Aston Villa man appears to be displeased with the inquiry of the possibility of playing in different positions during the world cup.
Aston Villa man who is also the skipper in his national team for their World Cup campaign, Victor Lindelof, might have been considered as the ‘saviour’ in the right moment for his club. Unai Emery’s decision to play him as a defensive midfielder due to the crisis in that position following the injury of Amadou Onana and Boubacar Kamara plus the unconvincing form of their young deputy, Lamare Bogarde, in big games, really paid off.
However, being the utility player does not seem to sit well for the Sweden international. He was rather upset dealing with the question of being deployed as a right back, as reported by Sportbladet, via sportwitness.co.uk.
“A little bit like that, absolutely. I deserve some respect. I think what I’ve done in my career. Not a joke. But I think what I’ve done in my career, and the role I have… a little respect for that,”
The former Benfica man has established himself as one of the top defenders in Europe during his peak years at Manchester United and the Portuguese giant. He has won all domestic competition in Portugal, plus EFL League Cup 2023 and FA Cup 2024 with The Red Devils.
In his career, Lindelof has had to operate in different positions, albeit rarely. Two positions which he did have to adapt were right back and defensive midfielder. Last season, Unai Emery did employ him in those posts. The 31-year old centre back played as the right back in the three fixtures of Europa League, against Go Ahead Eagles, Feyenoord and Maccabi Tel Aviv.
The more convincing one was when he had to be deployed as the defensive midfielder to fill the void in that position following the injuries of Onana, and Kamara during the crucial times, the final weeks of the season. Lindelof featured in four games in that new role, the two games in the Premier League against Burnley and Liverpool plus two matches in Europa League, the second leg of semifinal and the final.
Despite his fine form as a defensive midfielder, the Vasteras-born defender does not seem to be keen on playing in the same position again. He still prefers being in command at the defence line. He stated it in the press when responding to another similar question.
“I’m here as a centre-back. We in Sweden have enough good midfielders. Potter and I have not discussed it,”
Lindelof made his international debut in March 2016. He was part of the Sweden squad in three major international tournaments. His first was EURO 2016. He already featured in all three games but Blagut failed to progress to the knockout stage.
His best performance was in the following two, 2018 FIFA World Cup and EURO 2020. In the former, he was already the regular starter since losing to Germany on matchday two and helped Sweden to advance to the quarterfinal before slumping to a 2-0 defeat to England.
Two years later, the Aston Villa centre back also contributed well as Sweden held Spain in a goalless draw and won 1-0 over Slovenia, plus another narrow 3-2 victory against Robert Lewandowski’s Poland. Unfortunately, they were beaten 2-1 in the round of 16 by Ukraine.
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