Browsing: Europe

CLEARWATER, Fla. — You would be forgiven for thinking that Tiger Woods’s much-anticipated press conference at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas was the most captivating golf happening on this Tuesday in December. It was not. The most entertaining action unfolded in a carpeted conference room at Feather Sound Country Club, here on Florida’s west coast, where eight of European golf’s leading lights from the past three-plus decades presided at a dais and joyfully held court in the prelude to the Skechers World Champions Cup.

The World Champions Cup is a relative newcomer to the professional golf calendar, a three-team (U.S, Europe and rest of the world), three-day contest for the 50-and-older set that is essentially a mashup of the Ryder and President Cups, albeit with a different fomat (sixballs and scotch sixsomes!) and a more complicated scoring system. In 2023, the Americans won the inaugural playing in nail-biting fashion with 221 points, while last year’s event was nixed on account of inclement weather. That brings us to the 2025 edition, where, in the all-important Team Vibes category, Europe — no surprise — has jumped out to a commanding lead.

Here was Darren Clarke, Europe’s playing-captain, cackling as he entered his team’s Tuesday-morning session with reporters; there was one of Clarke’s five playing teammates, the pony-tailed Spaniard, Miguel Ángel Jiménez, wearing the European flag like a cape; and, look, is that 55-year-old Alex Cejka with his hat spun around backward?! As Colin Montgomerie, who is 62, clambered up to the stage, his teammates jokingly groaned, then celebrated when Monty successfully arrived at the summit. This wasn’t a winner’s press conference, but it sure felt like one.

Filling out Clarke’s team are Thomas Bjorn and Bernhard Langer, along with vice captains Soren Kjeldsen and Jesper Parnevik, who used the occasion of his opening remarks to reveal: “I have made all the mistakes I can make this week. I got lost driving here. I couldn’t find the 1st tee in Sunday’s match with Darren. I couldn’t find the 10th tee yesterday. And I just today figured out how to work the shower in the hotel.”

Parnevik wasn’t the only player perplexed by the plumbing. When Montgomerie’s turn came for an opening statement, he said, “I’d just like to start by asking Jesper how the shower actually does work? I haven’t quite found out, and I’ve been here three days, Christ.”

And so it went. Cracks, quips, barbs, laughs.

When Clarke mistakenly said that his team would be ready to play when the matches begin Friday, Parnevik quickly corrected his captain, deadpanning, “I think we’re starting Thursday.”

“Yeah, Thursday,” Clarke said, laughing. “Yeah, when Thursday comes along, we are here to try to win this week, make no mistake. We want to do ourselves probably a little better than we did last time and get ourselves right in the mix.”

Clarke wasn’t just paying lip service. The guys aren’t here this week only for giggles. Last time around — at The Concession Golf Club, an hour’s drive south of here — the event came down to a Sunday clash between the U.S. and International sides. The Internationals had control of their own destiny, but then both Vijay Singh and Retief Goosen dumped their approach shots into a penalty area on the final hole, essentially handing the title to the U.S. “Kind of like throwing a Hail Mary touchdown in the last 10 seconds and then getting the onside kick and kicking a field goal,” Peter Jacobsen, the World Champions Cup tournament chairman, told me Tuesday. “We were in shock.”

As the Americans celebrated, the other teams’ skippers — Clarke and Ernie Els — stewed.

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“Darren was pissed, and Ernie was pissed. So pissed,” Jacobsen said. “Because it means so much. There’s no age limit on competitive desire. Whether you’re 7 or 57, it doesn’t matter.”

This week, the U.S. playing-captain is Jim Furyk; his team is comprised of Stewart Cink, Jerry Kelly, Justin Leonard, Steve Stricker and Jason Caron, and vice captains Steve Flesch and Billy Andrade. International playing-captain Mike Weir will tee it up alongside Angel Cabrera, K.J. Choi, Steve Alker, Y.E. Yang and Mark Hensby; Weir’s assistants are Charlie Wi and Ricardo Gonzalez.

The Americans haven’t been letting the Europeans have all the fun. On Monday night, the U.S. team members sounded like they stayed up past their bedtimes. “Too many drinks probably to start the week off,” Stricker said. “That’s the way we ended two years ago, and we had a ball.”

Added Justin Leonard: “Need some electrolytes, please.”

However you feel about “Silly Season” events in the window between Thanksgiving and Christmas, it’s hard not to appreciate the assemblage of global talent that took the dais here Tuesday morning. For golf fans of a certain era, Feather Sound this week feels a little bit like one of those baseball fantasy camps that populate this area of Florida. But instead of World Series winners, you get major champions. Wander the property and you might spot Y.E. Yang, who famously upset Tiger Woods at the 2009 PGA Championship; or a Masters champion such as Mike Weir or Angel Cabrera; or an ageless wonder like 68-year-old Bernhard Langer.

On Tuesday afternoon, Montgomerie had just finished a nine-hole practice round when Langer’s tugged approach into the 9th green nearly doinked Monty on the head.

You couldn’t have blamed Montgomerie for being salty, but instead he quickly laughed it off. There’s a lot of that on this team.

