Kiera Skeels overview.

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 opponents backing into her, doesn't get rolled easily and is capable of defending wide areas as she's got very good positional sense. 

Skeels passing stats don't initially jump off the page at only 82% overall accuracy and 47% long ball accuracy, but her technique is generally solid.  Her zipped short passes on the ground stand out along with her long, curled balls to the wings to help Charlton build-up quickly.  While her passing and carrying on her left foot doesn't look like 2nd nature to her, she is still very confident on her weaker left foot and doesn't shy away from playing the ball long on her left.  In fact, the angles opened up to her by being so confident on her left, makes me think that she'd be very suited to playing as a central CB in a back 3 - or a back 4 with an inverted full-back - at a higher level. 

The fact that Charlton have entrusted Skeels as a co-captain as a 22 year-old shows just how highly thought of she is as one of the youngest captains in the Women's Championship.  While not being one of the loudest voices on the pitch, it's noticeable that Skeels is in near constant conversation to organise her defence in and out of possession, whether that's instructing her teammates where she's looking to play the ball, or communicating with her full-back against a winger. 

The main thing that I think may hinder Skeels' progression is that because she's such a proactive defender in leaving the defensive line to defend high up the pitch, it does allow space in behind for her defensive teammates to cover for her lack of recovery speed.  She's not necessarily slow as her top speed is ok, but her acceleration could improve to really help in defensive transitions. 

In summary, Kiera Skeels looks a very solid defender who probably wouldn't look out of place in a mid-level WSL team in the future. Having another season in the Championship this year should really help her develop even more and hopefully she'll continue to get called up to England's U-23 squad. 

Ella Morris: How will she fit in at Spurs?

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 the ball off of the opposition player. Her pace also allows her to constantly run up and down the right flank for the full 90 minutes.  This is demonstrated by her heatmap from last season. 

Sometimes, being a quick sprinter can mean that a players' footwork suffers as a result of their brain's not being able to work at the same speed as their feet.  Generally speaking, she's quite tidy on the ball when facing up her opposing full-back or carrying the ball at full speed, which adds to her threat down the right flank. 

Ella's first touch is usually quite reliable, allowing her to either push the ball out in front to sprint forward into space, or keep the ball close to pass the ball off to a teammate.  Her ability to cleanly receive the ball, coupled with her comfort in central areas, mean that she's not always hugging the touchline and allows her to create a midfield overload to help in possession.

The young full-back is already looking like a decent defensive player, as she's a good tackler who does tend to stay on her feet.  Her positioning sense allows her to block crosses and intercept balls down the line at a pretty decent frequency.

Morris did accumulate 3 goals and 4 assists last season in the women's championship, but I'd say that her crossing is something that will be worked on this season.  Her most dangerous balls in tend to be either cut-backs from near the byline on the right side of the box or low-driven crosses from just outside the box.  I'd like to see her improve the power in her whipped crosses as that would create better chances for her teammates in the box.

Initially game time might be a struggle for Morris to come by as she's going to be competing against Charli Grant and Ash Neville at the RB slot and Amanda Nildén at LB(the aforementioned Grant and Neville also deputise on the left).  She has also played as a RM in a midfield 4 so there's also potential for her to backup Celin Bizet and Jess Naz on the RW. 

Given that she's quite highly regarded from her time at Southampton, being an England u-23 international and that all 3 full-back options missed games last season with injuries, I think she may spend this season training with the first team to get used to the WSL environment. I don't think I'd mind if she was loaned out to a WSL team that would be able to give her starting minutes to help her development but I don't really anticipate that happening. 

Overall, she's a very exciting signing that has potential to eventually knock on the door of England's senior squad. 

3 players that have stood out for me: Euro 2024

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 Ukraine win the ball back, Sudakov allows the team to quickly move up the pitch. The young midfielder already has a good sense of where spaces will open up and has shown his intelligence to get into those pockets of space in front of the opposition defence and either turn, or play the ball to a teammate.

He's not registered a goal or assist in this Euros, but he played a big part in Shaparenko's equalising goal against Slovakia. 

Ukraine countered quickly from a Slovakian turnover, which saw Sudakov follow the ball as it went to the left side of the final 3rd. 

He waited patiently on the outside of the box to receive the ball from Dovbyk after initially taking a few steps back. When he got the ball, he paused for a second to allow Zinchenko to overlap on the left.

Then, without looking, he played a nicely weighted pass for Zinchenko to cut the ball back to Shaparenko to finish off an impressive counter.

