Analysis

Ranking the best wingers in the Premier League is a task so onerous that it may seem foolhardy, because even restricting the time span to the last five years doesn't make the task even easier. How do you rank, for example, a new breakout star like Anthony Gordon against a fallen superstar like Sadio Mane? Where does a gifted footballer like Riyad Mahrez stand against a former goal-scoring machine like Raheem Sterling? I tried my best to be fair and account for the unique merits each player brought to the table and avoid any club-based bias. I also decided to discard players who mostly offered value at non-winger positions, specifically Bernardo Silva, mostly to make my own job easier. (Don't worry, I'll have plenty of nice things to say about Silva in other pieces.) Finally, I did...

Significant developments have come to light in the ongoing investigation into FC Barcelona's payments to José María Enríquez Negreira, the former vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA). In case you have forgotten, here is a quick recap of the FC Barcelona-Negreira scandal: Barcelona made payments totaling €7 million to José María Enríquez Negreira between 2001 and 2018 while he was the vice president of the Technical Committee of Referees (CTA). Barcelona stopped paying Negreira immediately after he left his position within the CTA. Joan Laporta quadrupled the payments to Negreira in 2009 during his first term as Barcelona president. In a testimony to tax administrators, Negreira stated that Barcelona hired him to ensure that refereeing was "neutral" and t...

After qualifying for the Europa League in the 2022/23 season, Brighton took a massive step back last season, finishing 11th in the league. The Seagulls have their eyes on qualifying for Europe again this season with new manager Fabian Hürzeler.  People have talked enough about Brighton’s 31-year-old manager; it’s time to look at the players who could take the club back to Europe this season. Here are the five Brighton players you need to know: RW Yankuba Minteh In typical Brighton fashion, the Seagulls may have pulled off the best signing of summer with their purchase of Yankuba Minteh from Newcastle for £30m.  The 20-year-old winger spent all of last season on loan with Arne Slot’s Feyenoord, where he had 10 goals and 5 assists in 27 league matches. He averaged 0.93 goal contribut...

Strikers have always been the glamor players in world football, and over the last 20 years, few goal-scorers made as many headlines as Robert Lewandowski and Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Lewandowski is still going strong as one of the best strikers in Spanish football, likely finishing up his career with Barcelona after forcing a move away from Bayern Munich, where he became one of the greatest strikers of all time. Meanwhile, Zlatan, who also played for Barcelona briefly, is retired and enjoying the next step in his career as an executive for AC Milan, one of his former clubs. In fact, Zlatan played for all three powerhouses of Italian football, but perhaps his period was a largely overlooked tenure in Paris as the first face of the Qatari project before the arrivals of Neymar and Kylian Mba...

The left back position is one of the most talent scarce in world football by virtue of the fact that fullbacks are difficult to find, and especially left-footed fullbacks who can fulfill all the duties a modern-day LB is expected to perform. Although the Bundesliga don't have a great left back for every team in the league, they have quite a few talents at the top who are among the best left backs in all of European football. So here is a look at the 10 best Bundesliga left backs heading into the new 2024/25 season, with breakout stars joining familiar faces like Bayern Munich's Alphonso Davies and RB Leipzig's David Raum. 10. Phillipp Mwene, Mainz After two seasons of starting in the Europa League for PSV, Phillipp Mwene returned to man the left back position for Mainz. The 30-year...

As a position, center backs are underrated in general, because they have to do so much heavy lifting to stop the opposition's best attackers and are being tasked with more playmaking and on-the-ball ability under pressure - even moreso in modern football than ever before. Here are 10 center backs who are especially underrated. These are young players who haven't yet been picked out as top transfer targets, or they are more experienced players in their primes who have somehow flown under the radar, largely because they star for clubs outside of the spotlight. Joachim Andersen, Crystal Palace Even though Joachim Anderen has been operating at the highest level while starting for Crystal Palace in the Premier League, the vast majority of fans around the world don't know how good he is. ...

Before Schalke nearly became the worst team in the history of German football, they were literally the third-biggest club in the country behind Bayern Munich and arch rivals Borussia Dortmund. In fact, just two years before the bottom started to fall out, Schalke finished the season second behind Bayern. Heck, that very 2019/20 season during which they collapsed in the second half of the campaign, the Royal Blues were second at the end of the Hinrunde. Schalke are a proud club, and their "Knappenschmiede" academy has literally produced some of the greatest players in the history of German football. So let's honor Schalke and some of its legends of the recent past by looking at the 10 best players the Royal Blues ever developed from the ground up. GK Manuel Neuer We have to begin wi...

All football fans have dreamed of becoming a professional football player and having the experience of playing at the top level. Despite the many perks of becoming a professional, it's not all fun and games for every player. While all players suffer setbacks in their careers, some experience tremendous bad fortune. Whether it was due to injury or always being on the wrong team at the wrong time, some could simply not catch a break. Let's delve into the top 3 footballers who, despite their talent and dedication, encountered remarkable adversity and misfortune throughout their careers. Iñigo Martínez Iñigo Martínez has had a mixed career, often finding himself in difficult situations. While he helped Real Sociedad reach the Champions League in 2013 and the Copa del Rey semifinals in ...