“You would get that in a Ryder Cup setting, too” Montgomerie told me greenside. “We make fun of each other, take the mickey out of each other, take the piss out of each other. We leave our egos behind and all fight for each other.”

• Joey Lynch

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  Joey Lynch is a Melbourne-based sports journalist and AYA cancer advocate. Primarily working on football, he has covered the Socceroos, Matildas and A-Leagues for ESPN for over a decade.

Nov 27, 2025, 05:45 PM ET

For the fifth time in his coaching career, Kevin Muscat is a champion. The former Australia international led Shanghai Port to their second successive title on the final day of the Chinese Super League last weekend, lifting the trophy after securing a 1-0 away win over Dalian Yingbo. Another feather in an increasingly plumaged cap.

With a pair of Chinese titles to add to his J1 League crown with Yokohama F Marinos and a pair of A-League Men championships with Melbourne Victory, this 2025 crown reinforces Muscat as one of Australia’s most successful coaches. Ever. Very few Australians strike out abroad, or are afforded the opportunity to, and even fewer go on to lift silverware, let alone lift silverware in two of Asia’s strongest leagues.

And after creating one of the fiercest attacking units on the planet last season, Muscat had to adjust and work for another title in 2025 — anything other than victory over Dalian would have seen Port’s city rivals, Shanghai Shenhua, take the title instead. Both Brazilian star Oscar and former Argentina international Matias Vargas departed before the campaign, and, combined with injuries to star Chinese forward Wu Lei that restricted him to just six appearances and one goal, Muscat was left without a trio that had accounted for 56 of the 96 goals Shanghai netted in 2024.

Nonetheless, despite the numbers dipping, Shanghai Port still led the Chinese Super League with 72 goals this season and had more of the ball than any side not named Beijing Guoan throughout the campaign. Given the only thing harder than getting to the top of the mountain is staying there, it’s a heck of an achievement.

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But the celebrations have hardly had any kind of time to subside before speculation again started mounting about what Muscat might do next. Such is the nature of the beast that is football. It doesn’t matter that he has a contract in Shanghai that takes him through to the end of the 2026 season, nor that he and his family, as he told the Sydney Morning Herald, are happy in China. Nor does it count much that he’s on a pretty good wicket at the Pudong Football Stadium, or that he’s got something in the way of unfinished business in the Asian Champions League Elite (Shanghai have underperformed in the competition during his tenure). Such is the insatiable demand for more news, more narrative and constant perceived progress in the modern game.

And it’s understandable. The way that the Australian footballing public rallied around Ange Postecoglou at Celtic, Tottenham Hotspur and then, briefly, at Nottingham Forest, spoke to the hunger that those Down Under have to see one of their own succeed at the highest level: for an Australian to prove wrong those who would dismiss them and their achievements as being lesser accomplishments. To demonstrate that one isn’t simply a “proper coach” with “proper tactics” because the fortune of one’s birth saw them born in Chelsea, London, rather than Chelsea, Melbourne. And Muscat has now demonstrated over multiple seasons that he’s best placed in the men’s game to make the jump.

And for a coach such as Muscat — himself a former assistant to Postecoglou, who succeeded him at Victory and Yokohama, and who has been backed to succeed by his mentor — who possesses a fierce ambition to challenge himself and continue to develop as a coach, swimming with the sharks in the deepest ocean in football will inevitably call. The one-time Sunshine George Cross junior spent almost a decade playing in Britain before returning home to serve as one of the foundational pieces of the new A-League, and he has often been linked with coaching vacancies at his former clubs — recently coming close to taking the Rangers job and, almost immediately after that fell through, being floated as a potential boss at Wolverhampton Wanderers following the sacking of Vitor Pereira.

That the 52-year-old came so close to taking over at the Ibrox — talks collapsed late in the process and the role ultimately went to Danny Röhl — only feeds speculation about an impending move to Europe. Muscat himself clearly would be willing to make a move if the circumstances were right; it’s just a matter of finding a situation that works for both him and his club.

And situation is important. Given his inglorious six-month stint at Belgian outfit Sint-Truidense back in 2020, the former defender has a chastening education in the cutthroat nature of European football already on hos résumé, as well as the knowledge of not just taking a job that lands one on the continent. Now, having adjusted to two very different cultures and delivered silverware in both, as well as often being linked with high-profile openings in Britain, Muscat earned a right — one he’s already exercised in the face of previous inquiries — to be somewhat selective with his next destination, ensuring that he finds an opening where the club is aligned with his vision and committed to backing him sufficiently.

Inevitably, finding a situation like this is easier said than done. Speculation about a role and actually being considered for it are two very different things. And perfect can’t be the enemy of good; if a situation at a club was optimal, then they probably wouldn’t have an opening in the first place. And while Muscat will be afforded more grace than some other coaches coming from Asia — he’s a white man with English as his native tongue, who hails from a nation that, though playing in Asia, is perceived as being Western — he still has a … somewhat colorful reputation in Britain.

