Gerard Deulofeu is in high spirits, even the numbers say it, the “hidden” rankings that see him producing football of the highest level, second only to his Martian friend – from the time in Barcelona – Leo Messi, ahead of Mbappé and Neymar.
With the Udinese shirt on he has not yet scored, but he is also becoming the leading man of what is the real surprise of Serie A, result in hand: Andrea Sottil’s team.
Geri is on firewould say the Watford fans who sadly insert comments under the posts of the Juventus number 10, highlighting the position in the standings of Udinese and that of the Pozzo Gialloneri in the English B, an eighth place in the company that worries in terms of promotion.
Yep, Deulofeu’s posts. Even the activity off the pitch was “pungent” after the victory over Inter. Messages on Instagram (“Remember we are Udinese!”) And on Twitter, for a kind of pair condition social media, where the graph made in England has been placed in plain sight which tells who are the most dangerous players with the ball at their feet, commented by a person directly concerned with a “star” and a face with “red cheeks” because he has to be a great satisfaction to be in the midst of the trio of wonders of PSG, especially with the black and white shirt on him since 1896.
Behind the dribble madridista Vinicius, the Bayern sprinter, Alphonso Davies, or mister solidity at City, Kevin De Bruyne. So, just to mention a few other names of absolute prestige included in the ranking that takes into account the performances in the Top 5 European championships, the English Premier, the Spanish Liga, the German Bundesliga and the French Ligue 1 in addition to our Serie A, putting in ranks the players who produce the most dangerous actions in relation to the minutes played.
On the other hand, even before the match against Inter, from these pages we had indicated that Deulofeu’s qualities would be one of the key elements of a challenge at the top of the table.
For one simple reason. No player had recorded more opportunities created by the ball and chain movements of the good Geri, only the Neapolitan Politano equaled him in the production which had reached 6 after as many days and which on Sunday increased further, given that the black and white number 10 fanned two assist, kicking the corner that led to the overtaking goal signed by Bijol and catching Arslan in the area for the bracket net.
Well, we must be clear, the ranking with Messi clearly in the lead does not take into account only the assists (the steps that lead to a goal, in a nutshell), and for this reason it is even more significant, also to understand the dynamics of other teams: the second in Serie A, for example, is Koopmeiners, the most continuous in Atalanta’s sprint start, while the absence of a Napoli player means Spalletti’s team is by far the most talented and least predictable.
And speaking of the future, where can Deulofeu go? Many social media surfers are also asked when reading the post and ranking: “He wants a place with Spain in the World Cup”. An ambitious goal, capable of giving Udinese gas in the next eight days before the mega-stop.