Nicolas Seiwald (23): Austria

Nicolas Seiwald made the move that many other RB Salzburg players have in recent years by moving to sister club RB Leipzig in the summer of 2023. Seiwald hasn't cemented himself as a starter for his club yet as he's behind Xaver Schlager, Kevin Kampl and Amadou Haidara in the double pivot pecking order, but he's currently partnering Florian Grillitsch as Austria's double pivot in this Euros. 

For Ralf Rangnick's Austria, Seiwald has mostly been the sitting midfielder in the double pivot, although because he's such an intense presser, he has followed his man further up the pitch to close down his passing options. Seiwald has very good defensive sense which has seen him make 17 tackles and interceptions across the first 3 games. In transition he also covers at RB, or steps inbetween the CB's when Austria are being countered to make sure there's 4 players in the defensive line or to cover space for potential attacking runners. 

The 5'10 midfielder is quite stocky, but this doesn't hamper his ability on the ball as he can comfortably shift the ball onto the other foot when needed. As with the other two mentioned he's very comfortable using both feet, and his 1 and 2 touch passing is very impressive. His passes have mostly been very safe, with Grillitsch/Laimer being more likely to progress with a long ball or carry the ball. Although he has shown a willingness to play passes forwards between the attacking and midfield lines.

Stanislav Lobotka (29): Slovakia

Stanislav Lobotka has been a big name #6 since his Celta Vigo days before his move to Napoli in 2019. The Slovakian has a small and slight frame which makes him very nippy when carrying the ball out of deep areas, although he's also able to use his positioning sense to nip in front of opposition players to intercept the ball and stop counters. 

Starting as the deepest lying midfielder in Slovakia's 433 in possession, Lobotka is the player that most of the play goes through when they're progressing the ball up the pitch. Out of possession he plays behind the midfield 4 in a 4141 when they press teams high up the pitch, which has seen him clean up loose balls high up the pitch. This allows Slovakia to immediately attack again when opposing defences are struggling to play out from the back.

At the most basic level, Lobotka excels in build-up as he constantly picks up space to allow for the back 4 to play the ball straight to him in space or find a 3rd man pass in midfield or out wide, to give Lobotka space in front of him or space to run into out wide. He's incredibly comfortable on the ball and has no problems passing on his left foot.

Brief summaries on players I've not dedicated a full post to.

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 in Italy and despite defensive teammate, Ricardo Calafiori, being coveted by the European elites, John Lucumí is also quietly putting in accomplished defensive performances. Defensively composed, the 26 year-old doesn't put up crazy tackling numbers but is very good 1v1 and he doesn't always go to ground. The left-footer is a willing carrier of the ball who has played in both CB slots as well as filling in at LB when needed as well. Comfortable stepping into midfield to either receive the ball in build-up or bring it up himself, the Colombian is a thoroughly modern CB who wouldn't look out of place in a lot of big European teams and would probably be my ideal choice for Spurs this summer if Bologna are able to replace him and Calafiori.

Radu Dragusin:

After joining Spurs in January, Dragusin initially found it difficult to get starting minutes despite enjoying a really good half-season at Genoa. In the limited minutes he has since played for Spurs you can really see that he slots in perfectly into this back line. Strong, quick and aerially dominant, the Romanian is a really intriguing young player who's also developing his passing range at Spurs. I'd like to see how he'd play in the RCB role for Spurs in the Europa League next season as he's exclusively played LCB so far which has limited his passing angles due to his right-sided bias. 

Éderson da Silva:

Safe to say that Éderson made a pretty big impression in the Europa League final against Leverkusen. The 24 year-old Brazilian is nominally a box-to-box number 8 who has a monstrous engine, is aggressive defensively and can pop up with goals and assists by crashing the box or with his decent passing range. I don't think he's polished enough on the ball to be a lone #6 option, but he'd be a really nice option for a lot of teams as a #8.

Kaoru Mitoma:

It's difficult to know how much of an impact Kaoru Mitoma's season-ending back injury will have on his future, but in the last season and a half he's become one of the most coveted left-sided wingers in world football. It's a bit of a meme at this point, but he did write a university thesis on dribbling and frankly it's easy to see why. The ball sticks to the Brighton winger's feet allowing him to cut inside or go down the line with equal levels of ease. Under De Zerbi,  he was tasked with staying very wide to create space for midfielders to bait opposition players in before springing the ball out wide to take on his man 1v1 which he's very confident in doing. 

