Aryagorn
Improvin' Perfection!!
Éder Fabián Álvarez Balanta (born February 28, 1993) is a Colombian footballer who plays for Argentinean River Plate in the Primera División. His overall versatile capabilities has led him to be liken as one of the more promising young defenders from South America, earning praise even from Europe.
In Colombia, he started as an offensive midfielder, a #10 type player, for Deportes la Equidad and later Academia Compensar, but was later moved back into a central defensive midfield role. Once in Buenos Aires, he was switched to the left-back role as there were already quality prospects at the academy in his former position. He was later moved once again to play as a central defender. Balanta arrived in Argentina early in 2011. After a brief trial with that team, the Colombian tried-out at River and was promptly signed to their famed youth divisions.
Balanta is superb when faced with one-on-one situations. He’s also very good at reading the game in defensive situations. Balanta is quite a good passer of the ball and actually prefers to play the ball to a team-mate rather than clearing with power as is so common. Because of his speed in getting to the ball, Balanta prefers standing challenges and rarely makes sliding tackles. When it comes to aerial challenges, his height is certainly not a problem. Not only is Balanta good with headers, he’s also got very strong legs and can jump as high as he needs to in order to win a ball. His positioning is quite good and he’s always making himself available for team-mates to pass the ball back to him.
The kid is being linked to us... The fact that he would come very cheap gives me some confidence that our miser would sanction signing him.
Come on Tata, bring him in
In Colombia, he started as an offensive midfielder, a #10 type player, for Deportes la Equidad and later Academia Compensar, but was later moved back into a central defensive midfield role. Once in Buenos Aires, he was switched to the left-back role as there were already quality prospects at the academy in his former position. He was later moved once again to play as a central defender. Balanta arrived in Argentina early in 2011. After a brief trial with that team, the Colombian tried-out at River and was promptly signed to their famed youth divisions.
Balanta is superb when faced with one-on-one situations. He’s also very good at reading the game in defensive situations. Balanta is quite a good passer of the ball and actually prefers to play the ball to a team-mate rather than clearing with power as is so common. Because of his speed in getting to the ball, Balanta prefers standing challenges and rarely makes sliding tackles. When it comes to aerial challenges, his height is certainly not a problem. Not only is Balanta good with headers, he’s also got very strong legs and can jump as high as he needs to in order to win a ball. His positioning is quite good and he’s always making himself available for team-mates to pass the ball back to him.
The kid is being linked to us... The fact that he would come very cheap gives me some confidence that our miser would sanction signing him.
Come on Tata, bring him in
