Frida Maanum
It has been a summer of change for Arsenal Women, with new players, a new manager and new tactics. They lost some players too, including Netherlands midfielders Jill Roord, who joined VfL Wolfsburg Frauen, and Daniëlle van de Donk, who moved to Lyon Féminines. As a result, the squad has needed remodelling, with one newcomer [...]
Amadou Onana: Lille’s teenage replacement for Boubakary Soumaré – scout report
In July of this year, after helping Lille to win their first Ligue 1 title in a decade, Boubakary Soumaré moved to Leicester City in the English Premier League for a fee believed to be in the region of £17 million. Soumaré was an integral part of Lille’s team in the midfield over the past [...]
Analysis
Dodô Scout Report At Shakhtar Donetsk 2021/2022 – Roberto De Zerbi’s Swiss Army Knife At Shakhtar
The 2021 summer transfer window was a chaotic one, as Lionel Messi departed Barcelona to join Paris Saint-Germain, and Manchester United finally secured Jadon Sancho and Raphaël Varane, while Manchester City acquired Jack Grealish. There were also numerous managerial changes, especially in Serie A, where more than half of the teams began the season with new head coaches. Roberto De Zerbi was [...]
Jack Grealish: How he completes Guardiola’s Man City puzzle
Despite becoming Premier League champions of the 2020/21 season, Pep Guardiola made sure to strengthen Manchester City and secure new signings that could help him maintain the lead and hopefully guide the team to the desired Champions League title. The Citizens are known for their distinguished attacking style of play, which has led to total [...]
Charles De Ketelaere: Belgium’s Swiss army knife readymade for a January move
Four game weeks into the Juliper Pro League season and Charles De Ketelaere - Club Brugge’s 20-year-old attacker - is the standout player in the division. The young forward has been getting a taste of first-team football since he was 18, but now, in the 21/22 season, he has taken an astronomical leap into being [...]
FC Barcelona: How should they adapt to the post-Messi era?
A new era dawns at Barcelona. The La Liga titans have lost Lionel Messi, the best player in the club’s history and perhaps, as some would argue, the best player of all time. While the immediate reactions may be negative, there is a world in which the Argentine’s transfer to Paris Saint-Germain ends up helping [...]
Paris Saint-Germain: Theorising how Poch will mould his star-studded squad
With the signings of Achraf Hakimi and Gianluigi Donnarumma from Serie A cornerstones Internazionale and AC Milan respectively, Sergio Ramos from La Liga giants Real Madrid, Georginio Wijnaldum from the EPL’s Liverpool, and the permanent signing of Danilo Pereira from Porto, The Athletic’s Adam Crafton declared that Paris Saint-Germain “already thought they’d won the transfer [...]
Marko Livaja: A solution for Croatia’s creativity problems?
This summer, there was a lot of speculation over whether Marko Livaja would opt to stay at Hajduk Split or move onto some better league since he performed impressively in the second part of the season after joining Hajduk from PAOK. Livaja opted to stay which instantly made Hajduk more ambitious this season. We witnessed, [...]
Premier League 2021/22: Manchester United’s Squad Depth
Manchester United had an explosive start to the 2021/22 season. From announcing the signing of Jadon Sancho one month ago, to unveiling World Cup winner Raphaël Varane in front of a packed Old Trafford stadium minutes before beating rivals Leeds United by four goals on the Premier League opening weekend. Yes, United looked exciting to [...]
La Liga: Visualising Lionel Messi’s Barcelona Career
After so much drama over the recent summer transfer windows, Lionel Messi has actually left Barcelona to join Paris Saint-Germain as a free agent. Messi’s 21-year association with FC Barcelona came to an abrupt end because of things spiraling out of his control with Barcelona not being able to register him as a La Liga [...]
Serie A 2021/22: Can Edin Dzeko fill the void left by Romelu Lukaku?
Few teams could have the summer window that Inter are having after winning the title the previous season. After winning the Scudetto for the first time since their treble-winning season in 2010, Inter were unable to hold onto manager Antonio Conte. Inter then had to sell Achraf Hakimi to PSG to raise capital to manage [...]
Bundesliga 2021/22: What to expect from Dortmund’s front four post-Sancho?
Borussia Dortmund finally begin life without Jadon Sancho. The 21-year-old’s transfer to Manchester United was completed finally in the last week of July 2021, putting an end to three years of speculation. Sancho’s time at Dortmund is worth looking back on. In his four seasons at Dortmund, Sancho made 137 appearances and finished with 50 [...]
Ligue 1 2021/22: Can LOSC Lille repeat the heroics of 2020/21?
Lille’s 2020/21 league triumph will be remembered for years to come. With an average age of 26 years - one of the youngest squads in Ligue 1 and all of Europe last season - Lille finished as the fourth highest scorers in the league and had one of the best defensive units, not only in [...]
Caroline Seger: Her impact for Sweden
Caroline Seger is a 36-year-old midfielder who played for numerous teams throughout her career like Lyon and Paris Saint-Germain. Now, she plays for Rosengård Women and the Swedish national team. Lately, she was able to pull the strings in the Olympic Games to guide her national team to a silver medal after they were defeated [...]
Analysis
Ricardo Pepi Scout Report At FC Dallas – Player Analysis
FC Dallas have a formidable reputation among American football academies. Most would agree that they are the country’s premier youth development club. In recent years, they've produced Juventus's Western McKinney, Bayern Munich's Chris Richards, and a number of MLS's top players, including Jesse Gonzalez, Victor Ulloa, Kellyn Acosta, Jesús Ferreira, and Paxton Pomykal. Another academy [...]
Jonathan David: What makes the Canadian one the top young strikers in Europe?
Canadian football has produced some wonderful talents in European football of late and we have witnessed the quality of Canadian players like Alphonso Davies of Bayern Munich. In this scout report, in the form of tactical analysis, we will be looking at Jonathan David, one such talent who has been performing exceptionally well ever since [...]
Tactical Analysis
Emma Hayes has enjoyed a growing reputation within the broader game over the past 12 months, and rightfully so. Since taking over as Chelsea Women manager in 2012, she has won four league titles (with the last two coming back-to-back in 2019/20 and 2020/21), two FA Cups, two League Cups, and a Community Shield. Last [...]
Alphonse Areola: Can he be the man to dethrone Hugo Lloris?
Fulham’s 2020/21 Premier League campaign was a disappointment, given another strong Championship promotion followed by an instant relegation from the Premier League back into English football’s second tier. However, at least this one and done season wasn’t accompanied by the eye-watering transfer market spend that had preceded their previous Premier League stay. Whilst there were [...]
Brentford FC: Analysing their Premier League recruitment
Brentford have long been lauded as one of the smartest clubs around in terms of their recruitment. They use data extensively as a part of their recruitment process and this process is supported by the use of bespoke models that are created and implemented by staff both at the club and at the betting company [...]
Aston Villa: How they are replacing Jack Grealish’s output
Squad building within football is a part of the game that has fascinated me for years. Get your recruitment right and you can set your club up for a period of sustained success. Get your recruitment wrong, however, and you can set your club back for years and years. There are numerous examples in the [...]
Bojan Krkic: Following Iniesta from La Masia to J1 League
Bojan Krkić has never reached the level he was expected to reach when he made his debut for Barcelona. One of the best strikers to have ever played in La Masia, Bojan never lived up to the expectations and with a career that has seen him play in the Serie A, the Bundesliga and the [...]