More Boca academy talents, why Samardzic is a generational talent, why Ilic deserves a move finally and can Cazorla still play?
Good morning tactics fans and welcome to the #TacticalThursday newsletter - full of analysis, scouting and tactics. Fill up on your football knowledge - follow the Total Football Analysis page and be part of the squad that want more than just a match report.
This week, we launched the August TFA Scouted Magazine - 399 pages of under-the-radar talents you need to know about. Get yours now!
Still not sure how the Premier League teams are likely to play this season? We've got you covered on that ahead of this weekend - download our tactical preview magazine.
Valentin Barco is another Boca Juniors product much sought-after in Europe - Rui Martins scouts him in detail and explains why he's a top fit for many.
Dennis Eckert is back in the goals at USG, says Brandon Liss who explains how and why.
England overcame Australia to ensure they face Jorge Vilda’s Spain in Sunday’s World Cup Final. Lauren Hemp’s 86th-minute goal put the Lionesses’ victory beyond doubt; she has now scored for Sarina Wiegman’s side in the final group stage game, the quarter-final and the semi-final — will she add to her growing World Cup tally in the final? Check out our 2021/22 scout report and recap why we highlighted her as one to watch ahead of England’s successful European Championship campaign last year.
Meanwhile, as women’s football clubs continue their preparations for the 2023/24 campaign, Manchester United have been linked with Barcelona’s Brazilian forward Geyse Ferreira as their Alessia Russo replacement, with Russo — who also scored for Sarina Wiegman’s side yesterday — moving to Arsenal earlier in the transfer window. Here’s our analysis of how Geyse can develop to become a more complete forward.
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Former Villarreal, Málaga and Arsenal star Santi Cazorla has returned to where it all started for him, with Real Oviedo in Spain’s second-tier. Check out our analysis of The Magician’s role at his most recent club, Al Sadd, where he won two Qatar Stars League titles.
Lovro Majer has officially swapped Ligue 1 and Rennes for Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga. Read our latest analysis of the Croatian creator to see what Die Wölfe have parted with a reported €30m plus €5m in add-ons to snap up.
If you like set-piece analysis, you'll like these two from yesterday. Marcel Seifeddine looked at FC Kobenhavn and how they are using screening to maximise their set play routines.
In his second article on the art of short corners, Karim ES looked at how to defend them effectively.
On TFA Scouted, we've dipped into our database of 6500+ scout reports to pull out these ones of relevance.
Lazar Samardzic of Udinese has been linked to Premier League West Ham after his Inter move collapsed - we first scouted Samardzic back in May 2022 and felt, potentially, he is one of the players of his generation.
Leeds United's Wilfried Gnonto is again linked to Everton and now also Tottenham - we first scouted Gnonto in his days at Zurich and felt he was ready for a Tier 1 side back in April 2022.
Crystal Palace star Michael Olise is likely to be joining Chelsea this window - our scout report from November 2022 explains why he is ready for a top Premier League side.
Simon Colyn moves from Jong PSV to De Graafschap - data first identified Colyn as an interesting profile in October 2022 and we scouted him again more recently in July.
Alan Varela has made his European move, signing for FC Porto from Boca Juniors - we scouted Varela initially back in August 2022 and felt he was ready for Tier 1 European teams and recommended him to several.
Long-term TFA Scouted favourite Andrej Ilic finally gets his move, signing for Valerenga in Norway from Rigas - data originally led us to Ilic in February 2022 and we've reported on him five times since, believing he was ready for a Tier 4 league.
That's it for today - we are back at the same time tomorrow. Spread the word!