He reacted quickly and landed in the middle in time.
Getting yourself to the best defensive position before attacking players also left Bayern's attack without a better choice in the box.
Gervadior's defense is less striking against the ball. He tends to land in advance and block the space.
The defender, who has then been transformed from full-back to centre-back, can then use his speed advantage to complete a tackle or clear the ball out of the box.
b. Good passing: why Guardiola fell in love with him
On the other hand, Gervadior's passing is also good. In the World Cup match against Belgium, he made 59 of his 62 passes and made 9 clearances. These two data just illustrate his two major advantages.
Gervadior's long passes are still good, his dribbling skills are good in their own right, and when combined, they can bring more offensive variety.
Even if the other party presses him, Gvardior can defuse the crisis through excellent dribbling. Even while dribbling, he can give good quality passes.
03. Individual defense is not good & needs to complement your teammates more
a. Inefficient individual confrontation: full-wing defenders may not be competent
Although it performed well in the World Cup, it was also related to Croatia's main defense. At RB Leipzig, his defensive performance before the World Cup was a bit poor and can only be said to have an advantage in passing and at his feet.
If he had Gvardior been allowed to defend alone in a large space, he would still be teased too many times. This time against Delaney in the UEFA Nations League, he was scored by a man.
In the European Championship qualifier with Turkey, Gervadior pushed Tosson near the touchline with his back this time, but he did not expect to be divided by the opponent after suddenly turning around.
Strictly speaking, Gervadior's athleticism is really not outstanding. The other party completes some unexpected power movements, and he often can't keep up with the rhythm.
What's more, this time Gvardior was not only wiped by Tosson's turn, but also failed to keep up with Tosson's forward insertion during the second position, and could only watch the opponent play a very threatening shot from behind.
b. Under the three-centre-back system: he can only rotate Dias?
Although in theory, Gervardior, who debuted at left-back, should be more suitable to play full-back. But as mentioned above, he has some problems when defending alone, and asking Gvardior to play full-back and talk directly to the winger could be a big problem.
Under City's current system, he is still more suitable to hide behind the back of two tall backs of Stones and Rodri, rotating the starting position with Dias.
Gervadior's success rate was just 54.6 per cent last season, far from Ake's 81.3 per cent.
Against Koeman, he chose to foul after the opponent's speed and received a yellow card. Perhaps decisive action is also an advantage, but a single soldier against a top central defender can be regarded as his disadvantage.
The same is true this time, the defender at the top of the center is Gvardior, but it is evaded by Vargas in Osburg.
Along the way, Gervadior also tried to destroy with his feet, but he still didn't succeed. Fortunately, in the case of a good overall position, Gvadior has a certain ability to follow and place twice, and will not let the defense line appear too big a hole.
Fortunately, when Gervadior comes to Manchester City, he can get help from the system. Just like this time the upper grab Musiara failed, the teammates behind him can make up for it, and the second time in the position, Gervadior finally completed the break.
His defensive strengths lie in movement and secondary placement, and one-hammer defense is his weakness, and whether he can succeed in Manchester City in the future depends on the positioning and tactical arrangement of the manager.
Conclusion:
In this era of general decline in the ability of individual players, it is still very rare for a young man like Gervardior to play football with his brain and a calm and decisive style.
After all, he is only 21 years old, and there is still a lot of room for development. Especially under Pep Guardiola, the future may also be more progressive than we currently think.