In the January 2018 transfer window, Portuguese midfielder Bebé signed a three-year deal with Spanish club Rayo Vallecano and may, at last, have found a home...
Category - Quick Reads
Last season I visited the splendid city of Enschede in the Netherlands as part of a short break in the country, and as pre-planned I ended up at De Grolsch...
There are very few players who leave a club at the lower reaches of the Premier League, being considered broadly as a failure, but then go on to become a star...
It’s not always easy following in a famous and talented father’s footsteps – just ask George W Bush and Paul Dalglish. Two extreme examples perhaps, but the...
‘The name is Bond, James Rodriguez’. Five years on from that ingenious headline, is the Colombian agent slow dancing out of global notoriety? ‘Too fat and...
There is an interesting story coming out of the Highlands of Scotland right now, and that is the current plight of Highland League club Fort William FC. With...
Trying to make your way in football, despite being in the shadow of a famous father or brother can be hard enough, but when a player has both those things, the...
When Ralph Hasenhuttl first arrived at Southampton on December 5th 2018, James Ward-Prowse went three games without a single minute of football, after coming...
When Barcelona came back from two goals down in injury time to secure an unlikely point against Villarreal in a surreal 4-4 draw at the beginning of April, the...
John Guidetti signed for Manchester City at the tender age of 16 but, unlike so many other youngsters hoovered up across Europe by cash-rich Premier League...
“To have a comeback, you have to have a setback”, those are words once echoed by Mr. T, and this seems to ring true with SC Paderborn 07 who are...
Kai Havertz is following a long line of expressive midfielders in beginning his career at German side, Bayer Leverkusen. Trailing in the footsteps of players...
For an Italian footballer with a record of international honours reaching as far back as the Azzurri U16 team, passing through all of the age groups and...
We all love a maverick. There is something refreshing about a sporting individual that breaks the mould and adds their own personal individualism to their...
It is perhaps a sign of both the times and Wolverhampton Wanderers’ statement of intent on joining the elite of English football, that they were able to sign a...
The recruitment of Ruben Neves at Wolverhampton Wanderers was certain to raise eyebrows across English football. The endowed Portuguese midfielder was...
In the January 2019 transfer window, Chelsea signed 20-year-old Christian Pulisic from Borussia Dortmund before loaning him back to the German side to complete...
In early March, MLS club LA Galaxy faced a conundrum with their squad of players. The somewhat convoluted rules governing the league state that each club can...
When a forward is given the brand of ‘line leader’, the usual assumption is that they’re some kind of target man. They dominate aerially, hold the ball up well...
Arriving in England as an unknown quantity to many English fans, Javi Garcia is swiftly cementing his name in Watford folk-law as the Hornets are currently...
Legend has it that, back in the early months of 2003, when Roman Abramovich was searching for a place in the UK to deposit his stash of roubles, his early...
Mike Dean is a referee who polarises opinion. There are those who feel that Dean is an over-officious, attention-seeking, controversy-seeking, short little...
At the start of the current season, Wolverhampton Wanderers’ managing director Laurie Dalrymple made the bold statement that the club was not just coming into...
Over recent years, Tottenham Hotspur have developed a reputation for nurturing through their young, home-grown stars led by the resurgent rise of the...
The international football stage today appears incredibly saturated with compelling young superstars barely out of their teens. Names like Kylian Mbappé, Jadon...
Ever since Roman Abramovich arrived at Stamford Bridge to rejuvenate the fortunes of Chelsea Football Club, so much of the power-brokering at boardroom level...
Seamus Coleman is one of those peculiar footballers who, despite now being 30 years old, still feels like a youngster breaking onto the scene. In reality, he...
In August 2017, Barcelona won the race to sign wonderkid Ousmane Dembélé for €105 million making him the joint-second most expensive player alongside Paul...
Arsenal’s youth academy has long been revered throughout the football world. Names that immediately spring to mind include Tony Adams, Ashley Cole, Jack...
“I always knew I had the quality to play for Manchester United. I know what I am capable of.” In November 2018, Adnan Januzaj, once hailed by the...
When Arjen Robben announced that the current season would be his last with Bayern Munich, it suggested an appropriate time to evaluate the career of the Dutch...
If it seems somewhat presumptuous to assert that a player, still only 28-year-old, appears lost to football, then perhaps a review of the career to date of the...
Crystal Palace have long been associated with a rich, proud history of developing talented youngsters through their esteemed academy. Names such as Victor...
The biggest names in football, those that receive the most acclaim, are inevitably the ones with the priceless ability to put the ball in the back of the net...
Since bursting onto the scene in 2016 as a sixteen-year-old, Ryan Sessegnon’s progress, as well as his impact on the game, has been both startling and...
Amongst the international flavour present in the expansive array of talent at the Etihad Stadium, it’s hard not to be drawn to the homegrown prodigy just on...
In Spain football and politics has always been intertwined, the country happens to be home to two of the top teams in the world. Barcelona is the premier...
Over the years, the Camisa Seleção Brasileira Canarinho has been worn by a number football’s most celebrated forwards. Pelé, Sócrates, Zico, Falcao, Ronaldinho...
The beady, watching eye of the media has never been far away from the career of Theo Walcott ever since he burst onto the scene at the tender age of 16 at...
The Marcus Rashford that broke clear on the right flank of Manchester United’s forward line, deploying his searing pace to connect with Pogba’s arrowing cross...
Meet Stan Kroenke, the 71 year old American business mogul who owns one of English football’s most historic clubs. Since 2011, he has held a clear...
In July 2004, Chelsea paid Marseille £24 million for the services of Didier Drogba. It took the Ivorian three games to register his first strike for the club...
Few football youth systems have been quite as impressive as the AFC Ajax Youth Academy. From legendary goalscorers like Johan Cruyff and Dennis Bergkamp to...
The transfer window this summer will no doubt be an important one for Arsenal. Reinforcements are badly needed if the club wants to challenge for a Champions...
Perhaps the game’s last true maverick, and a kind of brooding philosopher of a striker, Dimitar Berbatov could be just as frustrating on a football pitch as he...
When confronted with a survey question enquiring what he would be if he wasn’t a footballer, Peter Crouch delivered the quippiest of ‘one-liner’ answers. “A...
In the aftermath of Argentina’s worst World Cup in a generation in June, the public went through all the predictable reactions. The vast majority of football...
1966 may be renowned in one particular nation for that dramatic World Cup final victory, but just over 1000 miles away, there was another – albeit much...
Usually, when we read about a young footballer, it’s because of their high levels of potential or exciting style of play, but when 17-year-old Joseph Minala...
With the sort of physique that wouldn’t look out of place on an American football field or in a wrestling ring, Adebayo Akinfenwa has always stood out as...