Almost 15 years after retirement, Muscat is still renowned for a physicality that too often strayed towards brutality; his Rangers links greeted by the Daily Mail headline: “How Aussie hardman Kevin Muscat became ‘the most hated man in football.'” It doesn’t matter that the Melburnian is a very different person post-retirement — convivial, eloquent, and consistently forging strong dressing rooms — nor that he sets his sides up to play a free-flowing, attacking brand. The legacy of vicious tackles on the likes of Matty Holmes, Christophe Dugarry, and Adrian Zahra lingers and, the aforementioned unconscious (and sometimes conscious) bias confronting Australian and Asian coaches remains. They’ll only be overcome by what his side does on the pitch.

Of course, that’s if his next move is even in clubland. Muscat leapt to the forefront of Football Australia’s thinking when Graham Arnold informed them of his surprise decision to step down from the Socceroos role but remained in Shanghai, leading to the job going to Tony Popovic. After turning around Australia’s qualification campaign and securing their passage to a sixth-straight World Cup, Popovic’s contract will conclude after next year’s tournament. Given Football Australia’s record, any kind of success in North America would likely augur a new contract if Popovic wants it, but Muscat would have to be considered a prohibitive front-runner for a Socceroos vacancy, ostensibly under more auspicious circumstances at the start of a new cycle, if he were interested.

Regardless of what he decides to do next, though, Muscat will do so from a position of strength. There will be challenges to be overcome, of course, and success cannot be taken for granted. But Muscat has once again proven himself a winner. And that counts for a lot.

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Arsenal had forwards Viktor Gyokeres, Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus all unavailable but Arteta was able to call on Noni Madueke and Gabriel Martinelli from the substitutes’ bench.

Arsenal have had injuries to a number of their forwards but, with captain Martin Odegaard returning tonight and Gyokeres and Havertz progressing, Arteta’s options look like they are going to get even better.

After bringing in eight players in the summer, Arteta has been able to navigate the issues he has faced – Madueke scored his first goal for the club against Bayern, while Martinelli scored his fourth goal in as many games in the Champions League.

“I couldn’t have picked a better game to score my first Arsenal goal. I am so happy the team got the win as well,” Madueke said.

“It’s an incredible statement, but we know the work we put in. We go into these game with every confidence that we are going to win.

“I am a confident player. I don’t like someone telling me I cannot do something. But my team-mates and the staff have belief in me.”

And former defender Upson thinks that the options Arsenal have are a big reason why Arteta is able to keep the standards so high.

“Arsenal’s bench delivers in all areas, in terms of freshness and quality.” Upson said.

“We are talking about multiple players coming on and having an impact. They are all scrapping for a starting position.

“I think that’s the key. It isn’t easy for a manager to keep a squad of this depth hungry, together and fighting for the shirt, but also responding in the right way when not in the team.

“Ultimately, Mikel Arteta has all his players pulling in the same direction. The goal is a Premier League title and getting as far as they can in the Champions League.

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November 26, 2025 | Paul Stimpson

Four young England players are set to get some essential experience on the international stage as the Europe Youth Series moves on to Serbia this week.

The quartet are Oliver Glowacki, Ronan Lamont Tierney (pictured above), Lev Sahmurov and Lusio Wen, who will compete in the Under-13 categories.

Glowacki, Sahmurov and Wen have some experience of international competition, having travelled to Hungary earlier this month for the WTT Youth Contender Szombathely, but it is a first international foray for Lamont Tierney – who beat Sahmurov in the Under-13 Boys’ Singles final at the Blackpool 4* at the weekend.

The competition starts with the team event and England have two line-ups. Sahmurov and Wen are England I and have been drawn in Group 1 alongside Spain, Ireland, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia II, Greece II and a composite team from Moldova and Romania.

Glowacki and Lamont Tierney will represent England II and play in Group 2 against Montenegro, Serbia, Croatia, Greece, Spain II and Serbia III.

The team events are played on Wednesday and Thursday and the singles – in which all four boys will also play – gets under way on Friday. The competition finishes on Sunday.

ETTU launched the Europe Youth Series in 2023 to provide high-quality competition for Under-15 and Under-13 players. There are several events around the continent each year. The last time England were represented, in Bosnia-Herzegovina in April, a more experienced squad won four medals across the two age groups.

Results will be updated on this page.

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Last month, Tatum told BBC Sport that the NBA wanted to collaborate with EuroLeague over plans and that any NBA Europe plans would be to help the sport’s overall growth.

However, EuroLeague chief executive Paulius Motiejunas said the NBA’s proposals would only “hurt” the sport and that an additional league is “not necessary”.

“I’m here to grow basketball in Europe, to make it better,” Motiejunas told BBC Sport. “From time to time, you have these new projects or new ideas coming. They can either grow the status quo or make it much better or they can hurt.

“I truly believe that this will only hurt the status quo rather than make it better if it continues to be in a way that it has been presented.”

As far as EuroLeague is concerned, the NBA’s early plans are similar to its current structure of a semi-open league of core franchises, as well as associated clubs, with the EuroLeague currently having promoted spots available out of the EuroCup.

Part of the NBA’s remit is to target major cities without permanently licensed franchises in major cities with permanent top-tier EuroLeague teams in the United Kingdom, Berlin and Rome.

This concept is not new for EuroLeague, which has been attempting to target similar markets for a number of years.

“We’ve built the business around basketball. We know the markets, [where] the basketball is really mature,” Motiejunas explained.

