By Graham Ruthven
That there was such concentrate on Ayoze Pérez forward of the sport highlighted the extent at which the 31-year-old is working proper now. He has grow to be a difference-maker for Spain, scoring one and helping one other in final week’s away win over Denmark. Written off in England after spells at Newcastle United and Leicester Metropolis, Pérez is now a beginning determine for the European champions.
He’s additionally spearheading Villarreal’s resurgence beneath Marcelino. Final season, The Yellow Submarine completed a lowly eighth, going by way of three completely different managers within the course of. Marcelino was employed for a second spell at El Madrigal simply over a yr in the past and wanted a while to make his mark. Now, although, Villarreal are on the right track once more.
Pérez is a key member of Marcelino’s new-look group. He has scored seven objectives in simply 9 video games (5 of them begins), making him the highest scoring Spaniard in LaLiga. Solely Robert Lewandowski and Vinícius Júnior have scored greater than Pérez who is just getting higher as he progresses deeper into his 30s.
Signed from Actual Betis in the summertime switch window, Pérez has given Villarreal a unique dimension within the attacking third. His mobility has been utilised by a group that’s lower than involved with possession than it’s with benefiting from house within the opposition half – Villarreal rank solely thirteenth for common possession share in LaLiga this season.
Solely Barcelona, Actual Madrid and Actual Betis have a better Anticipated Objectives (xG) than The Yellow Submarine who’ve discovered the again of the web 23 occasions in simply 12 video games. Even past Pérez, Villarreal are thriving in so many various areas. They’ve misplaced simply certainly one of their final six league video games, and that was away to Actual Madrid.
Álex Baena appears to have taken the subsequent step in his improvement, contributing 5 assists as Villarreal’s creator-in-chief from the left facet of the midfield. Nicolas Pépé has been built-in into the ahead line following his summer time swap from Trabzonspor whereas Dani Parejo continues to drag the strings within the centre of the pitch.
In Pérez, although, Villarreal have a participant who embodies their general enchancment. He has been a one-man attacking hub for Marcelino’s facet this season, rating within the prime 27% for pictures over the course of the marketing campaign to this point in addition to the highest 15% for possibilities created. In dribbles, progressive passes and crosses, Pérez ranks equally extremely.
“He wished to return and that was the very first thing,” stated Marcelino about Pérez’s resolution to affix Villarreal and the affect he’s made. “He’s glad and he finds the objective. And when that occurs you discover confidence, safety… however he additionally scores a number of objectives in coaching. It’s a switch of every day work. He’s clever, exact, he dominates the sport. Within the penalty space he’s intuitive… he’s serving to us lots.”
A fourth league win in a row in opposition to Osasuna this weekend would additional strengthen Villarreal’s case for a prime 4 end. The Yellow Submarine’s solely two defeats this season have come in opposition to Barcelona and Actual Madrid and so there’s little cause to consider their Champions League qualification problem will falter. Villarreal’s underlying numbers are robust.
The harm picked up by Pérez on worldwide responsibility may see him miss a recreation or two for Villarreal. Marcelino may need to soak up the lack of his most in-form attacker earlier than a troublesome run of fixtures that may embody video games in opposition to Girona, Athletic Membership and Actual Betis earlier than LaLiga’s winter break on the finish of December. Having Pérez match for this era could be a lift.
Off the sphere, Pérez has grown too. He has taken on a management function at Villarreal this season, publicly criticising LaLiga’s resolution to play matches within the wake of the devastating floods in japanese Spain that led to the deaths of greater than 200 folks. “The choice was not in our palms; we needed to play, and so we did,” he stated. “However all of us agreed that we shouldn’t have.”
Few may have imagined the standing Pérez would assume again in his homeland when he left Leicester Metropolis almost two years in the past, however the 31-year-old’s surprising success for membership and nation is proof of what good teaching and a wholesome surroundings can draw out of a participant. The highest-scoring Spaniard in LaLiga has lots extra to supply.
(Cowl picture from IMAGO)
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