LaLiga.The numbers that support the new (and attractive) style of Atlético
Minutes after completing his third training session with Atlético, still wearing the clothes from that last session prior to the match against Cádiz (9:00 p.m.), Geoffrey Kondogbia (Nemours, 1993), the last rojiblanca acquisition, answers EL MUNDO by phone with an agile Spaniard.
It is difficult for him to move around the unknown corners of the Majadahonda Sports City.
Yannick Carrasco, a former teammate at Monaco, acts as a guide for this young dad, passionate about music and called to put the rhythm of Simeone's core, after Thomas' escape.
In early October, it seemed that his move to Atlético was imminent.
However, he has had to wait a month.
What has happened during these weeks? It has not been anything strange.
Simply that the clubs were talking about me, nothing more.
It has not been something different from what happens when two clubs negotiate. Did you have a hard time waiting for the outcome? In football there are good moments and others bad.
Whenever you are waiting and hearing something, you think about it.
But in the end it's football things, so it hasn't been too difficult for me either. But he came to publicly criticize Anil Murthy (Valencia president) when his signing was initially frustrated. People think it was because of this, but it was because of an issue from last year.
I had talked about it many times with him the previous season and they have been things that have not been fulfilled.
But it is already the past.
I don't want to talk about this because it can hurt everyone.
I spent three wonderful years in Valencia, with good people and a spectacular crowd.
I keep all the good stuff. Did someone from Atlético speak with you to show your interest? The people of the club spoke with my representative, I was the last one to be notified that Atlético wanted me.
That that I had previously spoken with Simeone is false.
Kondogbia, during the photo shoot.
I suppose you've already had a chance to speak with Simeone.
What did you ask him for? He welcomed me and told me that he was happy with my arrival at Atlético.
Little more.
I've only been training for three days, so we'll talk later.
It is a short time to get into football issues, we will get to know each other. Atlético has signed him for the departure of Thomas at the close of the market.
Do they look alike on the field? I don't think he came to replace Thomas.
He is a great player who has shown his quality and high level in the past.
I have come to help the team and be one of them.
I've just arrived and I'm trying to get to know the team a little bit: how you work and how you think on the field.
Nothing else.
But I don't think he's here to replace anyone, he met Yannick Carrasco in Monaco (2013-15).
What has he told you? He explained to me how people live here, how they work and what their colleagues are like.
He has always spoken well of the club to me.
He is very happy here.
I'm sure I'm going to love it, he was born in France, but chose to play for the Central African Republic, the country of his parents.
There are those who do not understand that decision, it is another decision of the heart
I have dual citizenship and if there is one of the two countries that needs me the most to meet the objectives, it is the Central African Republic.
I thought about that, although it is more difficult for me to meet the challenges with the Central African Republic than with France.
On a personal level, I feel as French as I am Central African.
I feel as French as I am Central African, but they need me much more there
Apart from the captain of the national team, he is an idol there.
Is life very hard in that part of the planet? It is difficult, of course, as in so many other places in Africa.
We are one of the poorest countries in the world.
People have a hard time, but it's life and you always have to look ahead. And how is the situation due to the coronavirus in that country? My father lives in France, but my mother is there and says there is nothing.
There have been at most two or three deaths and arrived from Europe. One day he decides that he wants to be a footballer.
How did it all start? It was six or seven years old.
I used to play, but I didn't like going to train.
I preferred to play in the street with my friends and without rules.
From the age of seven, I joined a club and I wanted to be a professional. He's 1.88 meters tall, why football and not basketball, for example? Because my father and my older brother played football.
And where he lived, 90 percent of the people did.
Also the girls, so it was easier to choose football.
Kondogbia, on his first day at the Metropolitano.ATLÉTICO DE MADRIDEFE
Did you have any idols as a child? I had several.
When you are a child, your idols are always the best.
If I say a name, I would forget 40, so I prefer not to give any.In 2013, when he played for Sevilla, he was sent off for a pique with Costa.
I don't know if you've had a chance to talk to him about it, the truth is that he didn't remember that moment.
I was very young (just turned 20 years old) and I no longer remembered.
He [Diego Costa] does remember and we have laughed reviewing everything that happened that night. He has not played for weeks.
How are you physically? Pretty well, although I'm not 100 percent.
I'm working and hopefully I can be at full capacity shortly.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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