“They are coming and they are creating business and using basketball to do it. It is a completely different approach because if you take the cities that they have announced, we’ve been looking at these cities for last 10 years.

“It is not easy to unlock them because of football, because of the different mentality and because of different sports that are there. We know how hard it is.

“That’s why I say we wish they would tap into our know-how and work together.”

EuroLeague remains open to discussions with the NBA over its plans, but it is not hopeful.

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This is the first Champions League season to feature six clubs from one nation and history will be made if all six of England’s representatives go through.

Back in 2017, Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United and Tottenham all progressed, making England the first country to have five teams in the knockouts of the competition.

However just two of those sides – Liverpool and Manchester City – got beyond the last 16, while the Reds went all the way to final after knocking City out in the quarter-finals.

In the final, Liverpool were beaten by Real Madrid.

According to Opta’s predictions, Arsenal have a 99.8% chance of progressing to the knockouts, with Manchester City on 97.4% and Liverpool on 95.5%.

However, the predictions model is a little less confident over the automatic progress of the other three sides with Newcastle on 82%, Chelsea on 80.8% and Tottenham on 72%.

Former Liverpool midfielder Stephen Warnock told BBC Sport: “I’d say at the moment it is [significant what English teams are doing], but it doesn’t matter what goes on at the moment because we saw what happened last year, when Liverpool were dominating and finished top of the league stage – and then they were suddenly knocked out by PSG who had been rubbish up until then.

“So I just don’t see at the moment, unless you get knocked out, what effect it is going to have and it does not mean the English teams are going to get through the knockout stages because it all depends on the draw, and how you are set up later in the competition.”

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Yet it has been a very different story away from home.

Newcastle have only won four league games on their travels in 2025 and they have looked especially blunt of late.

Howe’s side have scored a quarter as many goals (two) away as they have at home in the league (eight), and bottom of the table Wolves are the only side to have netted fewer (one) on the road.

Jacob Murphy’s opener against West Ham was a rare example of this side being ruthless away from home in the league – just 26 seconds after Hammers captain Jarrod Bowen had struck the post.

Though Newcastle have had more possession away (56%) than at home (47.1%), according to Opta, Howe’s team have had 30 fewer touches in the opposition box (110) and they have only had half as many shots on target (13) on their travels, which highlights the difficulties they have faced breaking teams down.

Newcastle could at least fall back on their solidity as a base to build from earlier in the campaign following shutouts against Aston Villa, Leeds United and Bournemouth in their opening three away games of the season.

But the visitors have since leaked five goals in just two matches versus Brighton and West Ham.

That defensive effort starts with the press from the front, but Newcastle have won possession back on eight fewer occasions (16) away than at home (24), while much-lauded midfield trio Sandro Tonali, Joelinton and Guimaraes have been repeatedly bypassed on the road in recent weeks.

Burn has spoken of the need to “be a bit more ugly”, referencing how his side were “well-known a few years ago for something-housery”.

Howe recognised his side “possibly need a bit of that” ahead of Sunday’s trip to the Gtech Community Stadium as he called on his players to bring the “quality, delivery and, most importantly, the mindset”.

“It’s about playing a game of football and delivering a good performance – regardless of where we are playing,” he said.

“The only way we can answer those questions is to perform and actually do the business.”

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  Bill ConnellyOct 30, 2025, 05:00 AM ET

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  Bill Connelly is a writer for ESPN. He covers college football, soccer and tennis. He has been at ESPN since 2019.

At this point, Bayern Munich should understand better than any club that if Plan A doesn’t work out, there’s no need to panic. Just get on with your business. That might be true for Plan B and Plan C, too.

In the summer of 2024, after firing Thomas Tuchel, it felt like Bayern got turned down by roughly 27 candidates before settling on Vincent Kompany, who had just been sacked after leading Burnley to relegation. In the summer of 2025, their transfer plans went awry as well when Bundesliga stars like Florian Wirtz (Liverpool) and Nick Woltemade (Newcastle United) chose the Premier League over the German giants. Instead of landing either or both approaching-their-prime talents, they spent big on veteran Luis Díaz, brought Nicolas Jackson in on loan, and elected to give a precocious 17-year-old named Lennart Karl a bit of playing time.

So having experienced many public failures over multiple summers, Bayern are about a quarter of the way through 2025-26 and are in their best run of form in five years, with 14 wins from 14 games in all competitions. At this moment, at least, Karl has as many combined goals and assists in 290 minutes in all competitions (three) as Wirtz has in 934 with Liverpool.

Karl also became Bayern’s youngest UEFA Champions League scorer with a lovely, composed strike in last week’s pummeling of Club Brugge, and on Saturday he followed that up with something even more outrageous against Borussia Mönchengladbach.

17-YEAR-OLD LENNART KARL BECAME BAYERN’S YOUNGEST-EVER UCL GOALSCORER MIDWEEK AND THEN SCORES AN INSANE GOAL TODAY!

WHAT A TALENT 🔥 pic.twitter.com/4fwu0noPCs

— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) October 25, 2025

For as much oxygen as transfers and transfer rumors occupy in the general soccer ecosystem, the most enjoyable stories often come out of nowhere. And this sport offers an endless well of fun, young talent waiting for an opportunity to spring up and entertain us.

