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The 10 best young Bundesliga players to watch in the 2025/26 season

13Aug

By Joe SorianoNo Comments

Analysis

The 10 best young Bundesliga players to watch in the 2025/26 season

Perhaps no league in world football has a bigger reputation for building top young talents than the Bundesliga, and that's because clubs like Bayer Leverkusen, Borussia Monchengladbach, Eintracht Frankfurt, RB Leipzig, and, of course, Borussia Dortmund have made it a regular habit of signing and developing young players into superstars. But even the most historic and successful club in the German top flight, Bayern Munich, has produced more than its fair share of homegrown elite players, including five-time Champions League winning center midfielder Toni Kroos. The Bundesliga is almost like a factory for talent to the other big leagues in Europe, especially the Premier League, and Liverpool alone spent well over 200 million euros this summer on two of the biggest German league talent...

Every Champions League contender’s best Ballon d’Or candidate for 2025/26

9Aug

By Joe SorianoNo Comments

Analysis

Every Champions League contender’s best Ballon d’Or candidate for 2025/26

PSG took everyone by surprise and conquered the 2024/25 Champions League, and although their triumph of world football's premier club competition was marked by a transition to a more team-oriented setup after the departure of Kylian Mbappe, the Parisians still had one of the Ballon d'Or favorites from the campaign in the resurrected form of a more mature Ousmane Dembele. Every high-achieving club needs at least one superstar to lead the way, and in 2025/26, there's a wide open slate of contenders of the Champions League crown, whether it's the defending champions PSG or the competition's record-holding champions Real Madrid. So in that spirit, let's take a preview of what could unfold in the 2025/26 and name every Champions League title contender's best shot at capturing the Ballon d...

Is Martin Zubimendi Worth £55.8M? How Good Is Arsenal’s Latest Midfield Anchor?

7Aug

By Joe SorianoNo Comments

Analysis

Is Martin Zubimendi Worth £55.8M? How Good Is Arsenal’s Latest Midfield Anchor?

Martín Zubimendi isn't a flashy name, but the £55.8 million Arsenal paid says everything about how highly Mikel Arteta rates him. A metronomic passer with elite defensive positioning, Zubimendi has quietly become one of Europe’s most reliable holding midfielders at Real Sociedad. Now, with Arsenal chasing the final piece of a title-winning puzzle, the question is simple: is he really that good? In an era where deep-lying midfielders are the brainstems of elite teams, Zubimendi’s intelligence and ball security might make him worth every penny. Here’s what makes him tick. And why Arsenal wanted him so badly. What Type of Midfielder Is Martín Zubimendi, and Where Would He Fit at Arsenal? Martin Zubimendi is a classic holding midfielder. He fulfills an archetype of a player who is a midfi...

Ranking Every Bundesliga Manager From Worst To First In 2025/26

4Aug

By Joe SorianoNo Comments

Analysis

Ranking Every Bundesliga Manager From Worst To First In 2025/26

The Bundesliga is entering 2025/26 with one of its most unpredictable managerial lineups in years. Proven, elite coaches are rare. This is a league now led by cult heroes like Steffen Baumgart at Union Berlin and rising tacticians like Bo Henriksen at Mainz. While clubs like Bayern Munich and, presumably, Bayer Leverkusen aim for titles, most teams are betting on energy, identity, and upside over big names. In this ranking, we evaluate every Bundesliga manager from worst to first based on tactical quality, squad fit, and realistic expectations. It’s a season where reputations will be made—or broken—from the dugout. 18. Lukas Kwasniok, Koln A decent enough coach for SC Paderborn, Lukas Kwasniok has no real successful track record as a manager. He's never coached in the Bundesliga, a...

Predicting The Most Important Player For Every Serie A Club In 2025/26

3Aug

By Joe SorianoNo Comments

Analysis

Predicting The Most Important Player For Every Serie A Club In 2025/26

Serie A is back, and with it returns one of the most tactically rich, emotionally volatile, and narratively loaded leagues in world football. From Napoli's title defense to AC Milan's search for redemption, every club has a key player who could define their 2025/26 season. Whether it's rising stars, marquee signings, or seasoned leaders, these individuals will be central to their teams’ ambitions across the league and Europe. In this breakdown, we spotlight the most important player at every Serie A club—through the lens of form, fit, tactics, and leadership—for fans, analysts, and fantasy football obsessives alike. Lecce Lecce survived the drop by three points last season thanks to the work of 30-year-old captain Wladimiro Falcone in goal. Falcone has been one of the best goalkeep...

