Arnaud Kalimuendo is going to have lots of fun with Eintracht Frankfurt in the Bundesliga.

Mohamed Kader Meïté must not be allowed to go to Saudi Arabia. We must come together as a football community and make sure that transfer never happens. Mobilise!

Since last summer, table-topping Hearts have signed 14 players from 12 different countries – including Kazakhstan, Estonia, Iceland and Montenegro – at an average age of 23.4 years old. Tell me Tony Bloom has invested in Hearts without telling me Tony Bloom has invested in Hearts.

My new long-read is out. Something for everybody: "the next five actions," the hidden layers of football athleticism, what happened against Liverpool, the new midfield geometry, box arrivals, promising Eze undercurrents, fresh defensive tweaks, and the Return of the Kai.

Go watch clips of Sidiki Chérif and you'll see a teenager that carries attacks by himself. Feed him in isolation and watch him cause chaos, driving at scrambled defences, burning past slower defenders, cracking shots off at the end. His skillset is tailor-made for the rock-and-roll Bundesliga.

Why doesn't Pablo Barrios get more attention?

It doesn't get much more Royale Union Saint-Gilloise than signing Massiré Sylla, a 21-year-old, 6'5" Senegalese centre-back from the Norwegian second division for €1.5 million after a breakthrough season in which he won the Young Player of the Year award. Always niche.

Our favourite moment of the FA Cup weekend may well be 22-year-old Lamine Cissé absolutely walloping a bouncing ball into the top corner from 25 yards for Stoke City to beat Coventry City in the last knockings of their match. It was his first goal in English football. Magic.

Aston Villa and Brentford have paid a combined €22 million on teenage centre-forwards that have played a combined total of 349 first-team minutes in their senior career this January. That's a good example of the financial firepower of Premier League clubs.

SCOUTED is changing in 2026. Let us walk you through our exciting new direction as we enter an exciting new year.

Ridiculous to think that Lamine Yamal is only 18 years old. What an absolute freak.

You can often tell how good a young player is by how often teammates give them the ball. Manchester United are giving the ball to Shea Lacey at every opportunity. That says a lot.

On loan at Sheffield Wednesday in the Championship, Manchester United's Harry Amass has played more minutes (1,865) than 600 players born in 2007 or later across numerous leagues on the @stathead.com database in the 2025/26 season so far. As loans go, that's a really good one.

Johan Manzambi. If you know, you know.

In terms of overlapping and underlapping runs, Tuur Rommens is among the most prolific full-backs in Europe. He makes loads – particularly underlaps in the Westerlo system – and gets into dangerous areas, as shown by SkillCorner data. That will be a big reason why Rangers are buying him.

Kenan Yıldız is the only player across all leagues and all ages on the @stathead.com database to record 20+ Progressive Carries, 10+ Shot-Creating Actions and 10+ Successful Take-Ons in a single game. It was a record-breaking, star-making display that matches the likes of Lionel Messi and Neymar.

After a strong season in Sweden, 18-year-old Matias Siltanen is a name that will feature on a lot of clubs' shortlists this winter – and beyond. This is what makes him a sought-after midfield prospect.

Shea Lacey making an impression in the Premier League is no surprise: he's one of the most anticipated and highly-rated prospects to come out of the Manchester United academy in a long time. Injury has stunted his progress over the past year, but the pure talent is obvious and unquestionable.

That Mateus Mané goal against Everton is a beauty, not least for the first touch. The decision to slice it into space – using the outside of his his nearest foot, rather than letting it travel across his body – is a masterstroke. It keeps his speed, kills the recoveries, and sets a slick finish.

Eli Kroupi Jr. is the first teenager to score seven or more goals in their debut Premier League season since Dele Alli in 2015-16 (8).

Eli Junior Kroupi is starting for Bournemouth against Spurs tonight. Guglielmo Vicario better mind them corners.

Kenneth Taylor leaving Ajax should mean more minutes for 18-year-old Sean Steur. He ended 2025 with a string of starts in the Eredivisie and Europe, and 2026 presents an opportunity to cement himself in the team. He's a highly-anticipated talent with an all-phase midfield skillset.

We always love finding little sequences that sum a player up, and this one from a match earlier in the season does that for Caleb Yirenkyi: he took Philip Billing - who played 152 times in the Premier League - for a walk then boinged him into the next post code. Robust doesn't cut it.

Eintracht Frankfurt are having a very Eintracht Frankfurt transfer window so far. They're stocking up on another raft of pre-breakout talent, dipping into Sweden, Japan, the German second and third tiers, with another set of Eintracht-spec strikers on the way. Fun to follow.