So here’s a list of my 15 favorite 21-and-under men’s players doing exciting things in this young season. Some were indeed the subjects of heavy transfer rumors and reporting, but others seemingly appeared out of the blue.

(Note: We’ll limit this list to players who entered the season having played under 2,000 minutes in the Big Five leagues. You don’t need me to tell you that someone like Lamine Yamal is awesome. You already know that.)

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Estêvão, Chelsea / Brazil
Age: 18
Key stats (all competitions): 475 minutes, two goals from 22 shot attempts (3.8 xG), one assist (1.5 xA) from eight chances created, 56 progressive carries, 46 1v1 attempts

The whole “major club signs exciting Brazilian teenager” thing often doesn’t pay off; Endrick‘s current travails at Real Madrid are illustrating that pretty well at the moment. The competition level is higher, the defenders are bigger, and you struggle to find your way before getting repeatedly loaned out.

Statistically, Estêvão was always a little different than other up-and-comers. He had 13 league goals and nine assists in his age-17 season with Palmeiras and quickly proved that he could rack up the shot volume despite being just 5-foot-9 and 137 pounds. Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca has smartly eased him in at Stamford Bridge, with seven substitute appearances and five starts (and only one full 90-minute appearance) thus far — and the approach is paying off. He leads the team in shot attempts, high-quality shots (worth over 0.2 xG), 1v1 attempts and 1v1s in the box, and he’s only played 44% of Chelsea’s minutes.

Oh, and he already has a signature moment, too:

Estêvão is a lightning bolt for a team that can otherwise be a little too stolid in attack at times. He’s an absolute delight, and based on his xG figures, his finishing has prevented him from enjoying even more of a breakout.

Can Uzun, Eintracht Frankfurt / Turkey
Age: 19
Key stats (all competitions): 834 minutes, six goals from 32 shots (2.4 xG), four assists (2.6 xA) from 14 chances created, 59 progressive carries, 61 progressive passes

Granted, it might have helped Eintracht if the next awesome young talent they developed had been a defender of some sort — even while allowing only one combined goal to St. Pauli and Borussia Dortmund over the last week, they’ve still allowed 28 goals in their last 10 matches — but you take what you can get, and Uzun has been a delight. The 19-year-old hit a wall recently in terms of goal contributions, but since he’s far more of an attacking midfielder than a forward and rarely touches the ball in the box, goals shouldn’t be one of his most important stats.

Still, in his first season as a main contributor, he currently ranks in his team’s top three in goals, shot attempts, assists, chances created, duels and fouls suffered.

Uzun makes things happen.

Franco Mastantuono, Real Madrid / Argentina
Age: 18
Key stats (all competitions): 599 minutes, one goal from 26 shots (3.0 xG), zero assists (1.2 xA) from eight chances, 49 1v1 attempts, 17 fouls suffered (seven in the attacking third)

Like Estêvão and Uzun, Mastantuono’s main job is to try stuff and attack defenders. He’s 10th on his team in minutes but third in shots and 1v1 attempts, and he’s a willing contributor in defense as well — only left back Ãlvaro Carreras has blocked more passes — which is incredibly welcome on a team that features two famous attackers who contribute almost nothing in that regard.

Expectations were high for Mastantuono after he contributed four goals and six assists before his 18th birthday in parts of two seasons with River Plate. His finishing has been rather Estêvão-esque — one goal from shots worth 3.0 xG — but he’s playing his role well and carving out a niche on a star-laden squad.

Senny Mayulu, Paris Saint-Germain / France
Age: 19
Key stats (all competitions): 627 minutes, two goals from 16 shots (2.0 xG), one assist (1.1 xA) from nine chances, 58% success rate on 73 ground duels

Warren Zaïre-Emery, also 19, has played way too much ball to make this list, but PSG still don’t lack for other thrilling youngsters. (Hell, the only reason I didn’t put 17-year-old right winger Ibrahim Mbaye on the list was because I’m trying to spread the love around.)

Mayulu scored the last goal in PSG’s historic 5-0 romp over Internazionale in last season’s Champions League final, and in mostly 60-minute midfield shifts this season, he’s been tasked with running at defenses and handing the ball over to attackers in the attacking third. He’s good at it, and he’s also quite good at teleporting into high-quality positions in the box.

While others on this list are mostly firing away from long range, four of Mayulu’s 15 shots have been worth at least 0.2 xG. Only Bradley Barcola and Gonçalo Ramos have attempted more high-quality shots for PSG this season.

Valentín Barco, Strasbourg / Argentina
Age: 21
Key stats (all competitions): 1,061 minutes, three assists (3.1 xA) from 20 chances created, 84 progressive carries, 85 progressive passes, 37 fouls suffered, 71 ball recoveries

On a Strasbourg team that started with just two losses in its first 12 matches, Barco currently ranks first in chances created, touches, 1v1 attempts, fouls suffered, total duels, ground duels won, blocked crosses and ball recoveries and second in progressive carries, interceptions and all defensive interventions. He spends a little over half his time in central midfield while dabbling at everything from left wing to left back to defensive midfield to center back.

