The Summer 2024 scouting thread

Ghost Hardware said:

That would be so odd tbh, why would he want to come back so soon and why would BM want rid of him. I think if Alonso goes next season, possibly to BM, then BM will probably likely win the league next season and Kane will get his trophy he is so desperate for.

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Yeah agree. I just don’t see it at all. Why would he? He was desperate to leave here - why would he want to come back so soon?

Bayern may not win anything this year, but Kane has done ok and he knows it’s only a matter of time before he wins leagues and trophies there. Probably as soon as next season if not sooner.

I also don’t see why they would be willing to let him go. If he had flopped this season or Bayern were in financial trouble then maybe it would make sense, but he hasn’t and they’re not.

Mentioned him before, but Koni De Winter would be an absolutely perfect signing for CB.

He’s a 21 year old Belgian on loan at Genoa from Juve. He’s very good on the ball and has experience playing all across the backline and also at DM at times.

He has the recovery pace needed to play CB for us and is more than adept at defending down the channels which we’ve seen is hugely important for our CB’s.

He would be able to come in and sufficiently cover all of CB, RB and DM while developing to become Romero’s long term successor.

I still rate Evan Ferguson massively and would love for us to buy him but so many young players are overpriced these days.

I think if the price were about £70m
then he would be worth it, but it seems any promise these days means £100m+ which is a joke.

FFP should help bring these ludicrous demands down.

His movement, shooting and heading ability, positional awareness and strength, including hold up play are immense for a player his age.

The fact he has not scored that many this year just shows how well he did last year but he is only 19.

Would love us to sign him, would be a top striker for the next 10 years plus.

Tyler24durden said:

I think if the price were about £70m
then he would be worth it, but it seems any promise these days means £100m+ which is a joke.

FFP should help bring these ludicrous demands down.

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Don't think it will, it's not like clubs will now want to sell their best and most promising players because others can't spend as much. They set the bar so high because they don't want or need to sell because they usually had years left on their deal - it's pay what we want or gtfo. Now clubs still have a lot of money because they play in the prem and other clubs can't spend as much, are you now going to sell a talented player you want to keep for significantly less out of charity? No you're going to keep them, try to get them on new contracts and if not get years out of them and sell them with a year left

What this might mean is players having slightly shorter contracts or wanting release clauses so they could potentially get a move sooner. Ferguson also signed a new contract until 2029 late last year so it's not like Brighton can't demand it. You want one of the best young strikers in the league with half a decade left on his contract? Pay stupid money or gtfo, that's the only way it's going to go

Now it's Spursonal said:

Mentioned him before, but Koni De Winter would be an absolutely perfect signing for CB.

He’s a 21 year old Belgian on loan at Genoa from Juve. He’s very good on the ball and has experience playing all across the backline and also at DM at times.

He has the recovery pace needed to play CB for us and is more than adept at defending down the channels which we’ve seen is hugely important for our CB’s.

He would be able to come in and sufficiently cover all of CB, RB and DM while developing to become Romero’s long term successor.

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It took me 32 seconds.

I'm in.

Now it's Spursonal said:

Mentioned him before, but Koni De Winter would be an absolutely perfect signing for CB.

He’s a 21 year old Belgian on loan at Genoa from Juve. He’s very good on the ball and has experience playing all across the backline and also at DM at times.

He has the recovery pace needed to play CB for us and is more than adept at defending down the channels which we’ve seen is hugely important for our CB’s.

He would be able to come in and sufficiently cover all of CB, RB and DM while developing to become Romero’s long term successor.

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De Winter, Soule, Yildiz, make it happen Fabio

nedley said:

It took me 32 seconds.

I'm in.

Click to expand...

Perhaps your wife can give you some directions next time?

Where does angel gomes sit in terms of hg status?

doing very well in Ligue 1 as a cdm.
Pretty sure he’s an Edmonton boy

Ghost Hardware said:

That would be so odd tbh, why would he want to come back so soon and why would BM want rid of him. I think if Alonso goes next season, possibly to BM, then BM will probably likely win the league next season and Kane will get his trophy he is so desperate for.

Click to expand...

Could be that he realized grass isn't always greener.

We're basically the same distance from the top of the league as Bayern. If he stayed we could be challenging. And he would be breaking Shearer's record at some point.

