It’s been a busy twenty four hours in SE7, with Billy Koumetio following the footsteps of Ivan Mesík in signing a four year deal at Charlton Athletic. Koumetio’s arrival follows the announcement of Wembley hero Macauley Gillesphey’s move to Bradford.
Lyon born Koumetio joins from Scottish club Dundee where he has spent the last two seasons, making forty league appearances. Dundee was the first permanent stop of Koumetio’s senior career following three underwhelming loan moves from his then parent club Liverpool. The Merseyside team had high hopes for Koumetio at a time where his competition was now England and Bayer Leverkusen defender Jarrel Quansah. Most notably, Jurgen Klopp was once quoted as saying “Billy the kid! He doesn’t look like a kid. In my opinion, his face looks like a kid but then all the rest is like ‘Wow!”. The defender first trained with Liverpool’s senior squad the age of sixteen and was working up against attackers like Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino.
Koumetio started his youth career as a winger at Lyon before moving back to defence at the age of fourteen, first to left back and then to centre back. Standing at six foot three inches tall, it seems like that shift back was a sensible one. That height enables Koumetio to be handy in the air, last season he won a phenomenal 76.4% of his aerial duels. For comparison, Lloyd Jones won 67.2% of his aerial duels. Some adjustment needs to be made for the standard of opposition but the numbers are promising nonetheless.
Another comparison to Jones is both players tendency for a safety first attitude with the ball, both averaging approximately ten clearances per match and being in the top 5% in their respective leagues. Given that the new signing is left footed it is worth making comparisons to Amari’i Bell but a glance at statistics show that they are very different players. The joy of watching Bell last season was seeing him elegantly dribble out of danger, occasionally mazing his way up to the top end of the pitch. While not dominant in the air, Bell’s positioning meant that aerial balls were rarely an issue and if he found himself in danger his smaller frame made it easier to win a cheap free kick. Koumetio will play in a different style, using his physicality to try to bully attackers out of the way and head the ball clear. The base of midfield will have to be alert to winning the second balls.
It is unlikely that Koumetio will be an immediate starter but with Bell’s injury record it is likely he’ll be called upon a lot. It is yet to be seen where Mesík will play but it’s looking more and more likely to be at wing back. Given his similarity in play styles, it’s possible that Koumetio may also be used as an understudy to the incredibly durable Jones, hopefully stopping the vice captain needing to play through injury.
Welcome to SE7, Billy!
The CAFC website offers fuller background on Billy Koumetio