Wherever he is, he’s the most important player besides, perhaps, leading goal-scorer Joaquín Panichelli.

Barco seemed like a can’t-miss prospect when he moved from Boca Juniors to Brighton & Hove Albion, but he evidently needed one more change of scenery to start unlocking his potential. Well, it’s unlocked.

Noah Sadiki, Sunderland / DR Congo
Age: 20
Key stats (all competitions): 802 minutes, 54 progressive carries, 28 progressive passes, 14 fouls suffered, 12 blocked passes, 14 interceptions, 25 ball recoveries

This list is loaded with Make Stuff Happenâ„¢ guys, and Sadiki is already one of the best in the Premier League in that regard. After serving as an excellent ball progressor and chaos agent for Union St.-Gilloise’s Belgian title-winning team last season, Sadiki is playing a similar role alongside Granit Xhaka in the midfield of a Sunderland side that is overachieving spectacularly in 2025-26.

Sadiki pushes the ball up the pitch and draws contact in attack (first on the team in fouls suffered), and he obstructs every passing lane in defense (first in blocked passes and interceptions). With this work-rate, he is a perfect complement for Xhaka, allowing the veteran to focus on things like “being a progressive passing machine” and “once again providing the greatest veteran leadership in the sport.”

Sunderland are overachieving against their xG figures in a way that is almost certainly unsustainable, and regression is probable, but they also genuinely outplayed Chelsea late in last weekend’s 2-1 upset at Stamford Bridge. There’s some magic to this team, and the Sadiki-Xhaka combo is a major reason why.

Myles Lewis-Skelly, Arsenal / England
Age: 19
Key stats (all competitions): 445 minutes, three assists (0.6 xA) from five chances created, 20 progressive carries, 25 progressive passes, 16 fouls suffered (four in the attacking third)

Because Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta is distributing minutes to so many guys within a ridiculously deep squad — including 15-year-old Max Dowman, who could have made this list despite playing only 125 minutes thus far — it’s hard to get a complete read on Lewis-Skelly’s capabilities. But his per-90 stats are great, and moments like his assist against Atlético Madrid in last week’s Champions League blowout certainly give us a pretty good hint.

Ho hum: just casually dribbling around and through four Atleti defenders and perfectly cueing up a first-timer from Gabriel Martinelli against one of the most celebrated defenses in Europe. No big deal.

Lennart Karl, Bayern Munich / Germany
Age: 17
Key stats (all competitions): 303 minutes, two goals from 16 shots (1.9 xG), one assist (0.8 xA) from four chances created, 31 progressive carries, 18 1v1 attempts, seven fouls suffered

Take it away, Tor-Kristian Karlsen:

“Excellent at playing between the defensive lines, his low center of gravity — he measures at just under 5-foot-6 — gives him the balance and agility to navigate short spaces. Meanwhile, an explosive first step makes him elusive in crowded areas, often allowing him to slip away from defenders before they’ve had the chance to get settled. […] In the short term, Bayern seem intent on rotating Karl through multiple attacking roles: as a right-sided inside-forward, a narrow No. 10, and occasionally a left-sided option to encourage his two-footed development. Each role offers a different challenge, but will help refining abilities such as acceleration, composure, flexibility, game intelligence and creative risk-taking.”

Karl is versatile, and he’s incredibly unique in stature and skill set. It might be easier for a young guy to find a role by fitting into a certain box, and Karl most certainly doesn’t, but he’s a fascinating prospect.

Assan Ouédraogo, RB Leipzig / Germany
Age: 19
Key stats (all competitions): 333 minutes, two goals (2.1 xG) from nine shots, three assists (0.8 xA) from six chances created, nine fouls suffered, 71.9% success rate from 32 duels, 50.0% aerial success rate

Ouédraogo scored the title-winning penalty for Germany at the Under-17 Euros in 2023, and he became Schalke 04’s youngest ever goal-scorer, putting the ball in the net on his professional debut at age 17 in 2023-24. At a Paul Pogba-esque 6-foot-3, 185 pounds, he’s looked the part all along, and after barely playing in his first season at RB Leipzig, it appears he has the lay of the land.

Ouédraogo has started RBL’s last five matches, and they’ve taken 13 points in those five as he’s made four goal contributions. He’s doing a little bit of everything, from clearances to short-range goals, and RBL is reestablishing a pretty high level after last season’s disappointing campaign.

Leopold Querfeld, Union Berlin / Austria
Age: 21
Key stats (all competitions): 930 minutes, two goals (0.7 xG) from 10 shots, seven chances created (0.5 xA), 45 progressive carries, 43 progressive passes, 63.2% success rate from 57 aerial duels, 163 defensive interventions

There aren’t many defenders on this list both because defensive stats are less sexy and, well, there aren’t loads of teenage defenders in the top leagues. It’s a lot easier to break guys in with hustle-and-try-stuff roles up front.

Still, Querfeld’s an interesting prospect. He put in over 1,700 Bundesliga minutes last season and therefore barely qualified here, but even before that he logged over 4,300 minutes for Rapid Vienna in Austria. He’s a certified Big Dude, standing 6-foot-3, manning the middle of Union’s three-man back line and winning about 60% of his aerials.