Who cares if he wins one Bundesliga in his career? Should have stayed where he was settled and happy and worked to be successful here, which would be far more meaningful

Tyler24durden said:

I still rate Evan Ferguson massively and would love for us to buy him but so many young players are overpriced these days.

I think if the price were about £70m
then he would be worth it, but it seems any promise these days means £100m+ which is a joke.

FFP should help bring these ludicrous demands down.

His movement, shooting and heading ability, positional awareness and strength, including hold up play are immense for a player his age.

The fact he has not scored that many this year just shows how well he did last year but he is only 19.

Would love us to sign him, would be a top striker for the next 10 years plus.

Click to expand...

Totally fair - reasonably priced, absolutely go all in

Tyler24durden said:

I still rate Evan Ferguson massively and would love for us to buy him but so many young players are overpriced these days.

I think if the price were about £70m
then he would be worth it, but it seems any promise these days means £100m+ which is a joke.

FFP should help bring these ludicrous demands down.

His movement, shooting and heading ability, positional awareness and strength, including hold up play are immense for a player his age.

The fact he has not scored that many this year just shows how well he did last year but he is only 19.

Would love us to sign him, would be a top striker for the next 10 years plus.

Click to expand...

I've always been a fan of the dutch league and I've liked following Brian Brobbey for a while for a down Ajax side. He would be in that next tier, where I think the fee would be gettable, he's young, extremely gifted in terms of strength and speed. Really good hold up play and movement in the box.All of his finishes are usually from a run pulling off the last man or with either foot inside the box, which has made me think he'd be very good in Ange's system. He has said that Huntelaar has been his mentor/idol and he does show flashes.



Started coming through their ranks as an 18 year old and showed some flashes of promise. His contract expired and was lured to RB Leipzig. He did one season there, didn't impress (as a 19/20 year old in a new country and league) and then moved back to Ajax. He's now 22 and becoming their main man, about to hit 20 goals on the season in his 35th match tonight against Aston Villa, should be an interesting one to watch.

I've two recommendations for the inverted full back roles.

These positions are hard to properly suggest players for as if they aren't currently playing this role then you have absolutely no idea how they deal with receiving the ball with their backs to the opposition, so you have to just kind of guess how they'll fair based off their general awareness and ball control ability.

To make our squad depth a bit more interesting though and provide more utility i've opted for an 'Udogie-esque' player for right back and a 'Porro-esque' player for left back.

I'll start with the left back as he's already been previously mentioned here and should be well known at this stage. Alfie Doughty



Best way I can honestly describe him is that he's the left sided version of Porro.

He has brilliant tenacity in the tackle and has shown this season that he's defensively capable going up against premier league players (Was particularly brilliant in his matchup with Salah). But like Porro, he is a class above other full backs when it comes to his ability on the ball. He has a brilliant range of passing and can play perfect raking balls over defences from deep or intricate through balls in the final third.

When it comes to pure on the ball ability, id honestly only have Trent and Porro ahead of him as full back in the league.

He currently has 6 assists playing as a wing-back for a newly promoted Luton in his first ever season in the premier league.

I've made the likeness before, but performances this season reminds me so much of Robertson's first prem season at Hull and Trippier's first prem season at Burnley. Where they just stood out as a different class amongst their peers. I think he'd be an absolutely fantastic signing.


For the right back position I've picked out someone who's a little less known but having seen us sign Alejo Veliz, makes me believe there's a higher possibility of this happening than anytime before. Agustin Giay



This guy first came on my radar after watching back all of Argentina's U20 World Cup games last year to see Alejo Veliz in action after we'd signed him. The other majorly hyped players that I knew to pay attention to were Federico Redondo and Valentin Barco but the player who instantly jumped off the screen to me was Agustin Giay.

He had a crazy burst of speed and had the 'Bale' ability of being able to just knock it past a defender with zero skill and just outpace him to the ball.

The most interesting thing about him though is that you would think with his pace that he'd look to just bomb down the wing on the overlap the whole time, but in reality the opposite is nearly true. More often than not he'd actually tend to cut inside and make underlapping runs, which is obviously perfect for what Ange wants as shown by Udogie's runs.

Also while his long crossing is quite good, he tends more often to look for cut backs or low driven crosses which again is what Ange prefers for his system.

Defensively then, being Argentinian he obviously has that aggression and real passion for the defensive side of the game. He's one of those players too where even if a player does get past him, they never actually fully escape him as his pace just gets him back goal-side instantly. That pace is also of course super helpful with recovery runs on counters, which we now know again is obviously immensely important for the way Ange wants us to play.