Albert Gudmundsson:

The Iceland international is a really nippy, adept dribbler, despite not being rapid. Gudmundsson is used as a second striker/#10 for Genoa which allows him to drift in and out of spaces left between opposing defensive and midfield lines to link play centrally or out on the left as Genoa's main creative hub. He's naturally right-footed but does have good shooting and crossing technique on his left foot. 

Female players:

Esme Morgan:

Esme Morgan can play all along the defensive line, although she's probably primarily a full-back. Capable of inverting into the midfield to partner Yui Hasegawa from full-back, she's not the most polished player on the ball, but she's safe enough when on the ball and does have a decent passing range. Her recovery pace does also mean that she'd fit into a high defensive line, even when she's the deepest defender in the defensive line. 

Paula Tomás:

Primarily used as a left back for Levante, Tomás is heavily right-footed and is quite a good crosser cutting in from the left flank to play in-swinging crosses. She does tend to be the furthest defender up the pitch as Levante tend to have quite a slanted back line, allowing her to be almost like an auxiliary LW. Her left foot crossing does need to improve, although she does get into good areas to cut the ball into the centre of the box to create big chances.

Charlotte Grant: 

Arriving mid-season from Vittsjö in Sweden upon the expiry of her contract, the Australian looks an absolute livewire at full-back for Spurs. Rapid and capable of playing either full-back role, Grant is a brilliant player in transition for Spurs, making overlapping runs to create crossing angles and cut-backs. Because of her willingness to bomb forward, it does sometimes leave Spurs open at the back to be countered, but she's fast enough to recover and track back. Not guaranteed to be a starter next season, Grant will still get plenty of minutes and has a real chance to become one of the best full-backs in the WSL.

Julia Grosso:

The Canadian midfielder is one of the most in demand #8's in world football after her contract expired with Juventus this summer. The 23 year-old wouldn't look out of place in any top midfield in the world, as she's incredibly technically gifted. Capable of dribbling out of tight spaces and moving the ball on under pressure, Grosso is one of the most press-resistant midfielders in the world.  She looks equally comfortable dropping into the #6 or operating near the box as she's scored 6 league goals this season. 

Olga Ahtinen:

The Finnish midfielder was one of Robert Vilahamn's first signings for Spurs and slotted in to the midfield 2 brilliantly. Ahtinen started as the more advanced pivot next to Eveliina Summanen at the start of the season which saw her as her as the more box to box midfielder. She's a capable long passer on either foot (see assist against Sheffield United in the FA Cup 4th round) to quickly play the ball out to the wing or play the ball in behind centrally. I'd love to see her add to her goal and assist tally next season, as 1 goal and 3 assists in the league and FA Cup is a decent start, but doesn't really do her attacking capabilities justice.

Matilda Vinberg:

Another mid-season arrival from Sweden, this time from Hammarby, 21 year-old Vinberg hasn't quite nailed down the starting LW spot for Spurs yet, but a full debut goal against Leicester was the perfect start. She's quickly shown off that she might just be the best crosser at the club, which gives Spurs extra creativity down the left flank, which wasn't really there before (Grace Clinton started the season there but mostly looked to come inside). The Swede offers Spurs options inside and out on the left as she's a very capable dribbler, coupled with nice, quick link up play. Despite being such a good crosser, her shot selection does need some refinement as she can be a bit trigger happy taking less than advantegous efforts.

Kristjan Asllani: A regista for the future

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 midfield line in and out of possession to create and close angles. Asllani's progressive passing and carrying numbers don't stand out only being in the 38th and 73rd percentiles (fbref) but he has good ball-retention when in the defensive half through his two-footedness and ability to use ball fakes to quickly evade his opponent.

It's very noticeable that he's also incredibly confident passing and receiving the ball on his "weaker" left foot which opens up many more passing options when he's being pressed. When he's further up the pitch, he's capable of playing his teammates through with good crossing technique (on both feet) from half-space positions or corners (these are not especially frequent but still a string to his bow). He's able to adjust his body position, by opening his body out to even switch his passing foot, so quickly that it allows him to disguise his passes to break defensive lines open, allowing his teammates to be in on goal. 

He does mostly come off the bench for Inter, for half an hour at most, although he has started 7 games at club level this season. His in-possession numbers are indicative that he could make a good level #6 as a starter for Inter or elsewhere with 85 touches and 65 passes per 90 being among the 93rd and 94th percentile respectively. 

