Despite his 1.80m height which could handicap him in his position as central defender, Jonathan Gradit is the Ligue 1 player who has won the most aerial duels since the start of the season.
Jonathan Gradit new benchmark in the air?
And if the drill, nickname attributed to Jonathan Gradet for several years by its ability to break lines with the ball, had it reinvented itself? Standing at 1.80m tall, the right central defender of RC Lens is not the one who gains the most meters with the ball, but rather the one who wins the most aerial duels. With 26 units, he is ahead of references like Ludovic Ajorque (25) and Rasmus Nicolaisen (21) according to data collected by the specialized site FBref.
A very flattering figure given his athletic profile, also to be qualified with the fact that he is often targeted by opponents and that he “only” displays the 20th best success rate in the exercise in Ligue 1 with 72.2% aerial duels won . For comparison, Abdukodir Khusanov won 16 aerial duels (64% success), when Facundo Medina
played 10 to win 6 (60% success).
*Among players who have won at least 5 aerial duels
Photo credits: Anthony Bibard/FEP/Icon Sport