I personally think of all the players I've recommended so far, Agustin Giay is probably the one I think is most perfectly suited to what Ange wants and so I would be super happy if we ended up signing him and also super proud of myself for having spotted him

Now it's Spursonal said:

I've two recommendations for the inverted full back roles.

These positions are hard to properly suggest players for as if they aren't currently playing this role then you have absolutely no idea how they deal with receiving the ball with their backs to the opposition, so you have to just kind of guess how they'll fair based off their general awareness and ball control ability.

To make our squad depth a bit more interesting though and provide more utility i've opted for an 'Udogie-esque' player for right back and a 'Porro-esque' player for left back.

I'll start with the left back as he's already been previously mentioned here and should be well known at this stage. Alfie Doughty



Best way I can honestly describe him is that he's the left sided version of Porro.

He has brilliant tenacity in the tackle and has shown this season that he's defensively capable going up against premier league players (Was particularly brilliant in his matchup with Salah). But like Porro, he is a class above other full backs when it comes to his ability on the ball. He has a brilliant range of passing and can play perfect raking balls over defences from deep or intricate through balls in the final third.

When it comes to pure on the ball ability, id honestly only have Trent and Porro ahead of him as full back in the league.

He currently has 6 assists playing as a wing-back for a newly promoted Luton in his first ever season in the premier league.

I've made the likeness before, but performances this season reminds me so much of Robertson's first prem season at Hull and Trippier's first prem season at Burnley. Where they just stood out as a different class amongst their peers. I think he'd be an absolutely fantastic signing.


For the right back position I've picked out someone who's a little less known but having seen us sign Alejo Veliz, makes me believe there's a higher possibility of this happening than anytime before. Agustin Giay



This guy first came on my radar after watching back all of Argentina's U20 World Cup games last year to see Alejo Veliz in action after we'd signed him. The other majorly hyped players that I knew to pay attention to were Federico Redondo and Valentin Barco but the player who instantly jumped off the screen to me was Agustin Giay.

He had a crazy burst of speed and had the 'Bale' ability of being able to just knock it past a defender with zero skill and just outpace him to the ball.

The most interesting thing about him though is that you would think with his pace that he'd look to just bomb down the wing on the overlap the whole time, but in reality the opposite is nearly true. More often than not he'd actually tend to cut inside and make underlapping runs, which is obviously perfect for what Ange wants as shown by Udogie's runs.

Also while his long crossing is quite good, he tends more often to look for cut backs or low driven crosses which again is what Ange prefers for his system.

Defensively then, being Argentinian he obviously has that aggression and real passion for the defensive side of the game. He's one of those players too where even if a player does get past him, they never actually fully escape him as his pace just gets him back goal-side instantly. That pace is also of course super helpful with recovery runs on counters, which we now know again is obviously immensely important for the way Ange wants us to play.

I personally think of all the players I've recommended so far, Agustin Giay is probably the one I think is most perfectly suited to what Ange wants and so I would be super happy if we ended up signing him and also super proud of myself for having spotted him

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Think a 6 is a priority for me now. Bissouma’s been underwhelming after that purple patch at the start of the season, and maybe his consistency will never be where it needs to be.

I don’t like Bentancur there either. Just doesn’t suit his riskier style of game.

danielneeds said:

Think a 6 is a priority for me now. Bissouma’s been underwhelming after that purple patch at the start of the season, and maybe his consistency will never be where it needs to be.

I don’t like Bentancur there either. Just doesn’t suit his riskier style of game.

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Unfortunately there just seems to be a massive shortage of top level 6’s out there atm, I don’t even rate Zubimendi that highly either as to say he looked ordinary against PSG would be a stretch.

Hoping this is a position where the scouting team can find a gem from a more obscure league potentially.

Now it's Spursonal said:

Unfortunately there just seems to be a massive shortage of top level 6’s out there atm, I don’t even rate Zubimendi that highly either as to say he looked ordinary against PSG would be a stretch.

Hoping this is a position where the scouting team can find a gem from a more obscure league potentially.

Click to expand...

Zubimendi is quality, I wouldn’t judge him too harshly on his last performance against PSG. RS had made some in game tactical adjustments that didn’t work, he wasn’t the only RS player to underwhelm that game. Him, Ederson or Fofana are all good options for the DM role.

