Armenia national team defender Gael Andonian has left Olympique Marseille this season and is currently training with Sunderland U23. No agreement is yet reached with the club and the player, as the latest should prove his qualities to stay in League 1 club.
Here are 5 facts about 23-year-old Andonian that Sunderland fans should know.
1.A nominal left back, who can also play in the center
Gael has started his career in academy of Olympique Marseille. He was a nominal left back, with the ability to sprint, make crosses and help attacking players. During his career some coaches tried him in position of center back. His first experience for the new role on the pitch was not successful. However, over the time Andonian has proven that he can cover the responsibilities of both positions in his teams and national team.
2.Fantastic background of youth career in France
“We were often playing with teams like Barcelona, Real Madrid and other top clubs.” Andonian told reporters on his early years in France. Olympique Marseille academy is well known in Europe, as some stars like Dimitri Payet and Florian Thauvin are products of it. Andonian has spent 10 years, and has got a great experience to use during his professional career.
3.Marcelo Bielsa
Marcelo Bielsa was the first coach that noticed talent of Andonian and called him to train with the first team during 2014/15 campaign. However, the results were worse than expected, and Marseille decided to sack Bielsa. Rudy Garcia took the role of manager and sent Andonian to Dijon on loan deal. Since then, Armenian international hasn’t made any appearance for Olympique.
4.Ambitious
Andonian had a season in Dijon (Ligue 2) and Veria (Greece). “I scored two goals in my debut for Dijon, but then I got red card and when my disqualification was finished, I didn’t get chance to play, because the main left back has come back”. “I think I can play in top leagues of Europe” Andonian said recently on his future.
5.Experience on international level
Gael has 22 appearances for national team since joining Armenia in 2015. He started almost every matches of Euro-2016 qualifiers. Andonian hasn’t scored a goal, but he isn’t supposed to do so. He is better remembered for his style of play. He got 2 red cards during Euro-2016 and WC-2018 qualifiers. Andonian loves to make risky tackles, which sometimes bring to unexpected results. However, this quality is also important for leagues like Championship, where the old-school style football is much more applicable than in other Leagues.
Hrayr Ghahriyan
