Niko Kovac lauds Chelsea loanee Aáron Anselmino: “A fighter with crusader spirit.” | OneFootball

After injury setbacks delayed his true arrival with his current Bundesliga loan club, Chelsea centre-back Aarón Anselmino has arrived with Borussia Dortmund proper. The 20-year-old has finally featured in back-to-back BVB starting XIs. In both cases, the young Argentine started and went the full 90 minutes. Anselmino has also managed to get his name on the scoresheet both in the Bundesliga and Champions League. 

Anselmino recorded an assist in Tuesday’s Champions League victory over Villarreal and scored his first Bundesliga goal in last night’s league win over Bayer Leverkusen. The youngster’s head coach Niko Kovac – evidently in something of a religious mood when discussing recent performances of his players – discussed Anselmino in religious terms when speaking to Sky Germany last night. 

“He fights with crusader spirit,” Kovac told Sky. “When things get tight, there’s no nonsense with him. He breaks through. And that’s something you need at this level. You need defenders who love defending. The boy does that excellently. I love players like that, who do their job with dedication and passion.”

Interestingly enough, Kovac’s assessment of Anselmino wasn’t exclusively limited to his “fighting spirit“. In his coach’s opinion, Anselmino also possesses a remarkable maturity for his age. Kovac almost seemed to contradict himself when asked a follow-up question.

“He’s a very calm guy, which is not usually conceivable for an Argentine,” Kovac said when asked what surprised him in particular about Anselmino. “I’ve played against a lot of them in my career and they’re usually hotheads.“

GGFN | Peter Weis