The 10 Argentina players to explode the last six months
Martin Macdonald
- 14 Mar 2022 11:03 GMT
- 3 min read
Santiago Simon is the most improved Argentine player over the last six months, according to SciSports.
Using in-game data to calculate the performance of every player eligible to play for Argentina, the River Plate winger has enjoyed the greatest improvement, statistically.
Simon has developed a reputation for being a maverick wideman, but it is his exposure to first-team football in the Argentina Primera Division that has led to his SciSkill receiving a significant boost recently.
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He is only 19-years-old and so does not have a lot of senior matches under his belt, which is why his emergence as a first-team player has seen him develop in a short period of time.
He is yet to score his first senior goal, but does have two assists to his name in the Argentine top flight.
The player with the second-biggest development over the last six months is Atletico Union's Enzo Roldan.
The 21-year-old midfielder is actually owned by Boca, but it is his loan spell at Union that has allowed him to develop as first-team opportunities were hard to come by at Boca at such a young age.
Unfortunately for Roldan, he recently suffered a torn hamstring.
In third we have Kevin Lomonaco, who was on loan at Platense from Lanus last season.
The first centre-forward on our list is Luciano Gondou. In the 2021 season, he scored six goals in 13 starts for Sarmiento.
In fifth is Aldosivi right-back Rufino Lucero.
Rounding out the top 10 we have Matias Dituro (Celta), Gino Infantino (Rosario Central), Rodrigo Cabral (Huracan), Juan Manuel Cruz (Banfield), and Facundo Kruspzky (Arsenal).
| Player | Club | SciSports Skill Improvement |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Santiago Simon | River | +35.0 |
| 2. Enzo Roldan | Atletico Union | +24.7 |
| 3. Kevin Lomonaco | Lanus | +23.7 |
| 4. Luciano Gondou | Sarmiento | +21.8 |
| 5. Rufino Lucero | Aldosivi | +20.5 |
| 6. Matias Dituro | Celta | +18.4 |
| 7. Gino Infantino | Rosario Central | +18.4 |
| 8. Rodrigo Cabral | Huracan | +17.1 |
| 9. Juan Manuel Cruz | Banfield | +15.7 |
| 10. Facundo Kruspzky | Arsenal | +14.9 |
How is the SciSkill ranking calculated?
Over the course of a season, there are players who will enjoy increasingly poor performances and increasingly positive performances.
FootballTransfers, in partnership with SciSports, has determined 10 Argentine players over the last six months whose performances have improved to a higher degree than anyone else.
SciSports explains how our development ratings are gathered:
“Among others, a positive development could be boosted by more playing time, playing time on a higher level or better performances on the pitch.
“A negative development could be due to the player being active on a lower level than he used to play, bad performances or the fact that he does not play that often as he used to do.
“A SciSkill Development of 0.0 could indicate that a player is performing exactly like our algorithm expects him to do. Another reason could be inactivity (e.g. a long-term injury or suspension).”
It should be noted that vast improvement does not necessarily mean that a player was underperforming previously.
