Player Focus: Life Was Arda With Diego

In the eulogies that followed Atletico Madrid’s run to winning the Europa League last season, most of the praise was rightly reserved for the extraordinary goalscoring feats of Radamel Falcao.

The Colombian scored a remarkable 13 times in that competition alone, including two in the final, but there was also widespread appreciation for the other man that scored in Bucharest against Athletic Bilbao, the Brazilian Diego.

The man Juventus had spent €24.5m on in 2009 had endured a strange lull in his career after a brilliant three-year spell at Werder Bremen. His time in Turin was short lived and even on returning to Germany with Wolfsburg he promptly fell out with several members of management, thus allowing Atleti to pick him up on loan last season.

However, after keeping Falcao against all the odds, Diego was the one missing piece from last season’s squad, with Atleti unable to stump up the cash to buy him on a permanent basis. That had led to fears over whether Los Colchoneros would suffer a creativity deficit, but so far it seems his absence has instead allowed Arda Turan’s influence to grow now that he is the principal playmaker.

The Turk has nearly matched his tally of three goals from last season by scoring twice in the first three league games this time around, and he was heavily involved in his side’s rout of Chelsea in the European Super Cup as he teed up Falcao for his and Atleti’s third goal of a brilliant opening 45 minutes.

That form is also reflected in his stats from the opening three games as the former Galatasary man’s shots per game, key passes, successful dribbles and pass completion are all up on last season and, interestingly, outperform those of Diego in some areas.

One of the reasons Arda has been so effective in Atleti’s four games to date has been his versatility. In the opening game of the season away at Levante he starred as a conventional playmaker, playing centrally, in behind Falcao. He scored a stunning goal from just outside the area in that pocket of space that the great number 10s exploit so well and was rightfully awarded the Man of the Match on WhoScored’s ratings system, in what was otherwise Atleti’s flattest and poorest performance of the season so far.

Reacting to that game, Diego Simeone then went with a more combative central midfield three of Gabi, Mario Suarez and Koke for the four-goal demolitions of Athletic Bilbao and Chelsea, in which Arda played predominantly to the right of Falcao, with Cristian Rodriguez and Adrian Lopez used to the left.

However, Simeone then changed things - again to great effect - against Rayo Vallecano at the weekend, introducing Diego Costa to play alongside Falcao. This pushed Arda left, with Koke moving to the right and Atleti scored four more with Costa setting up two of the goals and winning the penalty for Falcao’s fourth.

Whilst this tactical evolution has hampered the form of another of Atleti’s standouts last season in Adrian, Arda has excelled in each role and in particular helps to give Simeone’s side an extra man in midfield when he cuts inside to allow Filipe Luis or Juanfran to gallop forward from full-back.

All of this actually helps to bring a better attacking balance to the side than they had in Diego’s time last season. Atleti scored four goals in six of their 59 game marathon campaign last year; by already hitting four three times this season, it suggests that with Arda at the hub they will do so on many more occasions.

Ever since he arrived just over a year ago, the Atleti fans have warmed to his mixture of skill and determination and the club’s Ultras, the El Frente, regularly beat the drum to the sound of his name. 

However, as a much vaunted talent from a young age that broke through on the European stage as long as four years ago with two goals at Euro 2008, at 25 now is the time for Arda to develop into the truly world class talent he was once considered to be.