Stade Brestois 29 vs Paris Saint Germain, 21st August 2021. Anxiety creeps in as the murmurs of an unsettled Frenchman began circulating the stadium. Clubs normally look to build their squad around their talisman, but the uncertainty over the player’s future leaves question marks on the club’s direction and immediate future. Not to mention the…

“I’d heard other players talking about dark times when they were trying to get back from bad injuries.” Those were the words of Luke Shaw the man himself from his interview with The Guardian back in 2016 where he spoke about his mental well-being, after being sidelined for 10 months from a double fracture on…

Creativity: the use of imagination or original ideas to create something; inventiveness.   It ebbed and flowed through the veins of the Arsenal midfield during the Arsène Wenger era. Ranging with personnel, from Robert Pires, Dennis Bergkamp and Cesc Fàbregas to Mesut Özil, Santi Cazorla and Aaron Ramsey. It was finesse, decisiveness, and a sharp…

Very few times in football does a player transcend their role and become something entirely out of the scope that was once used to define a position. In the early 2000s, there was the Makélélé role, associated with the one man conductor – Claude Makélélé. In the mid-2000s there was the false nine – associated…

Gregg Berhalter has gotten a lot right throughout his spell as U.S. Men’s National Team manager. With a generation full of talent unbeknownst to long-time United States fans, Berhalter has the privilege of the deepest player pool a U.S. manager has ever had. Encouragingly, he’s given lots of this young generation debuts and put his…

Torino has been living in the shadow of city rivals Juventus for many years and the last decade has been no different. While Il Toro were the dominant side in Serie A in the 1940s with their “Il Grande Torino” squad, the Bianconeri won nine consecutive Italian league titles from 2012 until 2020.    During…

Arsenal are in the midst of a lengthy rebuild under manager Mikel Arteta, and whilst they are struggling to offload out-of-favour fringe players, they have been pretty busy in terms of incomings. Ben White, Albert Sambi Lokonga and Nuno Tavares have been brought in, whilst Martin Ødegaard looks set to return on a permanent basis.…

Dara O’Shea is no doubt one of the most underrated young players in the Championship. The 22 year-old primarily plies his trade at the heart of the defence for West Brom and the Republic of Ireland, though has shown his quality across a back-three, and in both full-back positions. Here, BTL takes a look at…

Abdou Diedhiou Jarju was born in the small West African nation of Gambia on 19 February 2002. He began his footballing career at Gambian club Tallinding United. While playing there he caught the attention of established Senegalese Ligue 1 (Senegal’s top division) side Casa Sports.   Subsequently, Jarju transferred to Casa Sports in November 2019.…

It has been an up and down past two seasons for Tammy Abraham. After a  productive loan spell in the Championship for Aston Villa, Abraham enjoyed a solid breakout 19/20 season under then-manager Frank Lampard as he was given the number 9 shirt and the responsibility of leading the attack as the figure ahead and…