There was like a shift. “The king to conquer the throne”, “the providential man”, has become in the space of a few months “the king of offsides” and an attacker “in search of his sensations”. The image of Burak Yilmaz has completely changed this season, to the point where the Turkish striker could not start at Chelsea in the knockout stages of the Champions League on Tuesday February 22.
Leader of the coronation of Lille in Ligue 1 last season, “Kral” displays a level much lower in 2021-2022. The experienced striker (36) has scored just six times this season in 28 appearances, including just four in the league. By way of comparison, he had completed the previous exercise with 18 goals scored in 33 appearances, while giving off an impression of overpowering in key moments.
Without him, the northern club would, for example, never have succeeded in winning in April 2021 when it was down 2-0 at half-time in Lyon (3-2 final score). A direct free kick, a decisive pass, a fatal counter-attack … That day, Burak Yilmaz had offered three precious points to Losc. A month later, the Dogues were crowned champions of France with a margin of a small point over Paris Saint-Germain.
This season, “le Kral” has never been the strong man of a Lille victory. He has only found the net with two successes this season, but in Bordeaux (3-2) it was the entry of Isaac Lihadji that changed everything and in qualification for Wolfsburg (3-1)we will more easily remember the impact of Jonathan Ikoné.
Jocelyn Gourvennec – “You’re not going to compete with dolphins.” Players from @losclive nervous like the exit of @yilmazburak17.
#SB29LOSC #Ligue1UberEats pic.twitter.com/XGa7wVGWaH— Prime Video Sport France (@PVSportFR) January 22, 2022
The most significant and symbolic moments of his season remain his two stormy replacements against Brest, after a few whistles from Pierre-Mauroy on October 23 and outside on January 22. A black anger and not the slightest look for his coach Jocelyn Gourvennec, who tempered his player’s attitude at the microphone of Prime Video after the meeting.
“We will discuss it with a clear head, you should never react in a hurry, it’s frustration. Burak is like that, he has a lot of character. He is frustrated. But we don’t compete with dolphins or lambs. He’s a whole person and he’s not going to change today“said the coach of Losc. The latter then decided to do without Yilmaz during the rout against Paris two weeks later (1-5).
In addition to tensions created internally, the 36-year-old Turkish international cannot manage to get out of a bad spiral on the ground. According to the Expected Goals (a statistic that quantifies the number of goals that should have been scored based on the quality of the shots), he has scored six goals less than expected in Ligue 1 this season, when he had just scored six more than expected last season.
His lack of realism is glaring. While he scored all 3.9 shots in L1 in 2020-2021, he only does so all 13.7 attempts this season (or 7.3% of shots converted into goals). And as his season darkened, the Turk disappeared from the media. His last public speaking dates back to September 18 in a video broadcast by Losc on Dailymotion.
Burak Yilmaz is slipping more and more into the background. He may be one of Lille’s only two leading strikers, but his presence against Chelsea is not guaranteed. His performance against Metz on Friday, during the last rehearsal before the trip to Stamford-Bridge, does not speak in his favor. The Turk failed to do anything with his 30 balls, losing half (for 2 shots, including 0 on target), before leaving frustrated in the 81st minute.