Boavista: The Rise And Fall Of Portugal’s Last Champion Outside The Big Three

22Jun

By Cody AcevedaNo Comments

Analysis

Boavista: The Rise And Fall Of Portugal’s Last Champion Outside The Big Three

Boavista Futebol Clube, once crowned champions of Portugal, now teeter on the edge of extinction. Relegated from the Primeira Liga at the end of the 2024-25 season, the storied club faces an uncertain future marred by financial ruin, mismanagement, and scandal. From training without electricity to sabotaged transfer deals and unpaid wages, Boavista’s downfall is a case study in how bad ownership can destroy a historic institution. This is the tragic, cautionary tale of how one of Portugal’s oldest clubs fell from grace—and why its very survival now hangs in the balance. Boavista's Luck Has Finally Run Out The Panthers’ 4-1 loss to Arouca on the final day of the 2024-25 season confirmed their relegation from the Primeira Liga. Next year will be their first season playing outside of Port...

Ranking the 10 best U21 players in the 2024/25 Champions League season

28Nov

By AdminhoNo Comments

Analysis

Ranking the 10 best U21 players in the 2024/25 Champions League season

From Aston Villa's Jhon Duran to Manchester City's new winger Savinho, a couple of Premier League stars made the cut of the list of the best U21 players in the Champions League. A couple of rising stars in the Bundesliga from Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund joined them, but nobody has more great young talent to watch in European football's premier competition than PSG and Barcelona. It wasn't easy to rank all the players, and there were a number of standouts, such as Endrick and Arda Guler, who haven't gotten enough chances to merit a spot in the top 10. But here is a ranking of the 10 best U21 players in the Champions League here in the new-look 2024/25 campaign, with the list based on a mix of overall ability and success in the current season. 10. Aston Villa ST Jhon Duran Jh...

27Nov

By Joe SorianoNo Comments

Analysis

7 non-UCL teams in 2024/25 who could make the Champions League in 2025/26

There are few things better than a good comeback story, and one of those few things is a good underdog story. In that spirit, let's take a look at seven teams that failed to qualify for the Champions League in the 2024/25 season but are currently in a position - or within striking distance - of Champions League qualification next season. Of course, there are much more than just seven teams in Champions League contention for 2025/26 who missed out this season, but since seven is a lucky number and my fingers - and possibly your brains - are uninterested in an even lengthier list, we'll settle on lucky number seven (as an homage to Mariano Diaz, if you'd like). Chelsea Chelsea aren't so much of a feel-good story as they are an "Empire Strikes Back" kind of vibe. The Blues actually went ...

The 5 best midfield transfer targets for Liverpool in summer 2025

26Nov

By Joe SorianoNo Comments

Analysis

The 5 best midfield transfer targets for Liverpool in summer 2025

Liverpool have become the best team in the Premier League again in 2024/25 under the leadership of new manager Arne Slot, but a lot of the groundwork for this great season was already put in place by Jurgen Klopp and the preceding regime at Anfield. Much of the improvements were done in the middle of the park, with Liverpool bouncing back from a Europa League finish to legitimate Premier League title contention in 2023/24 after the signings of Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister, Wataru Endo, and Ryan Granveberch - though Gravenberch wouldn't break out until this season under Slot. Despite a bevy of midfield upgrades, Liverpool are still in the market for another star or two to further boost their personnel in midfield as they look to capture the near impossible under Slot - a tr...

Where does Nicolas Jackson rank among the Premier League’s best strikers in 2024/25?

26Nov

By Joe SorianoNo Comments

Analysis

Where does Nicolas Jackson rank among the Premier League’s best strikers in 2024/25?

Chelsea are back in the Champions League conversation for the first time in the Todd Boehly era, as new manager Enzo Maresca has guided the Blues to their best start in years, coaxing bounce-back seasons from a couple of key transfer investments. Midfielder Moises Caicedo's rebound as one of the world's best has been the most striking, but Nicolas Jackson's newfound consistency has been just as impactful of a storyline at Stamford Bridge. This weekend, Jackson added a seventh goal to his Premier League tally, as he proved decisive with yet another fine all-around performance for the Blues in a 2-1 win over Maresca's former employers, Leicester City. In the spirit of Jackson's improved displays in the 2024/25 season, let's take a look at where the Chelsea star ranks in comparison t...