ONE TO WATCH: ANDREAS ASIMENOS

On modern football, athletes are required to run tens of kilometres on the field, and they should be able to have incredible stamina and endurance.

Players like Pedri, Valverde, Bernardo Silva, and many others, are currently on top of their game as they are prime examples of relentless footballers. Another similarity that these players have, is that they all play in a midfield role, primarily. All three are different in their regard, with Pedri being a more box-to-box tireless Centre Midfielder, Valverde being an excellent all-rounder, with goal-scoring capabilities, and able to cover in a number of positions, while Bernardo Silva, has endless runs on the more offensive side of midfield, often playing wider on the right flank side.

In this piece, the focus will be on another young Cypriot footballer, with similar capabilities with all of those world class stars and has an exciting future ahead of him. The name is, Andreas Asimenos, who spent the 2023-24 season, on loan from Omonoia, at Olympiakos Nicosia.

Asimenos had 28 appearances for Olympiakos. One goal and six assists in his name and even though, the club did not perform as expected, it was certainly a successful season for the young midfielder personally, who at just 19 years of age, has experienced his first full season in Cyprus. With already European performances under his belt, the lad has represented Omonoia in the Conference League Group Stages in a couple of occasions when he was just 17 years of age.

His position can be described as a defensive minded box-to-box midfielder who can thrive in a double-pivot in the middle of the park. While he has not yet had a full season in the Cypriot 1^st division, at just 19 years old, he has played under Henning Berg, and Pampos Christodoulou, who have both trusted him in different ways. Under the Norwegian’s spell at Omonoia, Asimenos made his European debut as mentioned before, and under Christodoulou, he was one of the main midfielders of Olympiakos throughout the season that just passed.

Asimenos’s main quantities are endless endurance, hard-work and aggression. Despite of his small structure, he can cover it with his aggression and passionate interceptions. He is not in any regard a ‘’stats-player’’ but with his ‘’silent work’’ on the pitch and his can-do attitude the future is the limit for the youngster.

Player Profile:

Date of Birth: July 2^nd 2004
Height: 1,76cm
Position: Midfielder
Key Strengths: Intelligence, Off-the-ball work, Stamina, Endurance, Direct play