In 2021, following a eight-month loan spell with second-tier side Etar Veliko Tarnovo (relegated during his spell there), Jose Cordoba was signed by Levski Sofia, one of the two biggest clubs in Bulgaria.
Their legendary head coach, Stanimir Stoilov, had scouted the Panamanian himself.
At the time, it seemed like an odd deal, considering that Cordoba wasn’t even a guaranteed starter at Etar, a vastly inferior club, and had only played 11 professional games in Panama prior to his arrival to Europe.
But Stoilov had big plans for his new visa signing, giving him just a few games to bed in, before handing him his debut in the Bulgarian Eternal Derby against fierce rivals CSKA-Sofia.
Fast forward three years, the 23-year-old is already a solidified starter for the Panamanian National Team, leading their defensive line at the Copa America, and has earned Levski a record-breaking fee for an outgoing foreigner with his move to Norwich City.
Jose Cordoba: Player Profile
Jose Cordoba is a left-footed centre-back, who’s capable of playing multiple different roles across the back line, without a significant drop off in the quality of his performances.
He is quick, strong, and aggressive, excellent at winning first contact, but also very intelligent, rarely overcommitting in challenges and tackles. Cordoba usually prefers to read situations and try to intercept play, instead of blindly jumping in 1v1 duels or going to the floor too easily.
On the ball, he’s calm and composed, confident in his own ability and ready to take risks, if it would help his team move up the pitch. His big frame allows him to shield the ball when running with it and his good acceleration helps him progress it via carrying.
The 23-year-old’s passing range isn’t one of his biggest assets, as he often tends to overhit some of his long-balls or struggles to get the trajectory right, but he’s great at progressing play with low, driven balls on the floor.
Across his spell in the Bulgarian league, Cordoba was widely considered as the best centre-back in the country and one of the most progressive defenders the league has seen over the last decade.
For Levski, the 23-year-old played mainly as the left-sided CB in a back-two, which transition to a back-three in possession, with Cordoba becoming the wide defender on the left side, which allowed him to move up and down the flank, utilising his great ball-carrying and dribbling from deep.
He has also operated as a left-back on a couple of occasions for Levski, but in their system, his role hardly changed when playing there. When used as a left-back, he was tasked with similar responsibilities, forming the back-three in possession, while the full-back on the other side had to push high and hold the width on the right side of the pitch.
For the Panamanian National Team, we’ve seen Cordoba play in a slightly different role. Here, he’s been used as the middle centre-back in their defensive block of five, and he once again managed to impress, helping them reach a historic first quarter-final at the Copa, outperforming both Mexico and the US.
And while he struggled in their 5-0 loss against Colombia in the quarters, giving away a penalty, the Independiente youth product performed well in their other games, playing as the sides defensive conductor.
Against the United States, in particular, he played a really solid game defensively, winning 100% of his tackles and 75% of his defensive duels, while also finishing the game with a 91% pass accuracy.
In all four Copa America games, he had the deepest average position out of all of Panama’s outfielders and playing in that middle centre-back zone allowed Cordoba to make the most out of his recovery speed, ability to read the game and anticipate dangerous moments before they materialise.
On the contrary, forcing Cordoba too deep somewhat limited his capacity to carry the ball forward with his marauding runs, which is something most fans that are familiar with his playing style would usually associate him with.
What does the future hold?
Despite being heavily linked with multiple different clubs across continental Europe at the beginning of the summer, eventually Cordoba decided to accept a move to the UK, putting pen to paper on a three-year deal with Norwich City.
Teams from France, Belgium, Spain, and Scotland were allegedly interested, according to Bulgarian news outlets, but in the end the Championship side got their man for a reported fee of around 3.65 million Euros.
The Canaries, who have a new manager in the face of Johannes Hoff Thorup, have been screaming for a natural left-sided centre-back for a while now and Cordoba fits the bill perfectly.
On paper, Hoff Thorup, who is a former FC Nordsjælland head coach, prefers the 4-3-3 formation but that 4-3-3 more often than not transitions into a 3-2-5 in possession, which is something that Cordoba has already experienced at Levski.
In such a setup, expect Cordoba to most likely slot in as the left-sided centre-half in the three, considering that Norwich’s other natural central defenders are all right-footed and haven’t had experience playing in that role.
The Danish coach is also very big on using short build-up from the back and baiting the press with close combinations, in order to create the so-called “artificial transitions”, a form of quick attack that looks like a counter, but is usually the result of patient build-up that opens up the opposition team.
This style of play suits Cordoba’s profile, who is comfortable on the ball and doesn’t mind taking a lot of touches in and around the box or in his own half.
As things stand, everything points to a very exciting future for Jose Cordoba, both at Norwich and with the Panamanian National team.
Yes, the jump from the Bulgarian Prva Liga to the Championship is going to be big, but as we have already seen at the Copa America, the former Levski Sofia fan-favourite is more than capable of dealing with the world’s best, when he’s on it, and he will be getting a coach that understands his strengths to work under.
Watch our latest transfer talk podcast
Nathan Joyes, Peter Pankovski and Callum Goodall chat about Gabriel Mec, Riquelme, Richard Rios and more on the latest episode. Catch up below.
Commentaires