On the Radar: Mika Mármol

The 21-year-old has been one of the players of the season in the Segunda División, in a team who cherish the ball unlike any other.

In the Segunda División, where reliability is the name of the game, elaboration is to be kept under wraps for central defenders. Stability takes precedence, above all. Keep the ball out of your net and your coach will be content.

Mika Mármol’s job is not like the rest of his centre back colleagues.

The youngster, who joined from Barcelona in the summer, unsurprisingly has a background in a certain style of football. That was the central idea behind Eder Sarabia and co taking him to Andorra in the first place, after he had spent the pre-season last summer with Xavi’s side. With the Blaugrana looking to get back into contention overnight, their centre back stock had been reinforced to a win now level of depth, and Mármol was inevitably allowed to look elsewhere.

But Barcelona didn’t close the doors completely. Though Andorra signed him on a two-year deal — without an initial transfer fee — they only part-own him. The two clubs share 50 percent of his rights as it stands, and with the fact of Andorra being owned by Gerard Piqué’s holdings group, as well as sharing proximity and Catalan territory, one would imagine they haven’t lost sight of Mármol’s progress. Barcelona’s centre back stock might be full for now, but better to have the option than not.

Even in that context, it is difficult to watch Mármol play and not imagine what is possible for him. Though he is a centre back on paper, his first season in Andorra has seen him become one of the most influential players in Spain’s second tier — the type of talent that transcends the tag of ‘ball-playing defender’ into something entirely different. His presence has given a limitless feel to what Andorra can do with the ball, and how that translates to territorial domination.

(We wrote earlier in the season about how they do things.)

FC Andorra don't play by the rules

With seven games of the season to go, Mármol has already had more touches (3,431) and completed more passes (2,682) than any other player in a Segunda campaign on record. He’s had 10 matches in which he’s completed 100+ passes this season, all of which have come with no less than a 90% completion rate. In short, his role as a centre back — and execution of that role — is essentially unprecedented at this level. Spain’s second tier has, very likely, never seen anything like it.

His coach, Eder Sarabia, is somewhat of an idealist. That’s where it begins. Flick on an Andorra game and the chances are you’ll land on a scene of their central defenders passing the ball between themselves, or standing with a foot on the ball for as long as it takes to provoke an opposition player towards them. For a centre back, it means thousands of repetitions of the same scenario: gauging how much pressure to allow; whether to play forward or retreat; whether to pass or dribble; and constantly asking yourself what is the optimal decision, relative to the space available.

Everything begins with the ball — and Mármol takes the weight of it unlike anyone else. He has been involved in 101 build-up sequences that have produced a shot in Segunda this season, which is not only the most in 2022-23, but in any season on record for a centre back (since 2014-15). On a similar note, the build-up sequences he has been involved in have the highest total xG of any player — in any position — in Segunda this term (9.9).

It’s no exaggeration to say that Mármol — a centre back — is one of the most dangerous players in Spain’s second tier with the ball at his feet. Of course, he has it at his feet a lot, so his window of opportunity is bigger than everyone elses. Watch him play and what you will find, however, is a player playing simple the large majority of the time, and carefully judging the moments when to make defining moves.

It’s repetition after repetition of short passes that move the opposition, which is mixed in with longer switches, through balls and dribbles into opposition territory once Marmol senses the game’s dynamic — or a shift in opposition approach — start to alter.

For a centre back, a high degree of involvement in possession typically goes hand in hand with playing high up the pitch, with space at your back. And like many modern teams — especially the top ones — Andorra’s possession means defending too.

In his first season since leaving Barcelona, Mármol has spent it doing many of the same things that he left behind. Primarily, it is the act of balancing meaningful possession with limiting your opponent’s access to the space you leave behind. The best way to achieve that, of course, is to not lose the ball. Mármol ticks that box. But it requires valentía on the defensive end.

Take a look at the numbers and you’ll see Andorra have been pretty healthy as far as defensive performance goes. They’ve conceded 30 goals in 37 games and rank ninth in the league for non-penalty xG against (32.4), while averaging 67% possession — which is largely the point. Andorra defend with the ball, and so the scenarios they do have to defend — transitions, set pieces and direct play — mirror that of many of the game’s top teams.

The aim is to keep the ball, and when they don’t, to recover it before the aforementioned scenarios can develop.

Mármol’s approach to defending aligns with that sense of sustaining pressure. In the absence of towering height or overwhelming physicality — especially against second-division forwards — Mármol channels his defending through anticipation and stealing position. He leads all centre backs in Segunda this season for interceptions (66) and shot-ending sequences initiated (27), which accounts for possession recoveries that lead to an attempt at goal within the same spell of play (i.e. stealing possession which translates into attacking opportunities).

Inevitably, such proactive defending opens the door for defensive breakdowns at times of misjudgement. It’s a reality of contesting duels when the aim is to steal possession, as opposed to merely maintaining a goal-side position. Even the the likes of Éder Militão — one of the game’s best and most front-foot defenders— has to straddle that line on which over-aggression lies on the other side.

With that said, it’s not always an all or nothing process. In the case of an Andorra defender, who often plays with an expanse of space beyond him, committing fouls is part of the job description. Judging when and how to make those fouls is where the value can be found.

Mármol has conceded 51 fouls in Segunda this season — the most of any centre back — yet has only been shown three yellow cards. His average of 13 fouls per yellow card is the most of any defender with 2,000 minutes played this season. In other words, Mármol makes plenty of fouls, but the majority are low-consequence interventions to disrupt play — the type that halt the opposition when Andorra’s pursuit of the ball doesn’t materialise, and their defensive shape is weakened.

In what is his first season outside of Barcelona, Mármol has kept his name firmly in the spotlight. Rather than out of sight and out of mind in the second division, the 21-year-old’s credentials have been reinforced by a year of competition, in a team whose playing style is among the most unique in Spain’s professional leagues. In fact, when the incoming Spain coach Luis de la Fuente put together a list of 57 players to be considered for his initial squads, Mármol was on the list, along with teammate Jandro Orellana.

At club level, Andorra will presumably be hoping that they can keep him around next season and make a serious run at promotion to LaLiga. Should any interest in Mármol materialise, however, it’s probable that sides from a higher level would see him as a left-sided centre back in a three — rather than one half of a duo — in the short-term. Besides, one only need look at the value Mario Hermoso has given to Atlético Madrid in possession in his dual role, for defenders who are good enough on the ball to flow between full back and third centre back.

In a game of increasing demands on defenders, that positional versatility is a commodity that’s only going to grow in value. And in the right hands, Mármol could well turn out to be one of the best around.