5 outstanding defensive midfielders in football
As football continues to evolve year after year, there is a certain position that is becoming more and more critical regardless of the tactic used by managers: the defensive midfielder. Or better, as said by our friends at L’Ultimo Uomo, the “midfielder that plays ahead…
Wyscout Talks: Fabio Papagni, Scouting Coordinator at UC Sampdoria
It’s not a mystery how in football attention is focused on what happens on the “main stage”: the football pitch. Results, performances, tactics, everything is analyzed with maniacal meticulousness, taking up the first pages of newspapers, sports channels and even the bar talks. Only a…
Serie B most promising talents
After presenting the 40 prospects to follow in 2019, L’Ultimo Uomo introduces us to the five most promising young footballers from Italian second tier, Serie B. After moving their first steps in professional football, they’re all having their breakthrough season in the league and we…
40 prospects to follow in 2019
This article was originally published in Italian on L’Ultimo Uomo website, on January 8, 2019. 2019 will be another year for finding new talents and staying in love with the younger ones. In this article, Ultimo Uomo gathered the 40 wonderkids that you must watch…
5 MLS wonderkids you should know something about
Alphonso Davies, 17 years old, Vancouver Whitecaps By Fabrizio Gabrielli Alphonso Davies’s story – from being the son of refugees to become the youngest footballer to ever debut with the National Canadian Team – isn’t just a beautiful tale of integration. It’s also an…
Scouting time: 4 U21 players to follow in English football
Ryan Sessegnon, 18 May 2000, Fulham by Daniele V. Morrone Not yet of legal age, Ryan Sessegnon already has a cult player following and with Fulham he has amazed even those who did not know his name because they do not follow international youth tournaments. To the tune of…
5 key steps when you find a new talent by Richard Bredice
Richard Bredice is first-team opposition analyst at Manchester City. He has been at the Premier League club for five years. Richard’s current focus is on full-team analysis rather than individual players but he has a good grounding in talent identification and highlights the importance of…
5 key steps when you find a new talent by Bruno Costa
Bruno Costa is head of scouting at San Jose Earthquakes. The Brazilian joined the MLS side in the beginning of 2017 and has almost 20-years experience of scouting and as Academy Director for Fluminense FC and Figueirense FC, in the Brazilian top flight (Série A), and…
Scouting time: 4 U21 players to follow in Bundesliga
Leon Bailey By Dario Saltari Leon Bailey seems like a very determined lad. Despite being just twenty years old, he talks like an adult, with a rhetoric in Cristiano Ronaldo style (“Hard work and dedication lets you achieve your goals“), and there are various rumours…
Gianluca Scamacca: a young multi-purpose Primavera striker
In modern football, where formations and positions tend to disappear more and more and where the teams take on different tactical structures within the same match depending on the game play situations, multi-purpose players are increasingly in demand.
Knowing how to do different things and in different areas of the pitch has become fundamental if you don’t want to miss the boat in terms of tactical game play evolution.
Of the young Italian forwards, perhaps the one closest to truly becoming a multi-purpose player, is Sassuolo’s Gianluca Scamacca.
Riccardo Marchizza: Primavera TIM promising Italian talent
Riccardo Marchizza is one of the most promising Italian centre fullbacks around. He has excellent physical and technical qualities: He has a solid build, almost two metres tall, combined with a highly accurate left foot that often manages to find the back of the net. In three years on the youth team, he has already scored 16 goals, a few of which on free kicks..
Jonathan Viera’s Multifaceted Movement vs Villarreal
There’s no doubting Jonathan Viera has been one of Las Palmas’ key driving forces in their strong season so far. Under the guidance and positional style of play of manager Quique Setien, his attacking genius has really thrived and animated Los Amarillos’ work in the final third..
Marseille successfully overload the 10 spaces in their win over Angers
With Marseille struggling for consistency this season, their impressive 3-0 victory over Angers at the weekend gave a glowing indication of just how good Rudi Garcia’s side can be when they get things right..