Now it's Spursonal said:

I've two recommendations for the inverted full back roles.

These positions are hard to properly suggest players for as if they aren't currently playing this role then you have absolutely no idea how they deal with receiving the ball with their backs to the opposition, so you have to just kind of guess how they'll fair based off their general awareness and ball control ability.

To make our squad depth a bit more interesting though and provide more utility i've opted for an 'Udogie-esque' player for right back and a 'Porro-esque' player for left back.

I'll start with the left back as he's already been previously mentioned here and should be well known at this stage. Alfie Doughty



Best way I can honestly describe him is that he's the left sided version of Porro.

He has brilliant tenacity in the tackle and has shown this season that he's defensively capable going up against premier league players (Was particularly brilliant in his matchup with Salah). But like Porro, he is a class above other full backs when it comes to his ability on the ball. He has a brilliant range of passing and can play perfect raking balls over defences from deep or intricate through balls in the final third.

When it comes to pure on the ball ability, id honestly only have Trent and Porro ahead of him as full back in the league.

He currently has 6 assists playing as a wing-back for a newly promoted Luton in his first ever season in the premier league.

I've made the likeness before, but performances this season reminds me so much of Robertson's first prem season at Hull and Trippier's first prem season at Burnley. Where they just stood out as a different class amongst their peers. I think he'd be an absolutely fantastic signing.


For the right back position I've picked out someone who's a little less known but having seen us sign Alejo Veliz, makes me believe there's a higher possibility of this happening than anytime before. Agustin Giay



This guy first came on my radar after watching back all of Argentina's U20 World Cup games last year to see Alejo Veliz in action after we'd signed him. The other majorly hyped players that I knew to pay attention to were Federico Redondo and Valentin Barco but the player who instantly jumped off the screen to me was Agustin Giay.

He had a crazy burst of speed and had the 'Bale' ability of being able to just knock it past a defender with zero skill and just outpace him to the ball.

The most interesting thing about him though is that you would think with his pace that he'd look to just bomb down the wing on the overlap the whole time, but in reality the opposite is nearly true. More often than not he'd actually tend to cut inside and make underlapping runs, which is obviously perfect for what Ange wants as shown by Udogie's runs.

Also while his long crossing is quite good, he tends more often to look for cut backs or low driven crosses which again is what Ange prefers for his system.

Defensively then, being Argentinian he obviously has that aggression and real passion for the defensive side of the game. He's one of those players too where even if a player does get past him, they never actually fully escape him as his pace just gets him back goal-side instantly. That pace is also of course super helpful with recovery runs on counters, which we now know again is obviously immensely important for the way Ange wants us to play.

I personally think of all the players I've recommended so far, Agustin Giay is probably the one I think is most perfectly suited to what Ange wants and so I would be super happy if we ended up signing him and also super proud of myself for having spotted him

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I missed this post. Love the Giay pick, big fan of his, he’s been getting hyped a lot recently due to captaining the U20 side and the big profile transfers of Barco, Rodondo and the upcoming Echeverri move to city. He’s certainly being talked about as one of the next to move to Europe. Inter, amongst others, have been tracking Giay heavily for some time with a view to buying him last Jan but ended up getting Buchanan from Brugge instead probably because it was a cheaper/easier deal to do and Juve were sniffing which I think pushed them in his direction.

As for Giay whilst I really rate him I’d be nervous about going into next season with him being our back up in the PL. As you know from watching them, San Lorenzo play a 343 and Giay is very much a wing back in that system. Whilst he will cut in around the box and under lap, as you point out, he primarily like’s to stay wide and does a lot of his best work on the touchline and further forward. I also think he really benefits from having 3 defenders behind/central of him. Obviously that’s not too much of an issue as Ange has had success transitioning his WB to FB, as you mention he is a strong runner with the ball so he would probably be able to adapt but it might well take some time. Also as you point out from watching the U20 he does have some experience in a back four but for me he looks significantly more comfortable at WB which is understandable.

My concern comes more from the defensive side, whilst he is strong going forward and would hypothetically probably suit the inverted role given time he really needs to work on his defensive positioning, he does have a tendency to loose track of a marker or get caught out of position. Whilst he’s good when he’s face up to a defender If a WF gets onto his blind side it can cause him serious problems.