Against Lecce, Kenan Yıldız did something that has never been seen before. His individual display is one of the best, statistically speaking, we've ever come across. Fall down the first rabbit holes of 2026:

This is my I Told You So XI of 2025, a team of players I wrote about that went on to prove my point. Includes Kees Smit, Ayyoub Bouaddi and Yan Diomandé. I then picked out five little-known prospects to keep tabs on in 2026. It's free to read.

Want an emerging talent to keep tabs on in 2026? We suggest Selton Sánchez at Athletic Club. A Basque-born cousin to Roberto Firmino, the 18-year-old is a slinky smooth midfielder with a high-level technical quality that puts him head and shoulders above others. He is set for a breakthrough year.

Any club looking for a relatively affordable striker should have Tawfik Bentayeb on their shortlist. 23-year-old Moroccan at ESTAC Troyes, scorer of 20 goals in Ligue 2 over the past two seasons, constantly getting good chances through great striker habits and instincts. We like him a lot.

As football athletes go, Josh Acheampong is a freak. He has extremely long legs yet is extremely light on his feet and nimble in his movements. Notice the precision of his foowork and see how quickly he flips his hips. Not normal.

If you want to get ahead of the curve, you sign Caleb Yirenkyi as soon as possible.

Good luck to Spurs - and anyone else - trying to get Yan Diomandé for anything less than €100 million.

Kees Smit on the beers, dressed up as Shaun the Sheep, at the World Darts Chamionship. This is what an elite football talent looks like.

The SCOUTED Breakout Team of the Year is also known as the 2025 I told you so XI. @llewdavies.bsky.social, our Scouting Editor, has an incredible track record of spotting, profiling and evaluating players all before they hit the mainstream. As he did for this XI. Read for free: bit.ly/3MFTwYi

What makes Adam Wharton an especially great forward passer is how quickly he sees (and plays) the forward passes. He is so good at those first-time passes, finding the angle, and pumping the ball into higher lines. Difficult to defend and it energises attacks.

How many people thought Morgan Rogers would be one of the best players in the Premier League some three years after barely getting on the pitch for Bournemouth and scoring one goal in 22 appearances for Blackpool? Development isn't linear and every journey is different.

The SCOUTED Breakout Team of the Year is also known as the 2025 I told you so XI. We made @llewdavies.bsky.social put together an XI of players that SCOUTED subscribers would have known well ahead of the curve, thanks to his work. It also includes breakouts for 2026. Free to read: bit.ly/3MFTwYi

Our a year in review: a Christmas letter from SCOUTED.

Keita Kosugi to Eintracht Frankfurt is a typical Eintracht Frankfurt transfer. He fits the bill in terms of profile for the club, attributes at left-back, and it gets ahead of the Nathaniel Brown sale (for another big profit) down the line. Exciting and sensible in equal measure.

Robin Roefs is the crown prince of our go-to metric for goalkeepers. He's responsible for 27.3% of all entries of an U-23 goalkeeper Stopping 4+ Crosses in a single league game across all divisions with advanced @fbref.com data in 2025. Discover more: bit.ly/3MOv9Ye

This final edition of the Rabbit Hole in 2025 contains two Alternative Teams of the Year: 1) a collection of the highest-profile, record-breaking under-23 players that just kept popping up 2) a collection of under-the-radar prospects that logged eye-catching individual displays this year

Arsenal should've signed Hugo Ekitiké.

What did a Charlie Hughes monsterclass, a series of tame goals at Craven Cottage and an uncharacteristically fragile Arsenal low block tell us about the modern game? We're very much in the Ruthless Aggression Era.

Nathan De Cat is a name you will hear a lot more about. A regular at Anderlecht, almost 5,000 senior minutes played, and on the agenda of every elite club: he is well ahead of the curve in his development. Introducing the biggest of Belgian talents.

RC Lens are top of Ligue 1 at the winter break, and 23-year-old summer signing Mamadou Sangaré is turning heads for his all-action role and impressive skillset in midfield. Llew Davies picked him out as one of the best-value Big Five League signings back in September. This has aged well.

Those Ruben Amorim quotes about Kobbie Mainoo and academy players. Yikes.

Clubs offering upwards of €20 million for Sidiki Chérif – a 19-year-old striker at Angers with little more than 1,400 minutes to his name – is no surprise. His profile is eye-catching: a fast, rangy runner with wiry strength that attacks space and has a piledriver of a shot. Clubs love those traits.

Close your legs against Michael Olise.

Robin Roefs makes everything look simple and easy. Can't recall ever seeing him rattled or flustered in any situation, and we've watched him quite a lot. Always even-keeled.

Two goals in the space of six minutes for Samu Aghehowa against Malmö in the UEFA Europa League last night. One a dunk with his head, the other a swivel with his foot, and both from almost indentical central positions on the six-yard line after crosses. Big boy. Box dominator. Goal hanger.

Myles Lewis-Skelly should be doing extras after training with Jurriën Timber on isolated, one-v-one defending.