Forward Ludovic Ayorke: good luck for FSV Mainz 05

TueWhenever there was a conversation about a new man in the Mainz attack, this phrase popped up almost verbatim: “He changes our game.” “But he doesn’t score goals.” Over the course of five Bundesliga rounds, these were key statements about Ludovic Ayorca, who moved from Racing Strasbourg to FSV Mainz 05 in January. The 05 team felt the need for urgent action because the number of goals in the first half of the season was not particularly high and Jonathan Burkardt, last season’s top scorer, was in danger of being relegated for a longer period of time.

Rheinhessen paid six million euros for the transfer in order to close the gap in attack by a player who had not been in the squad before. Height 1.97 meters, center forward, wall player, ball holder, ball dispenser, space opener. Adjorca showed from the start that he could make his teammates stronger. When he was in the starting lineup against Bochum three days after his debut, a short spell against Borussia Dortmund, Karim Onisivo scored three goals in one game for the first time in his career. Not least because his new teammate saved him from having to work in the center position.

But due to initially not very smooth movements at the end, no one would have thought that the Frenchman would become a scorer – if it were not for his statistics from Ligue 1: the 29-year-old player, who played in Strasbourg from 2018, scored consistently in double figures in the 2020/21 season he had sixteen goals and four assists to his credit, a year later he had twelve goals and eight assists.

Hertha would like to take Ajorc with them.

Eintracht Frankfurt ran into the problems they could create to defend an opponent three and a half years ago when they beat the Alsatian club in the Europa League play-offs. And the development of Ajorque aroused interest abroad. Hertha would like to sign him in the summer, but at the time those in charge of the races were demanding a fee of around $15 million.

To what extent the failure of the transfer had anything to do with the fact that his hit percentage was close to zero – he only scored one goal from a penalty before the winter break, he went through an 800-minute dry spell before moving to Mainz. – remains a matter of conjecture. The resulting price drop proved to be a stroke of luck for the 05ers.

And now a man with a spectacular, almost shaved head, “who looks so dangerous on the pitch, but is actually a good guy” (coach Bo Svensson), snatched two points from the Berliners last Saturday. Ajorca’s dream goal at the Olympic Stadium. After a header from Leandro Barreiro and his unplanned return pass, he took the ball with his right hand into the upper right corner from a quarter turn, impressing with his speed of action and impeccable shooting technique. .

After a 4-0 goal against Borussia Mönchengladbach, it was his second league goal, plus two assists, and it makes the Mainz player, according to the kicker, the most successful player in all 41 league winter signings, including ten. strikers.

In addition, his team scored almost as many goals (18) in seven games in the second half of the season as in the entire first half of the season (21), moving up to seventh place after a run of four wins and one draw. and is only four points behind Eintracht in sixth place. The 05ers have to work on their next tough challenge in the last game of the weekend, Sunday night (19:30 live on FAZ for the Bundesliga and on DAZN) at their home arena in Europakreisel against SC Freiburg. With the help of Ajorque, they hope not only to drill it, but also to cut it.

Source: Frantfurter Allgemeine

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