2023-11-14 17:13:14
Pablo Longoria addressed the lack of offensive efficiency of Vitinha and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang this Tuesday during an exclusive interview with RMC Sport. The president of Olympique de Marseille notably defended the Portuguese and justified the price of his record transfer.
Beaten by Lens (1-0) at the end of the 12th day of Ligue 1, Olympique de Marseille are going through a complicated period in the championship and find themselves tenth in the standings, nine points off the podium and four points behind the first relegation place before their match late against OL.
Above all, the Marseille club remains on a series of only two victories, four draws and four defeats, during the last ten days of the championship. Particularly in attack, the team coached by Gennaro Gattuso struggles to impose its game and scorers Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Vitinha struggle to convert their opportunities. A situation which does not yet worry Pablo Longoria as the Olympian president confirmed this Tuesday, November 14 at the microphone of RMC Sport. If the efficiency can improve, there is no urgency yet for the two attackers.
>>> The full interview with Pablo Longoria for RMC Sport
Longoria confident for Aubameyang
After the success of the Alexis Sanchez bet last season, Marseille hoped to do the same in 2023-2024 with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. With five goals in 16 appearances in all competitions, this remains insufficient for the Gabonese. Particularly in L1 where the former Arsenal and Chelsea player has only scored once. But Pablo Longoria continues to trust him.
“When we see him training on a daily basis, I have no doubt. When we see the number of chances he creates, even if I repeat that the quantity of offensive passes must improve, we don’t has no doubt”, assured the president of OM in an exclusive interview for RMC Sport.
“I’m someone who believes that all his stats are average. Even when he underperforms and even when he overperforms. He has plenty of time to get back to average and that’s why I’m very confident when I see him working on a daily basis.”
And Pablo Longoria continued: “Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is an international level player. Can he improve his offensive success? Yes, we must be self-critical and we must always live in reality. Is it that this will happen? I’m sure of it. Particularly because I see how he works on a daily basis, I see the level of commitment he has, I see how the coach believes in his possibilities, I see the level of competition what there is between him and Vitinha and how that allows him to try to improve. Because I also believe in the level of competition between the players. I believe that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is the same Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang that we saw in Barcelona but with a different context in which I am sure it will emerge.”
“We are putting too much pressure on Vitinha with the price of his transfer”
Understudy of the Gabonese, Vitinha is content with limited playing time this season. And for good reason, the Portuguese striker has not yet managed to justify the price of his transfer. Recruited in January 2023 for nearly 32 million euros, the former Braga player has attracted a lot of criticism from supporters. Here again, Pablo Longoria showed confidence and asked for patience.
“We have to separate two things, sporting performance and the transfer price. I think we are too focused, that we are putting too much pressure on him with the price of his transfer. A young striker under 23, with current market prices, we still hope to sell him for more than twenty million euros when he scores goals. It’s the law of the current market”, noted the Marseille manager about this record transfer which surprised many people in Marseille. “We have to remember that when we took Vitinha, he was the top scorer in the Europa League. That has value, in addition to the 22 years he was. You pay the current market price for players.”
Longoria sees “a lot of potential” in Vitinha
With 31 appearances in all competitions for Marseille since his arrival at the end of January, Vitinha has only scored five goals. This season, the record is poor with two goals during the first two days of Ligue 1 and another against AEK Athens in Ligue Europa. Apart from that, not much, or rather a few big failures which annoyed. Not enough to see Pablo Longoria talking about a casting error. On the contrary, the president of OM sees him exploding to the top level soon.
“At the same time, he is a player who does not yet have continuity but this is linked to his youth and to the competition. The comparison with Alexis Sanchez is complicated, the competition with an international level player like Pierre- Emerick Aubameyang is difficult,” continued the Marseille leader for RMC Sport. “But I believe that this type of competition will allow him to grow. I have confidence in Vitinha. Particularly because we see that his qualities to obtain actions, in particular in the surface, and especially when he is in the melee with defenders, I think he has a lot of potential.”
Before concluding on the 23-year-old striker: “We must think that he is a player who must bring us, that he must little by little find more stability and more continuity in his game because it is very important for the attackers. But all this requires calm. Asking for calm in a football team is very easy for a manager but I believe that this competition and having grown up with Alexis Sanchez and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, that will do him good to explode. I believe a lot in his potential.”
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