Konstantinos Mavropanos’ transformation into one of the most influential defenders in the Premier League has been painted, in some quarters, as a pleasant surprise during West Ham United’s survival battle.
But perhaps this is the wrong way to portray the Greek giant’s sudden emergence. As a ‘surprise’, that is.
Because while Konstantinos Mavropanos has been in ‘exceptional’ form during West Ham United’s recent outings – the ex-Arsenal kid dented Manchester City’s title hopes with an imperious performance in March’s 1-1 draw and followed that up with another outstanding outing at Villa Park – Nuno Espirito Santo has done this sort of thing before with centre-halves of Mavropanos’ profile.
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See Nikola Milenkovic at Nottingham Forest last season, and Willy Boly during Nuno’s Wolves reign. Not to mention his Champions League-qualification at Valencia a decade prior.
Dinos Mavropanos is tailor-made for Nuno Espirito Santo’s West Ham United
Per stats specialists Data MB, Mavropanos and Milenkovic both sit above the 70th percentile across Europe’s major leagues when it comes to winning aerial and defensive duels.
Mavropanos averages 6.2 clearances per game in the Premier League this season, slightly ahead of Milenkovic’s 5.2 average as Nuno took Nottingham Forest into Europe last term.
Konstantinos Mavropanos during West Ham United vs Brentford.
Photo by Rob Newell – CameraSport via Getty Images
Willy Boly, meanwhile, was the rock at the heart of the Wolves backline when they too scrapped their way onto the continental stage. Now a seldom-seen, 35-year-old teammate of Milenkovic’s at the City Ground, Boly was one of the most aerially dominant defenders in the league when Nuno was patrolling the touchline at Molineux.
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When Nuno guided Valencia to a fourth-place finish in La Liga during the 2014/15 season, he had two of the division’s top-four clearance makers; a career-best Shkodran Mustafi and future World Cup-winner Nicolas Otamendi.
He worked with Boly at Porto, took him to Wolves and then reunited with him at Forest.
There is also only one centimetre between the three defensive giants of Mavropanos, Boly and Milnekovic; all 6ft 4ins-plus.
Max Kilman has fallen out of favour at the London Stadium
Yes, the more typically-modern, famously ex-Futsal playing Max Kilman blossomed under Nuno at Wolves too. But a man who tends to build his success upon rock-solid defensive foundations and an out-of-possession low-block has always favoured centre-halves in the Mavropanos, Milenkovic, Boly mould.
Kilman hasn’t featured since Nuno made the ‘mistake’ of introducing him prior to January’s 3-2 collapse at Stamford Bridge. Mavropanos and Axel Disasi – the two most physically-imposing, aerially-dominant defenders at the club – seem to be Nuno’s first-choice pairing for the run-in.
In hindsight, no one should really be surprised that Nuno adores working with a West Ham ‘warrior’ like Mavropanos. A man who took a thunderous volley in the face from point blank range up against Erling Haaland and battled through the pain.
“I think Dinos has been really, really helpful for us,” Nuno said after Mavropanos became the first West Ham centre-back to score in the Premier League since December 2023.
“Since I joined, I don’t recall one day where Dinos wasn’t there. He is a warrior.”
“Of course, [people] notice the highlights – scoring a goal – but he’s doing an amazing job. I really think we are improving players individually; they are stepping up and showing their standards.”
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