“Show me who your holding midfielder is and I’ll tell you what kind of team you’ve got.” Those words of Juanma Lillo, who mentored Pep Guardiola during his time at Dorados de Sinaloa and who currently works as the Catalan’s assistant at Manchester City, still ring true today. The midfielder — be it a holding…

On October 2, 2020, Leicester City completed the purchase of Wesley Fofana from Saint-Étienne. In doing so, they filled a hole in their squad and concluded a transfer saga that had been brewing since Fofana gave a jaw-dropping interview with L’Équipe three weeks prior, claiming “I would be crazy to reject Leicester.”   Leicester City…

Burak Kapacak stands on the edge of the Altınordu box. Facing away from goal, he is aware of the space behind. Also the overlapping run of Emirhan Aydoğan. The result is a sumptuous back heel when nothing seemed on. It ends in a goal, and congratulations for the young provider from his teammates.   Born…

Aspiring footballers in Italy find it tough to break through at senior level, and with Italian coaches having the preference for established stars or experienced heads, looking for that valuable playing time can be hard and disheartening.    In January 2015, a 16-year-old striker named Gianluca Scamacca left the Roma youth system and joined PSV…

Arne Slot’s AZ Alkmaar grabbed the attention of European football fanatics last season, finishing second in the Eredivisie (tied on points with Ajax), advancing to the Europa League knockout round, and boasting an expansive style of football. The ‘Cheeseheads’ boast a wide range of talents that have ascended from the academy to the first team…

After an incredible two-year spell that saw Liverpool win the Champions League and lift the first Premier League trophy in club history, Sporting Director Michael Edwards was tasked with a new challenge: purchase a young forward with enough versatility to play across the front three, who was comfortable coming off the bench and fighting for…

It is somewhat ironic that Ali Akman was born in Yıldırım, a district of the Turkish city of  Bursa which translates into English as ‘thunder.’ As they say, you can take the boy out of thunder, but you can’t take the thunder out of the boy.    Just ask Emilijus Zubas, Erhan Erentürk, Atilla Özmen,…

When Mexican international Hirving Lozano arrived at Napoli in August 2019, his transfer from Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven was seen as a landmark moment. The transfer fee of €38 million plus bonuses was the most the Partenopei had paid for a player at the time, it was the highest figure the Rood-witten received for a player,…

At 20 years of age, Georges Mikautadze is on track to have a breakthrough season. Born in France to Georgian parents, Mikautadze spent seven years at Lyon’s academy, before spending a lone season at AS Saint-Priest in the French lower tiers. He joined Metz’s academy in 2017, and in 2019/20, he scored eight goals in…

From Trent Alexander-Arnold to Aaron Wan-Bissaka to Kyle Walker, English football is blessed with an unrivaled crop of top quality right backs. The latest addition to the bunch is Tariq Lamptey, who at 20 years of age, is blossoming into one of the finest right backs in Europe.   Born in Hillingdon, Greater London to…