Union are back to doing Union things this season, absorbing pressure, playing physically (and committing lots of fouls), counterattacking and winning the set-piece battle. It says a lot that Querfeld has been asked to man such an important position in that regard. He even scored a goal in the DFB Pokal.

Christian Kofane, Bayer Leverkusen / Cameroon
Age: 19
Key stats (all competitions): 558 minutes, four goals (4.4 xG) from 20 shots, 10 chances created (0.5 xA)

Bayer Leverkusen are working through an up-and-down campaign in their first season after the departure of manager Xabi Alonso, chief creator Wirtz and others. But the 6-foot-2 Kofane, who scored eight goals with Albacete in the Spanish second division last year, is providing bright moments already.

Kofane is a Haaland-model striker, meaning he’s in for shots and goals and not a ton of other things — per 90 minutes, he’s averaging just 25.9 touches but 3.2 shots, 35% of which are worth at least 0.2 xG. Those aren’t Erling Haaland levels, but they’re intriguing for a teenager playing in a top-flight league for the first time. He scored Leverkusen’s go-ahead goal against PSV in the Champions League, and he’s started the last five matches for new manager Kasper Hjulmand. It’s been a very bright start.

Adrián Liso, Getafe (on loan from Real Zaragoza) / Spain
Age: 20
Key stats (all competitions): 634 minutes, three goals (1.0 xG) from 12 shots, two assists (1.2 xA) from two chances created, 23 progressive carries, six fouls won in the attacking third, 22 ball recoveries

Outside of Barcelona and Real Madrid, there haven’t been a ton of high-impact youngsters in LaLiga early this season, but Liso, a second-division standout for Real Zaragoza, got loaned up to a first-division club and was immediately named LaLiga’s under-23 player of the month in August. Getafe have scored only 10 goals in 10 league matches, but he has three of them, and he’s assisted two others. And on a team loaded with 30-and-over veterans, he and 20-year-old midfielder Mario Martín are putting in some serious hustle time.

Geovany Quenda, Sporting CP / Portugal
Age: 18
Key stats (all competitions): 722 minutes, two goals (1.8 xG) from 15 shots, four assists (2.5 xA) from 18 chances created, 19 fouls suffered, 54.2% success rate on 83 ground duels, 46 ball recoveries

Of the 16 players with at least 250 minutes for Sporting this season, only three are under 24 years old, and only one is under 21: Quenda, who’s racing up and down the right touchline and providing all the young energy he can for a veteran squad.

Quenda is starting about half the time, but while he’s eighth on the team in minutes, he’s second in assists and fouls suffered and fourth in goals and shots on goal. He’s also won 64% of his tackles, and he’s third on the team in ball recoveries. He had a goal and an assist in Sporting’s Champions League-opening win over Kairat Almaty, too.

Quenda, who has agreed a €52 million move to Chelsea in 2026, is a boundless runner with a creative streak in attack — that’s a pretty great combination.

Antoine Mendy, Nice / Senegal
Age: 21
Key statistics (all competitions): 1,022 minutes, 204 defensive interventions, 30 blocked passes and shots, 70.7% success rate on 41 aerial attempts, 80 progressive carries, 50 progressive passes

I was tempted to put Mendy’s 19-year-old center-back companion Juma Bah on here, too, as the two have both been asked to hold the fort quite a bit for a decent but offensively challenged team. But we’ll go with Mendy here; the 21-year-old converted attacker has battled through a run of injuries to play at a really high level this season. (He’s learned under ageless defender Dante at Nice, too.)

Mendy has made the second-most defensive interventions in all of Ligue 1 — a hint of just how much duress the Nice backline has faced, but also a sign of sureness on Mendy’s part — and he’s dynamite in the air. His odds of making the Senegal squad for next year’s World Cup are pretty good.

Joane Gadou, RB Salzburg / France
Age: 18
Key stats (UEFA competitions): 630 minutes, 90 defensive interventions, 94 progressive carries, progressive passes

Playing defense for Salzburg is a unique sort of stress test: you’re going to learn all about possession play and proper buildup from the back, and you’re going to have to put out all sorts of fires in transition. Gadou is holding his own. The 6-foot-4 center back has played every minute of Salzburg’s UEFA season, and he’s averaging nearly 13 defensive interventions per 90 minutes and leading the team in blocked crosses and shots. He’s also leading in progressive carries and is second in progressive passes.

Gadou has already been linked to Bayern and other heavyweights, and it’s not hard to see why. But in the meantime, he’ll keep playing the game on the hardest difficulty level.

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As a week of European football beckons, we’ve got just the quiz for you.

Do you spend your midweek evenings scrolling through the football scores on your phone? It’s time to put all that accumulated knowledge to the test with this quiz.

We want you to name all 108 teamscompeting across the three UEFA competitions this season, and we’re giving you just 20 minutesto complete it, so act fast! And don’t forget to tell us how you did in the comments.

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So, you’ve named every singleteam competing in Europe this season, but you want more? Of course you do, and thanks to our friends at Kwizly, we’ve got what you need.

