The Mezzala In Midfield

Originally Published 25th July. Oxford United has been the gold-standard for developing centre-backs within the EFL over the last eight or so years. Largely under the stewardship of Michael Appleton and now Karl Robinson, two English managers with strong reputations, numerous centre-backs have gone on to bigger stages after shining at the Kassam Stadium. Chey…

Published Originally 2nd July 2022. Another season has gone, meaning another batch of Chelsea loanees are set to return to Cobham over the coming weeks with alternating futures lying ahead. Despite the negative reputation Chelsea have garnered over their use of the loan market attracting concerns over ‘stock-pilling’ and hindering development, the system has seen…

Originally Published 26th May 2022. Consistent value is found in recruiting players who have expiring contracts as they are often under-appreciated or under-utilised within a specific formation or style and require a fresh environment to flourish in. The football economic cycle is structured towards contracts expiring at the end of June, meaning clubs can engage…

Originally Published 17th September 2021. Brighton & Hove Albion- Mahdi Camara-Central Midfielder-AS Saint-Étienne-France-23 Years Old-Contract Expires Summer 2024-5’10”-66kg It is partially surprising that Yves Bissouma remains a Brighton player in light of the reported interest in the Malian international but Brighton were understandably reluctant to see another one of their stars follow Ben White out…

Originally Published 23rd August 2021. Arsenal: Max Aarons-Right Back-Norwich City-England-21 Years Old-Contract Expires Summer 2024 With rumours swirling around Héctor Bellerín wanting to leave the club he has been at for nine years and Cédric Soares lacking the quality to be Arsenal’s regular first-choice right back there seems to be an opening at the position.…

Originally Published 7th June 2021. Please see introduction to this series within Part 1. GK-Uğurcan Çakır LB-Owen Wijndal LCB-Nico Elvedi Note- Before I begin this article Szalai ideally would be the LCB and Elvedi the RCB in the XI. Right Centre-Back- Attila Szalai-Hungary-Fenerbahçe-23 Years Old Suggesting a centre-back who has had a greater breakthrough season…

Originally Published May 19th 2021. The furore of the planned European Super League, the vociferous outcry it produced from all those intertwined in club football’s historical DNA and its dramatic downfall have collectively dominated society’s conversation in recent weeks yet alone the bulk of global sporting headlines. Due to this astonishing amalgamation of events it…

Originally Published 3rd March 2021. Following on directly from the reviews of Jake Cooper, Josh Dasilva and Adam Armstrong, returning to the proverbial ‘Championship Well’ felt suitable for further analytical profiling. As teams have started to fully establish themselves within this abnormal COVID-19 blighted season, plenty of players have now had a longer set of…

Originally Published December 23rd 2020. Every transfer window a raft of stars emerge from the Championship and gain significant moves to arguably the greatest league of club football, the Premier League. With BREXIT pending along with an array of new registration restrictions on playing personnel, Premier League teams will have to look increasingly inwards for…

Originally Published 20th November 2020. This season so far, ‘out and out’ English strikers have collectively overshadowed the rest of the world’s pool of strikers in the Premier League by some distance with the likes of Harry Kane, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, Ollie Watkins and Patrick Bamford all terrifying defences recently. This pattern has resurfaced in the…