All About The Beautiful Game
In the 86th minute of a crucial European Championship Qualifier match, Kenan Yıldız enters the pitch. Yıldız, an 18-year-old attacker from the German city of Regensburg, earned his first call-up after a strong start to the season with Juventus. But Yıldız — formerly of Bayern Munich — isn’t making his Germany debut. He’s making his … Read more
Recently, RC Lens has been on an upward climb — they will play in the Champions League next season despite having been in France’s second tier as recently as 2020. They have accomplished this thanks to strong tactics, a good squad, and, of course, excellent recruitment. Unlike many other clubs, Lens signs players from around … Read more
After announcing Jude Bellingham, Fran García, and Joselu, Real Madrid continues to get deals done. Arda Güler, one of the top prospects in the world, is signing for the La Liga giants for a reported €20 million. He will be the third Turkish international to play for the club after Nuri Şahin and Hamit Altıntop, … Read more
In recent years, clubs have put more emphasis on finding talented players at younger ages. In addition to controlling a player’s development and finding the right loan moves, it can save millions of dollars in transfer fees. Look at Bayern Munich and Barcelona: Jamal Musiala and Pedri were both signed at 16 and are now … Read more
In terms of youth academies, few cities are better than London. Chelsea has one of England’s finest, with talents breaking through despite the ridiculous sums they pay for first-team players. Arsenal’s title charge this season has been heavily aided by players who came through their academy. Tottenham’s academy, too, has produced some fine players — … Read more
The Polish national team has traditionally been very dependent on its league, the Ekstraklasa. However, that is a trend that is gradually shrinking: in the 2018 and 2022 World Cups, just four and three players from the league made the final roster, respectively. In each of their prior two appearances at the tournament (2002 and … Read more
For years, I’ve written about u21 (or u23) talents either with expiring contracts or no contracts. In the first of these articles, in 2020, I chose four exciting talents: Angel Gomes, Malang Sarr, Abdul Mumin, and Luca Zidane. Nearly three years later, Gomes and Sarr are in Ligue 1, Mumin is in La Liga, and … Read more
In 2021, German super club Bayern Munich announced a new project: the World Squad. The team was made with the aim of creating “an additional opportunity for talents from all over the world to realize [their] dream,” in the words of World Squad coach Christopher Loch. You can find the first episode here. The series, … Read more
The MLS has established itself as one of the best development leagues in the world. I’ve talked about this extensively over the years, but it’s easiest to see right now. The latest season saw the MLS sell a whopping nine U23 players overseas, with the clubs ranging from Barcelona to Rosenborg. Even the Chicago Fire … Read more
Over the years, many of the Czech Republic’s finest players have featured in the German Bundesliga. Tomáš Rosický spent five years with Borussia Dortmund, having left Sparta Prague when he was 20. Jiří Němec spent nine years with Dortmund’s rivals Schalke 04, having also featured for Sparta. All-time top scorer Jan Koller spent five years … Read more