It’s a World Cup year, and what better way to celebrate than naming every winner in order? Or perhaps you’re more of an England specialist, in which case, our challenge to name every Three Lions player to go to a tournament since 1996will be right up your street.

But we’ve got you covered if you’ve got more of a domestic focus. How about naming every nation’s top appearance-maker in the Premier League?

Maybe you want something completely different, and that’s fine too. We’ve got the latest in our FourFourTwo’s Weekend Crossword series available for you to try right now. Want to keep up-to-date with all the latest exclusive quizzes and features? Join the FourFourTwonewsletter here.

The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.

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Oct 14, 2025, 04:00 AM ET

Neymar could be set for a return to Europe in Serie A, while Arsenal, Manchester City and Real Madrid are among the clubs eyeing Eintracht Frankfurt left back Nathaniel Brown. Join us for the latest transfer news and rumors from around the globe.

Transfers homepage | Done deals | Men’s grades | Women’s grades

TOP STORIES

– De Jong signs new Barcelona contract until 2029
РSources: Bar̤a, Madrid tracking Mexican teen Mora
– Klopp defends Wirtz: ‘Once-in-a-century talent’

Neymar became the world’s most expensive player when he moved from Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain. Could he now return to Europe on a free transfer? Alexandre Schneider/Getty Images

TRENDING RUMORS

– Santos forward Neymar is open to a move to Serie A amid links to Inter Milan and Napoli, according to Fabrizio Romano. The 33-year-old is set to become a free agent at the end of the year, and could return to Europe where he spent a decade at Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain. Amid hopes of impressing Brazil senior national team manager Carlo Ancelotti and gaining a recall to the national team ahead of next year’s FIFA World Cup, it is reported that Neymar would be keen to a move to either of the two clubs in Italy. Neymar, who has also recently been linked with MLS club Inter Miami, was previously offered to the Nerazzurriin the summer.

– Multiple clubs in Europe are interested in Eintracht Frankfurt left back Nathaniel Brown, Bild reports. Real Madrid, Arsenal, and Manchester City are all keen on the 22-year-old following a number of impressive performances this season, while he has also been linked with AC Milan. According to Florian Plettenberg, the Bundesliga club are aware of interest in Brown’s signature, and they are expected to demand an offer worth at least €60 million before agreeing to part ways with him.

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2 Related

– AS Roma are in the race for Manchester United striker Joshua Zirkzee, reports The Sun. The Serie A club are said to be lining up a move in January for the 24-year-old, who they see as a potential loan option to reinforce their forward line. Zirkzee, who is yet to start a match for the Red Devils this season, has been linked with several clubs in Italy, where he spent two seasons at Bologna before moving to Old Trafford. Sources told ESPN last week that United are set to hold talks with the Netherlands international ahead of the January transfer window.

– Liverpool are ready to make a U-turn regarding their stance on winger Federico Chiesa, according to Football Insider. Chiesa, 27, was previously linked with a potential exit from Anfield during the summer amid interest from Serie A, but the latest indicates that the Reds now see him as an important part of manager Arne Slot’s side, and they have no interest in listening to offers for him during the January transfer window. He has been one of the standouts for his side this season, having directly contributed to four goals in 153 minutes across six appearances.

– A move for Fenerbahce and Slovakia international defender Milan Skriniar is being weighed up by Juventus, according to Gazzetta dello Sport. The 30-year-old is reportedly one of the top names on the Bianconeri’s shortlist as they look to sign cover for starter Gleison Bremer, who is expected to be out for a considerable amount of time after suffering a torn meniscus in the Serie A match with Atalanta. It is said that they could also consider a deal for Bayern Munich’s Kim Min-Jae, 28, but his non-EU status would be a potential obstacle.

EXPERT TAKE

OTHER RUMORS

– Manchester United remain keen on Borussia Dortmund midfielder Jobe Bellingham, but they could face competition from Crystal Palace. (Bild)

– Tottenham Hotspur could make a move to sign on-loan Bayern Munich midfielder João Palhinha permanently by activating the permanent clause in the deal. It is worth between €25m and €30m. (Florian Plettenberg)

– It is unlikely that Al Ahli striker Ivan Toney will return to the Premier League in January despite being linked with Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur. (TEAMtalk)

РParis Saint-Germain are weighing up an approach for Roma midfielder Manu Kon̩. (Corriere dello Sport)

– Juventus are prioritizing signing winger Kenan Yildiz to a new contract amid interest in his signature from across Europe. (Gazzetta dello Sport)

– Manchester United are expected to part ways with defender Tyrell Malacia in January. (Nicolò Schira)

– Napoli are preparing to sign midfielder André-Frank Zambo Anguissa to a new contract that will secure his future until the summer of 2029. (Nicolò Schira)

РAtl̩tico Madrid right back Nahuel Molina is on the radar of Juventus. (Fabrizio Romano)

– Tottenham Hotspur, Arsenal, and Brighton & Hove Albion are among the teams interested in FC Porto midfielder Victor Froholdt. (CaughtOffside)

– Multiple Championship clubs are interested in free agent striker Emmanuel Dennis, who left Nottingham Forest by mutual consent in August. (Daily Mail)

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