Timothy Weah and Amir Murillo, the dependable OM full-backs easing the load through versatility | OneFootball

At OM under Roberto De Zerbi, full-backs are constant shape-shifters, and Timothy Weah and Amir Murillo keep easing the strain by filling unfamiliar roles, as underlined in the 3-2 win over Union Saint-Gilloise on Tuesday night.

According to L'Équipe, Murillo has absorbed this demanding approach over the past year and a half, while Weah is discovering it this season.

Signed from Juventus Turin, the United States international, 25, with 47 caps and 7 goals, arrived as Mason Greenwood’s understudy. He has rarely operated on the right of the attack yet has been trusted in every big outing.

He played left wing at Real Madrid, a 1-2 defeat on 16 September, right-back against Newcastle, a 2-1 win on 25 November, then right wing-back versus Union, occasionally sliding into the right of a back four.

De Zerbi values his one-on-one threat and has often noted a shortage of attackers of that type, aside from Igor Paixao and possibly Hamed Junior Traoré, who has been injured too long to feature early on.

Murillo, 29, had been absent since the last international break. After three seasons at Anderlecht from 2020 to 2023, he knows Lotto Park well, where Union stage Champions League home games. Back from a thigh injury, he played centrally, then moved to right-back after Leonardo Balerdi came on at half-time.

Defensive rigour was his early flaw and he has worked on it. He can still drift, as in the 2-2 draw with Angers on 29 October when he was withdrawn at the break, though OM had no complaints against Union. Few expected such reliability when he arrived from Belgium two years ago, yet he has ridden out staff changes and busy windows. De Zerbi has told him that if he listens, he might one day join a team of Arsenal’s calibre.

Source: L'Équipe