24live.com

  Trusting and developing youth players could be seen by many football fans as one of the most virtuous, pride-evoking and exciting aspects of the sport in the modern era. In an age of sportswashing, petrodollars and multi-club ownership, seeing young players progress through academies and into first-team squads brings an almost forgotten sense of tradition to the beautiful game. Differences Across Europe Analysis of Europe's top 10 leagues (the big five plus the top tiers in Netherlands, Portugal, Belgium, Turkey and Czech Republic) reveals significant differences in approaches to young talent. Turkish Süper Lig occupies the lowest position with an average of only 5.6% of minutes played by players under 22 during the 17 analyzed seasons. The lowest recorded proportion in a single season was 2.7%. This isn't surprising, as the Turkish league has long been attractive to experienced players at the end of their careers. At the opposite end of the spectrum, the Dutch Eredivis...

  The new Champions League season is approaching and brings with it record Premier League representation, a revolutionary playing system, and a final in Budapest, Hungary. English clubs have secured a record six places in the world's most prestigious club competition thanks to their dominance in European competitions. English Invasion of the Champions League English football is celebrating historic success - for the first time in history, six representatives will compete in the Champions League. The qualified clubs are: Manchester City (Premier League champions) Arsenal (2nd place in Premier League) Liverpool (3rd place in Premier League) Chelsea (4th place in Premier League) Newcastle (5th place in Premier League) Tottenham (Europa League winners) England secured the sixth spot through the so-called "European Performance Spot" - a bonus place for the league with the best results in European competitions. The Premier League will thus comprise almost one-...

  This summer will potentially see a lot of strikers on the move in the transfer market. Here, we analyse some of the individuals who are likeliest to secure big moves. There's a strong sense that the summer transfer window is going to be defined and dominated by the movements of a few very expensive centre-forwards. With the window open again until September, we've identified the strikers worth keeping an eye on and why they're attracting interest. Viktor Gyökeres Despite not playing for a club in one of the top five leagues, Viktor Gyökeres has probably been the most talked-about centre-forward in Europe over the past 12 months or so. It's easy to forget he was playing in the Championship as recently as 2022-23. No Premier League clubs were seemingly quite convinced enough to take a punt on him then, but Sporting CP were. What a shrewd investment their £20 million outlay proved to be. If they sell him this summer, they'll likely quadruple that – or get close...