Franck Kessié left his native Ivory Coast when he was 18 years old. He had already made appearances for his country at senior level before he made the move to Italy in 2015. Despite some struggles adapting to Italian football, the 24-year-old has become one of the best midfielders in the league.   Kessié came…

The 2021/22 summer transfer window has just closed and amongst the high-profile dealings of PSG and Manchester United, the £100 million deals made by Manchester City and Chelsea and the shambles at Barcelona, a lot of smart business was conducted by teams with much shallower pockets.   One such deal was made by AC Milan,…

General Support for the Red Bull project is a reasonably untenable position in countries like Austria and Germany, where a precise cut and dry footballing culture has flourished and become the envy of many on the continent. Though many are disappointed with the divergence of power in Austrian football towards the Bull, there have been…

Under the guidance of Pep Guardiola, Manchester City has been one of the dominant forces of the English Premier League in recent years. Having won three league titles since the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach arrived in 2016, the likes of Kevin De Bruyne, İlkay Gündoğan, and David Silva playing important roles in the…

Arsenal’s final signing of the 2021 Summer Transfer Window is Takehiro Tomiyasu. The 22-year-old Japanese international arrives highly acclaimed from North Italian outfit Bologna. Tomiyasu played a variety of roles in Bologna’s backline last season, filling in across the backline including at left back on rare occasions. His primary role is as a right-sided defender,…

It’s arguably premature to sensationalise a 20-year-old youngster just four matchdays into the new season. Those matches are also the first senior games Konrad de la Fuente has ever played outside of Barcelona’s B team, so we’re still in the wilderness regarding his full footballing ability.   Yet Konrad, as he prefers to be called,…

A lot of the elite clubs are interested in signing holding midfielders, who will remain at the club for the next decade. Unfortunately for them, it seems the market for talented holding midfielders is very scarce. Fernandinho (36), Nemanja Matić (33), Sergio Busquets (33), Idrissa Gueye (31) … the list of holding midfielders that have…

For as long as time – think Maradona vs England in ’86 or Messi exhibit one of 400 – phenomenal solo runs have often been followed by opposing fans’ cries for defenders to scythe them down at the apparent multiple opportunities to do so. After all, those slight, slippery ball carriers in full flight are…

Prince Mumba was born on 24 March 2001 in Zambia, a country in southern Africa. He started his professional footballing career at Zambian club Kabwe Warriors, where he still plays. Over the past two seasons he has gone from a young prospect in their squad to one of their most important players.    Mumba has…

As the quote from Dirty Dancing goes, nobody puts Michail Antonio in a corner. Although much has been written about Johnny Castle’s famous one-liner, at its heart is a message about the expression of talent. In Castle’s eyes, Baby Houseman was simply too gifted to be left aside. She had to be the centre of attention,…