Full Name: Jorge Resurrección Merodio (aka. Koke)
Club: Atletico Madrid
Country: Spain
DOB: 8 January 1992 (age 22)
Height: 5’ 10”
When it comes to rising stars in Spain, Jorge Resurreccion (otherwise known as Koke) leads the front line. The attacking midfielder has been increasing his stake over the past few seasons with some fantastic performances. After worked his way up through the Atletico youth setup, he was introduced to the first team squad in 2009 as a fresh faced 17 year old. In the time since, he has clocked up 160 performances and 14 goals for Los Rojiblancos.
His playing style is much uncomplicated and he just a solid job of making things happen continuously throughout the game. He is industrious, technical gifted, versatile in his positioning and ha has an incisive ability to find the right pass. Positionally, he is more suited to a playmaker role, whether that is centrally or on the right or left depends on coaching decisions. Additionally, he has played a more defensive role on occasions with plenty of style.
Over the past few seasons, he has progressed and became an instrumental piece in the creative nature of Atletico’s play. It is an area where he really needs to continue improving and become more clinical. This season, he has scored 7 goals in all competitions and hit double figures in assists. As a central player with an attacking focus, he really needs to get both goals and assists into double figures, paving the way for Atletico to become a more inventive team. Considering his rapid growth and his age (22 years old) there is a lot to be excited about.
At the international level, Koke was an integral part of the under-21 team that won the European Championship in 2013, while he was also a part of the Spain squad the won at the Olympic Games in 2012. That winning mentality has also transitioned to his senior international appearances, of which he is fighting for a spot on the plane to Brazil.
The big question is will he get a spot? Of all the positions in the Spanish squad, central midfield is without a doubt the deepest and there are a slew of players fighting for a minimal number of spots. Xavi, Iniesta, Xabi, Sergio Busquets, Javi Martínez, Cesc Fàbregas, Santi Cazorla and Juan Mata are just some of the players he is competing with for a spot. There are definitely several names on the list that you wouldn’t leave out, but given the successful nature of Koke’s current season it would be extremely tough to leave him at home. Success breeds success, and having lead the midfield charge with Atletico this season, on a team not touted to challenge for La Liga and Champions League plaudits, he demonstrates an ability to be a leader that excels expectations.
It could also be argued that Koke deserves a starting spot when Spain hit the field in their opening game versus Netherlands on June 13th. In order to do this Busquets would have to select him over Xavi, who plays a similar role to Koke. Given the fact Xavi is 34 and hasn’t had as much of an impact this season for Barcelona, the youthful Koke could add a different dynamic in what is probably going to be their toughest group stage game. But doing so would be an extremely bold move and one that could backfire if his performance was not up to standard.
Koke Currently Wears the Adidas Nitrocharge 1.0
Given his attacking focus, it might be slightly surprising that Koke chooses to wear the energy focused Nitrocharge 1.0. Not known to be a creative styled boot, the Nitrocharge is geared to suit players who are continually on the move throughout a 90-minute game. , Through adidas advertising campaign, everything about the boot was focused on those with a more defensive mindset, but like most boots they have a broader appeal and can suit other positions on the pitch just as effectively. Koke definitely has a box-to-box nature and if you have watched him play, you will know he frequently shuffles across the pitch from right wing to left and back, so the lateral performance of the Nitrocharge justifies his style.
On paper, there are other boots that would suit very effectively like for example the adidas adiZero F50, the Puma evoPOWER and the Nike Mercurial Vapor, but given his success in the Nitrocharge, we wouldn’t expect Koke to make an unexpected change!
