Llew Davies

Feb 27, 2025 | scoutedftbl.com | Jake Entwistle |Tom Curren |Llew Davies

Football is changing. Andoni Iraola summed it up best when reflecting on his playing career that finished in 2016: “Probably, technically and tactically we were as good as the players we see nowadays but there is a physical side we would struggle with.”And no wonder. Just look at this:The English top-flight is getting faster and players are performing more actions at High Intensity each game. As Iraola alludes to, it is no longer enough to be an elite footballer.

May 16, 2024 | scoutednotebook.com | Llew Davies

SCOUTED50 is our collection of the fifty young talents we believe are best positioned to break into the mainstream during 2023/24. Throughout the season, we’ll be detailing all fifty in definitive profiles. Read the full list here. This one drills down on João Neves. This profile was produced as part of a commercial collaboration with SkillCorner, SCOUTED’s official data partner.

Sep 21, 2023 | scoutednotebook.com | Llew Davies

The UEFA Youth League is back! Europe’s premier club youth competition returns for another season, fresh off a campaign that fostered exciting underdog stories for probably the first time in its decade-long history. AZ Alkmaar won it all, if you remember. They went all the way through the Domestic Champions pathway, beating the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid and Sporting CP en route to the final.

Jun 14, 2023 | scoutednotebook.com | Llew Davies

It’s all over. 52 games later and we have a new Under-20 World Champion: Uruguay. In a tournament loaded with quality at both ends of the field, that bombarded young legs with game after game and subjected them to increasingly difficult pitch conditions, it was the Garra Charrúa – the overwhelming intensity and tenacity of the Uruguayan team – that eventually won out.