Ex-Olympic champion Darren Campbell has given his take on whether Anthony Elanga could be a 100 metre sprinter after his rapid Manchester United goal.
Article continues below
Article continues below
Article continues below
Elanga shows speed for Man Utd goalEx-sprinter gives verdict on his Olympic chancesLifts lid on 'interesting case' TraoreFollow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱WHAT HAPPENED?
In Nottingham Forest's 1-0 victory over United in midweek, winger Elanga ran 85 metres in just nine seconds before scoring the winner. Now, former British sprinter and Olympic relay gold medallist Darren Campbell has explained why the Swede wouldn't be able to go toe-to-toe with athletics’ best sprinters. He also opened up on the time he trained Fulham's Adama Traore back when the flying winger was at Middlesbrough, describing him as an "interesting case".
Advertisementglobal.comWHAT ANTHONY ELANGA SAID
He told The Sports Agents podcast: "The speed that he uses is to play football, to be able to dribble, keep up with the ball. His acceleration will be quick because, again, in football, most things that you'll do is over five, 10 yards. A footballer has never come out of blocks, so that's one aspect that you're going to have to negotiate, coming from that drive position to generate the force."
Campbell added: "Traoré, before he moved to Aston Villa, we worked at Middlesbrough… He's an interesting case. How can I put it? It's like your car: you need to go through gears. So, with someone like Adama, third gear, fourth gear is enough. He’s so powerful, so quick. It was teaching him just go to fourth gear. Don’t go to fifth."
THE BIGGER PICTURE
While Elanga and Traore are clearly very fleet of foot in the world of football, challenging the fastest people on the planet for speed is a step too far. There is no doubt that speed gives a player a huge advantage in many sports, however.
Getty Images SportWHAT NEXT?
High-flying Forest will hope Elanga is motoring once more when they take on Aston Villa at Villa Park in the Premier League on Saturday.