Last month, UEFA announced the changes that will come to the three men’s club competitions come 2024. Each tournament will move to a single table, referred to as the “Swiss format,” with 36 teams at this league phase.     While the 36 teams that partake in the Europa Conference League league phase will only play…

After an 11-year title drought that saw managers such as Vincenzo Montella, Gennaro Gattuso and Marco Giampolo come and go, a decade-long ‘banter era’ filled with horrendous signings and pitiful performances, Milan have reclaimed their spot atop Italian football.   The Rossoneri have edged last year’s champions Inter Milan by just two points, snatching the…

The perception of Arsenal’s season has changed dramatically in the past few weeks. For much of the campaign, they were heralded for their coterie of exciting young players who had been assembled, coached, and assimilated within an astute tactical framework established by their equally compelling and youthful head coach, Mikel Arteta.   Now, as they…

Perhaps no role in modern football is as difficult to perform as a center-back. For most teams, central defenders are the starting point of their attack and need to be accomplished on the ball both through dribbling and passing.   As more teams adopt high-pressing systems, they need to be capable of resisting pressure from…

Top teams in the Premier League rarely purchase players from outside of Europe’s top five leagues. If they do, they tend to be young talents who go out on loan or develop in the academy system rather than players who move straight into the first-team squad.   Arsenal broke this trend when they signed Albert…

It’s hard to imagine the scope and scale of pressure Vinicius Junior has had to face at Real Madrid. As an eighteen-year-old, he walked into the Santiago Bernabeu with his €46 million price tag looming large over him, a constant reminder of his status not just as an exciting young player but as the impending…

There is no manager in world football who causes as much divisiveness among journalists, pundits, and supporters as Jose Mourinho. His AS Roma tenure has only just begun, yet the narrative around his team has already swung one extreme to the other — from potential title contenders to underachievers who may struggle to qualify for…

The international breaks are an odd period in the football calendar, offering respite for some, monotonous friendlies for others, and career-defining qualifiers for the rest. Even in the world of sports journalism, the international break can throw a shoe-horn in regular plans, allowing individuals like myself to deviate from the normal schedule, and refine some…

10 years after joining the club as a teenager from Barcelona, Héctor Bellerín is set to return to Spain as Arsenal look to cash in on the 26-year-old as he enters the final two years of his contract. Villarreal have reportedly thrown their hat into the ring and made an offer for him, with Unai…

The boy from Utrera, Spain is nearing the end of his second loan spell at Arsenal, and Mikel Arteta now has an important decision to make regarding the future of Dani Ceballos. The young Spaniard is expected to return to Madrid at the end of the season, where he has a contract until 2023, although…