The importance of Sebastian Rudy in Hoffenheim’s Build-Up
Sebastian Rudy has unquestionably been one of the key driving forces behind Hoffenheim’s excellent Bundesliga campaign so far under budding young manager Julian Nagelsmann. And in his side’s domineering 5-2 win against Ingolstadt on the weekend..
Alessandro Rossi: characteristics of a U19 top-scorer
Alessandro Rossi promises to continue the long tradition of Italian centre forwards who combine effort and substance. He hasn’t scored since 21 January, exactly one month ago, and yet he is still the top goalscorer in the Italian U19 Group A, and he has maintained an average of 1 goal..
Viktor Tsygankov: a young talent
The wings of the old days are no more, the ones that dribbled and always created numerical superiority. Anyone who agrees with this statement has never seen Viktor Tsygankov at work. The Dinamo Kiev nineteen year-old has already shown his skills in this part of the season and in Champions League on the team coached by Serhij Rebrov..
Yeferson Soteldo: great dribbling skills, balance and control
Yeferson Soteldo, right or left wing for Zamora, born in 1997, already with playing time on the Venezuelan national team in the match against Colombia that qualified them for the World Cup in Russia. Nimble in short sprints, but with good stamina, excellent ball handling skills even in the spaces, maintaining remarkable control of the ball..
Ante Ćorić: Ball control, through passes and dribbling
His time has come!!! At eleven years of age Ante Ćorić tried out for Chelsea and Bayern Munich and both teams would have been happy to have him in their youth line up, but he surprised everyone by deciding to transfer to Red Bull Salzburg. Now Napoli, Fiorentina, Milan, Liverpool and other European superpowers seem to be taking an interest..
Nemanja Mihajlović: Speed, ball control and excellent resistance
Nemanja Mihajlović (born in Niš on 19 January 1996) is a Serbian footballer, a midfielder for Partizan Belgrade. He made his début on the Rad first team in the 2012-2013 season against Donji Srem Pećinci. He scored the first goal of his senior career against Borac Čačak. During the winter transfer window, Mihajlović was scouted by the French club AS Saint-Étienne.
Aïssa Mandi: A complete centre back
Aïssa Mandi (Châlons-en-Champagne, 21 October 1991) is an Algerian naturalised French footballer, defender for Reims, French Ligue 1 and the Algerian national team. He is a right footed centre back but he also adapts well with his left.
Hakim Ziyech: A real number 10
Hakim Ziyech, born in 1993, pure talent, already a technical point of reference on the Moroccan National team, as well as on Twente, quickly rose to idol status for fans of the Dutch team. Last year he ended his rookie season in a Tukkers jersey with 11 goals and the most assists of anyone in the entire league.
Youssef Ait Bennasser
This season, although playing in Ligue 2 with Nancy, Youssef Ait Bennasser has already managed to attract the interest of many big European clubs: 21 matches with 2 goals and 2 assists in 2014-15, this year he has already seen playing time in 21 matches and scored one goal.
Dawid Kownacki: A once-in-a-decade talent
At just 8 years of age he joined Lech Poznań, the club he still belongs to. In the Poznań team’s youth sector, Dawid demonstrated exceptionally consistent scoring. From the Under 15 to the Under 19, (with 5 goals in three games in Under 18), he quickly became an irreplaceable pivot point for all of the Polish youth selections.
Blas Riveros: Speed, technique and the will to succeed
Raised in a loving, but humble family, he began with Olimpia de Itauguá as a forward and after just six months he caught the eye of the Olimpia di Asunción youth manager who brought him into the under 14 team when he was just 12…
Marlos Moreno speed and versatility
Since Guardiola was announced, of 11 matches Manchester City has won only 3.
This Premier League derby did not have a clear leader in terms of quantity/quality. The similar average position of both blocks of the teams only changed a little when in the 2nd half Manchester United defended the result on their own half.