Albanian forward Armando Sadiku is one of the newest faces in the squad of reigning ISL trophy holders Mohun Bagan Super Giant. Mohun Bagan has acquired him on a two-year deal. The 32-year-old’s presence carries a wealth of experience due to his playing in Albania, Bolivia, Spain and Switzerland.
In this article, we aim to explore his career so far, his playing style and how he will fit in Juan Ferrando’s grand scheme.
Who is Armando Sadiku?
Armando Sadiku is a striker from Albania who began his professional career playing for the Albanian club, KF Turbina Cerrik in 2008. He then moved up to the top league of Albania by joining the team Elbasani. He joined the second-division football championship in Switzerland playing under FC Locarno. Playing in the Swiss Challenge League led to him coming into his stride and he became known as a prolific goalscorer.
He won the golden boot twice while playing in the Swiss Challenge League. His immense success led him to join the top-division team FC Zurich. But ill luck led to him spending a considerable time injured and on the bench. Under FC Zurich he was loaned out to Vaduz and his former team FC Logano. After his contract with Zurich concluded he made the shift to the Polish top league, Ekstraklasa and joined Legia Warsaw.
At Legia Warsaw, he had less play time than he hoped but he made an impact during those appearances. After his brief stint at Legia Warsaw, he was snapped up by La Liga giants Levante. But injury struck again and he spent much of his time on the bench. He had further loan spells under Levante. After Levante, he had brief stints with the Turkish team BB Erzurumspor and Bolivian team Club Bolivar. He returned to Spain and played for Las Palmas and FC Cartagena.
He has had a fairly successful career playing for the Albanian National team. He is the current leading goalscorer for his nation and his big moment in his country’s colours came when he scored Albania’s first-ever goal in a major tournament when he headed in a cross against Romania at the Euro 2016.
How he would fit in Juan Ferrando‘s system
Juan Ferrando generally employs a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-3-3 formation. Dimitrios Petratos is the man whom Juan looked to when it comes to scoring goals. The creative players Boumous and Kuruniyan supply Petratos with opportunities for as well as scoring themselves. Armando’s introduction means that the responsibility of scoring goals would shift from Petratos and instead would be shared between Petratos, another new signing Jason Cummings, and Armando.
Armando is an aggressive striker and versatile enough to create opportunities by dropping deep and contributing to the play. His experience and personal playstyle see him effectively taking on and stupefying defenders. His experience will also provide a learning experience for young and inexperienced players and will improve the level of football of the team.
He is a striker through and through and is precise with both feet as well as having a great degree of aerial dominance, unlike Petratos, who is more of a false 9.
Significance of this signing for Mohun Bagan Super Giant
Mohun Bagan already had a great striker in Petratos. The arrival of Armando will shake things up as Armando will be expected to take the load off of Petratos and the other forwards and attacking midfielders. This would allow Juan Ferrando to explore different strategies. Mohun Bagan has acquired another foreign striker Jason Cummings. It would be interesting to see their possible partnership and the impact they have on the field.
Armando Sadiku and the skill and experience he brings with him are a great boost to MBSG’s AFC Cup aspirations which remain unfulfilled despite the considerable investment put in each time. He is sure to put in his best and paired with MBSG stalwarts such as Petratos, Kuruniyan, Manvir, Cummings, and others. Mohun Bagan is sure to have a great offensive line-up that if paired well is sure to work wonders on the pitch.
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