Everything Atletico Madrid Fans Need to Know About Matias Kranevitter
Atletico Madrid's summer activity saw them recruit heavily in established names and quality as they looked to build a squad capable of challenging the top two for La Liga's title once more, but two late deals in the window also saw them snare two highly rated youngsters from South America.
Rafael Santos Borre signed from Deportivo Cali in Colombia, where he will remain until next summer, while Matias Kranevitter penned a deal to transfer to Atleti from River Plate in Argentina.
Argentina's friendly win over Bolivia at the weekend gave a glimpse as to Atleti forward Angel Correa's talents, as detailed here, but there was also an international debut for Kranevitter in the centre of the park. With the 22-year-old set to join up with Atletico in winter, now is an ideal time to see exactly what Atleti will be adding to their squad.
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Need-to-Know Basis
Playing in the centre of midfield, Kranevitter serves a dual role: He protects the defence by way of his positional play and willingness to make defensive interventions, but he also instigates attacks from deep rather than simply looking to lay the ball off to his midfield partners.
At 22 he'll be far from the youngest face at Atleti—Jose Gimenez, Saul, Oliver Torres, Luciano Vietto and Correa are all younger—but he will be a considerably less experienced alternative to the current incumbents of the central midfield positions, Tiago and Gabi.
An agile and athletic player, Kranevitter isn't a thunderous defensive midfielder in the form of compatriot Javier Mascherano, but rather he's a fine reader of the game who is quick to make interceptions, stepping up out of the deepest midfield line to intervene when he feels it possible and yet still happy to put in tackles, too.
Importantly, his approach to passing is extremely proactive.
Kranevitter constantly seeks to break the midfield lines with penetrative passing, not necessarily always through-passes in the manner of his assist for Correa but certainly playing between two opponents to find a team-mate who has dropped into space, rather than constantly going short or wide without making progress upfield.
He turns away from danger to keep possession with ease, doesn't mind a burst of acceleration to dribble forward into space and is extremely two-footed with his passing.
In his own way, he's a much-closer profile of defensive midfielder to Sergio Busquets than to Mascherano.
River
At his current club, River Plate, Kranevitter tends to play most frequently as the base of a midfield diamond or else as part of a double-pivot central midfield partnership.
He was part of the squad that won the 2014 Primera Division, helping them top the Torneo Final and then coming off the bench in the closing stages of the grand final against Torneo Inicial winners San Lorenzo, to lift the title overall. He also came off the bench in both legs of the Copa Sudamericana final to help River win on aggregate against Atletico Nacional.
2015 was even better—Kranevitter played a full part during the season and started both legs of the Copa Libertadores final for River, which they won 3-0 on aggregate against Tigres UANL.
Not yet 100 games into his senior career, he has won three major trophies for River; now they want him to help lift one more, arranging with Atletico that he will stay in place on loan until the end of the year to compete in the FIFA Club World Cup in December.
Atletico
So, Atleti know they will receive midfield reinforcements in the new year. Until then, Tiago and Gabi continue to hold sway and have started the season in fine form—while it is also expected that, after the tough start to the campaign, Koke will eventually transition to playing centrally more frequently.
It's clear Kranevitter will have his work cut out to win a place in the side—but it's tough to argue that he hasn't already done enough to show he deserves a move to a club of this size, quality and expectation.
A period of adaptation could well be required, but with plenty of compatriots already at the club, language not being an issue and, he'll hope, leaving the club on a high note after the CWC, there's also every chance he could hit the floor running—once he convinces Diego Simeone he warrants a role, of course.
What Kranevitter could specifically bring Atleti's two-man midfield is an increased ability to press a little higher and more aggressively, as well as quick and incisive passing once possession is won to feed the attacking quartet. In addition, he's a natural option to sit at the base of three in the centre when Simeone opts to go 4-3-3, as he did in the latter stages of the season's opening fixture.
Speculatively looking ahead for a moment, a central midfield options list for next season of Gabi, Koke, Kranevitter and Josuha Guilavogui is a monstrous combination for the club to consider, if the Argentine continues to progress and the on-loan Wolfsburg man returns to the Vicente Calderon.
Argentina
Kranevitter's Argentina debut was well-received; the Argentinian version of Goal.com were so impressed that they ran a statistical breakdown of his game, while Sam Kelly of ESPN FC labelled Kranevitter the most meaningful long-term change for the Argentina national side.
In competitive action it's likely Mascherano will continue to rule the roost for Tata Martino's team, of course, but Kranevitter provides a different outlet for the ball from that deep zone and perhaps for many a more palatable option than the likes of Lucas Biglia or even Fernando Gago, a positional and a domestic team rival now that he's back at Boca Juniors.
The soon-to-be Atletico Madrid man has plenty of progression and growth left in him and the Liga side are renowned as a competitive team who fight for each other and show great consistency, so it'll be by no means easy for Kranevitter to walk into the XI.
He has certainly demonstrated enough until now, however, to suggest he'll be an excellent addition when he eventually joins, and he gives plenty of reason to be further excited about Atleti's chances of success this season.
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