The midfielder played one of his worst halves of the season. He couldn't find the solution and ended up getting angry at not finding the solution. “Leoni is a player dependent on the collective, analyzes our consultant Alex Teklak. He is not the type to change the match but he can enhance his team if they play possession and combination football.”
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Leoni was tossed from position to position, picking up minutes of play in all three midfield positions. He even had to help out in defense at the start of the year. Since then, Leoni has no longer given the slightest assist, has no longer scored and has no longer dominated a match as he did in the first part of the season with three goals and seven assists and an average close to seven out of ten in our columns. In 2024, it is below six.
“I return the problemsuggests Teklak. Should he have finisher stats in his role or was that a bonus? I lean towards the second option.” Besides, when Besnik Hasi mentioned his case in The Bench, he did not talk about figures. “Leoni has three lungs, is very intelligent, knows how to do everything and sees the game before the others.”
So is there a problem with Leoni? Those around him swear that his life is still as stable as ever and that he continues to cover 12 kilometers per match with a smile. “He's a working playersaid Teklak. He recovers the ball and sets the tempo without making waves. However, he has a great need to be well surrounded. He knows how to get around pressing but needs his teammates to offer him passing opportunities.”
The explanation may perhaps be found around him. “And I may have played a role in thatconcedes his trainer. I made a lot of changes in my midfield, especially because of injuries and that caused some instability.”
The bar is set high, we expect the level of a starter from him.
His irritation when he did not find an available teammate at Genk reflects this frustration. Leoni cannot find real technical accomplices in his midfield friends. When Brian Riemer throws “We miss Yari (Verschaeren)”, he also says it for Leoni. Number 10 comes to ask for the ball and knows how to keep it to combine with his friend.
Internally, some say that there is a perception bias about it. Let fans, media and consultants see him as better than he really is, forgetting that he is not yet a finished product. Riemer also specifies that we must put his season into perspective because, according to him, Leoni is not playing any worse than before. “He did great things in the first part of the season to everyone's surprise and expectations have risen and the bar is now set very high because we expect the level of a starter at Anderlecht from him.”
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Expectations will be even greater next season when he will have signed the five-year contract that awaits him. Negotiations will take place after the season. Leoni has better things to do at the moment. He dreams of being champion with Anderlecht. In the show La Tribune, he said he preferred the title with the Mauves to a selection with the Devils. He is on a mission for the next six games.