He's a bit of a non-factor defensively at this stage of his career, which isn't ideal as a #6, and he does get caught too high up the pitch when Inter lose possession, leading to gaps in midfield. This is also shown by him being in the lowest percentiles for tackles and interceptions (fbref, as of May 9th 2024). When you have the energetic combination presence of Nicolo Barella, Henrikh Mkhitaryan or Davide Fratessi as midfield partners, and a very solid back 5 presence behind him, his defensive deficiencies are covered a fair bit but it's certainly something that he can look to improve upon. 

At 5'10 and with a fairly slim frame, he's not the strongest presence physically so protecting passing lanes and improving defensive timing will be good ways for him to improve. He has made a fair few errors leading to goals in recent seasons due to poor concentration or execution when passing the ball upfield or simply not being aware enough of players around him. Although these errors can also be cut down, as he generally is a very aware player and will scan behind him most times before receiving the ball to give himself a clear picture of the space behind him. 

Personally, I'm pretty high on him to keep improving and think there's already the foundations there of a very talented player. Being Calhanoglu's understudy is a pretty good role to have for Asllani at this age but I'd be curious to see if he was to be sold to a club where he'd get starting minutes. At 22 he's hopefully got a long career ahead of him and being at one of the biggest clubs in the world already shows just how highly he has been thought of. 

Chris Führich: Stuttgart's wing wizard

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 chances. This eye for space and his vision also helps with Stuttgart's sweeping build-up play as he'll often receive deep and look to either carry the ball into the space on the wing, the centre or play the ball off quickly inside or to his left flank partner, Maximilian Mittelstadt, who has also been fairly lively this season.

The German international is quite quick, not blisteringly quick, but he's averaging 3 successful take ons per match. Although he doesn't often go down the line near the box, he does have a good left footed cross and is something I think he ought to try more often. He also possess a nice change of pace allowing him to decelerate and accelerate to beat his man going left or right, which is also complemented by his quick footwork.

He does roam around every so often as he will find himself in very advanced central areas where he looks to slip the ball through to a teammate. He'll also sometimes swap over to the right wing where he also likes to run inside and being on his favoured right foot also offers him more natural passing angles.

In terms of criticisms, he is susceptible to running into crowded areas where defences are able to wall him off and he ends up losing the ball. It's also a bit of an odd case with him because, despite the fact he generally is a pass first player, he does sometimes miss an optimal pass to a teammate in space. As a winger in the modern game you'd also hope for him to track back a bit more when the opposition has the ball in Stuttgart's half, although he is a decent presser and will make tackles higher up the pitch. One other problem is that he does get into very good goalscoring positions but his finishing has let him down in big moments which has probably cost him an extra 3 or so goals.

Führich is a nice option on the left beside Undav and/or Guirassy, although I think he'd really flourish in a nominal number 10 role due to his pass first tendancies in slightly deeper areas and his ball carrying. Obviously his final ball would need to become a bit more consistent, but overall he's a very entertaining player who has been a real spark for Stuttgart.

Xaver Schlager profile

Xaver Schlager isn't a huge name but most Bundesliga viewers would be aware of who he is as he is a starter for a decent RB Leipzig team. He's one of the 18 players who have moved from RB Salzburg to sister club RB Leipzig, despite a short stint with Wolfsburg inbetween.

Tactically the Austrian occupies the left side of a defensive midfield duo, often in a 4222, although he's often given license to drift a bit further forward as Leipzig's midfield works on an axis where one player will drop in if one pushes slightly higher up in build-up. This often means that he'll pick up positions in left-back, central centre-back and left wing positions when he's looking to provide an option for teammates or start play from deep positions.

Leipzig play very energetic, direct football that isn't overly concerned with possession for the sake of possession. Schlager is fairly safe in possession and will often turn back when he's on the ball if he doesn't spot a teammate in his view. His short passing is also decent with the odd line-breaking pass in his arsenal, although his composure isn't the best when put under pressure which allows opponents to crowd him out. 

His ball carrying is fairly decent and he can also recieve the ball fairly nicely on the half turn when he's in space. Finally, his long passing game is quite good when he has space and time to pick out a teammate by switching the ball over to the wings.

He's decent defensively covering laterally in his own half and has fairly good positional sense. His stocky build helps him muscle opponents off the ball in 50/50's, although he's not much of a factor in the air as he's only 5'8. 

Leipzig is a good level for him now, and while he's not a massive standout he'd possibly be able to have a bigger influence at a slightly lower table team. At 26 most of his development is complete, although I think he'd suit being a box to box 8 in a different team where he could look to develop his attacking output. He only really looks to shoot from outside the box at the moment so there would scope for him to look to crash into the box unnoticed for easy finishes.