Veinte Futbol

Kiera Skeels is a very bright CB prospect at 22 years-old playing for Charlton in the Women's Championship.  She recently signed a 1-year contract extension with Charlton to keep her for a 4th season with the Addicks.  Skeels actually made 10 appearances for then WSL side Bristol City in 2021 on loan from Reading, where she came through the academy. Player profile Pros: . Physicality/aggressive defending. . Confident on the ball w/ both feet. . Leadership. Area for improvement: . Acceleration. Skeels is a very front-footed/proactive defender, recovering the ball 13 times a game, who will push out of the defensive line to contest aerial balls, and follow her marker when they drop deep.  This allows Charlton to win the ball back closer to the opposing goal, as they look to play down the wings at pace.  A confident header of the ball, Skeels is useful at dealing with long balls and defending set-pieces, winning 2.5 aerials per 90.  The 22 year-old is strong against opponen

Ella Morris arrives at Spurs with over 100 appearances for Southampton after making the jump from their youth teams to the senior team in 2019.  The 21 year-old defender certainly fits head coach, Robert Vilahamn's, idea of being a quick, attacking player, who is confident on the ball.  Pros: . Plenty of senior experience (100+ games already). . Pace (useful offensively and defensively) . Can get past her opponent 1v1. Looks comfortable when in central positions (really impressive ball retention) . Decent defensive instincts. Cons: . Final ball still needs some work and is a spotty crosser. . Game time might initially be difficult to come by. Morris is an explosive runner and eats up ground on and off the ball, which is stylistically perfect for a full-back/wing-backs in the modern game.  When Southampton would turn the ball over, Morris has shown that she can quickly close down the space in behind.  Using her long strides, she can either close off the space, or nick th

As a quick disclaimer. Three games is obviously not enough to properly judge a player's ability. That said these players caught my eye and I've followed 2 of the 3 during the regular club season, and the 3rd has started getting links to big European leagues. Georgiy Sudakov (21): Ukraine Georgiy Sudakov is someone who I didn't really know about before the tournament, but seeing as Ukraine have been an interesting watch so far, I thought I'd pay more attention to him during their games. So far, Sudakov has lined up as Ukraine's most advanced 8, which has seen him push up to make a front 2 out of possession. He's shown a tendency to drop very deep to help Ukraine build up the play which has limited his threat nearer goal so far. But he's shown that he's very press resistant, being able to jink away from opposition players with fakes and quick footwork. His long passing has been a help, by being able to switch the ball out to the flanks when Ukr

These are some short profiles on men's and women's players I haven't done a post on but I still wanted to talk about. This is written from a Spurs related lens. Male players: Hiroki Ito: Ito is a player I've been watching since last season as he's a left-sided defender who can play in a back 3 or 4 as a wide CB or LB. Ito is defensively sound, quick and physically strong. As with pretty much everyone in the Stuttgart squad he's improved under Sebastian Hoeneß, whose style requires composure in possession which is something he has improved (even if it still needs some work). I'd say that LB is his best position for the future as he's fast enough and strong enough to compete against pacy wingers, while he's also given some licence to come inside to form a back 3 when necessary and also make underlapping runs when further up the pitch. Jhon Lucumí: Thiago Motta has turned Bologna into one of the best defensive sides i

Inter currently have one of the best registas in the world in Hakan Calhanoglu after converting him from a more advanced midfield role last season when Marcelo Brozovic was nearing the end of his Inter tenure. His 22 year-old backup, Kristjan Asllani, is lesser known to the wider football world but he is looking like an intriguing regista prospect. The Albanian international started his Serie A career coming through Empoli's academy which he joined at the age of 10. Empoli are famed for the players they've developed and sold in recent years including Ismael Bennacer, Guglielmo Vicario, Giovanni Di Lorenzo and Fabiano Parisi.  Asllani excels in the first phase buildup where he can drop into the wide CB slots to allow Pavard and Bastoni to push higher and wider to create more passing angles to play the ball back inside, as he's also a very useful 3rd man passer. Perhaps it was more noticeable during his Empoli career, but he can be very vocal when organising his m

Deniz Undav and Serhou Guirassy have been the headliners of VFB Stuttgart this season, and with good reason as they both are in double figures for goals. However, their left-winger this season, Chris Führich (26), has also really impressed as a crafty wide man that's contributed 7 goals and 6 assists in all competitions (as of writing). Führich profiles as a wide playmaker who shows good link-up play with quick 1-2's, 1 touch passes and a nice weight of pass for through balls. Despite starting on the left, he's not really a touchline hugging winger as he likes to come into the left half-space channel and he will even come deep towards the halfway line with his back to goal. His teammates will often look to play the ball into him near the box for 1v1's where he'll often look to play the ball square into the box for one of the forwards.  He has a good eye for space off the ball as he's got on the end of through balls and cut-backs to put away big chanc