Considering most probably wont have watched San Lorenzo, and as you mention the Argentina u20’s, their 2 -0 loss to Nigeria highlights my concerns over his defensive strengths. In my opinion he was at fault for both goals. The first he lost track of the runner and the second he got bullied off the ball.

On the possession side he will also overplay at times and hold onto the ball too long. Thing is these are all points that can be worked on and improved, he’s only 20 after all. The talent is most certainly there and I am obviously be extra critical but honestly watching and reading reports of how Barco is taking time adapting to the PL, and Barco was the stand out WB talent in the league, for me question marks are there with regards to Giay in the PL especially when taking into consideration the incredible high line we play and the defensive responsibilities of a our FB’s.

Imo i think he needs a move to a mid table European team where he’s playing week in week out to further develop before moving to a top club ether in the PL or abroad. A team in Seria A like Frosenone, Udinese or even Atalanta, who are very good at giving youth prominent roles and developing their potential, would be a very clever move for him at this point. All play a variant on a 343 and I think the Italian league would help him well in developing the defensive and tactical aspects of his game both of which need work.

I sort of have the same feelings about him as I do Lecce’s Patrick Dorgu who is a very exciting LB prospect and has already been compared to Udogie but in my opinion is still extremely raw and is needing first team minutes before moving. Drogu is more raw than Giay, he’s not even a starter for Lecce, but I still think at the moment both are exciting talents in need of first team football ideally in a strong European league before stepping up to the PL.

All that being said I would still absolutely love to add him to our squad and if we could bring him in then loan him out for a season then that would be the ideal. I just think if we brought him in to be a back up in a back 4 now he would struggle quite a bit.

Tbh in general i don’t even see us looking at RB’s as even if we all think we could improve on Royal he ticks a lot of Ange box’s from a mentality point of view and I can’t see him wanting to improve that position any time soon regardless if most fans rate him or not.

Anyway great pick ether way.

As a footnote and just on the subject of Argentinian defenders. I’m not sure how much you watch the league but Aaron Anselmino at Boca is looking a very exciting prospect. 18 year old right footed CB who has recently broken into the first team and already getting rave reviews. He’s obviously still extremely raw and I’m not necessarily saying we should be after him but certainly one that is worth watching. Strong, fast robust defender who is very good reading the game for someone so young and certainly looks suited for a ball playing team due to an impressive passing range and calmness in possession. I’ve seen him compared to Romero and it’s not hard to understand why from watching him. He’s already been linked to Utd and supposedly a lot of big eyes are on him currently watching despite him only just recently breaking through. Standard “welcome to Utd” vid below.

Now it's Spursonal said:

I've two recommendations for the inverted full back roles.

These positions are hard to properly suggest players for as if they aren't currently playing this role then you have absolutely no idea how they deal with receiving the ball with their backs to the opposition, so you have to just kind of guess how they'll fair based off their general awareness and ball control ability.

To make our squad depth a bit more interesting though and provide more utility i've opted for an 'Udogie-esque' player for right back and a 'Porro-esque' player for left back.

I'll start with the left back as he's already been previously mentioned here and should be well known at this stage. Alfie Doughty



Best way I can honestly describe him is that he's the left sided version of Porro.

He has brilliant tenacity in the tackle and has shown this season that he's defensively capable going up against premier league players (Was particularly brilliant in his matchup with Salah). But like Porro, he is a class above other full backs when it comes to his ability on the ball. He has a brilliant range of passing and can play perfect raking balls over defences from deep or intricate through balls in the final third.

When it comes to pure on the ball ability, id honestly only have Trent and Porro ahead of him as full back in the league.

He currently has 6 assists playing as a wing-back for a newly promoted Luton in his first ever season in the premier league.

I've made the likeness before, but performances this season reminds me so much of Robertson's first prem season at Hull and Trippier's first prem season at Burnley. Where they just stood out as a different class amongst their peers. I think he'd be an absolutely fantastic signing.


For the right back position I've picked out someone who's a little less known but having seen us sign Alejo Veliz, makes me believe there's a higher possibility of this happening than anytime before. Agustin Giay



This guy first came on my radar after watching back all of Argentina's U20 World Cup games last year to see Alejo Veliz in action after we'd signed him. The other majorly hyped players that I knew to pay attention to were Federico Redondo and Valentin Barco but the player who instantly jumped off the screen to me was Agustin Giay.

He had a crazy burst of speed and had the 'Bale' ability of being able to just knock it past a defender with zero skill and just outpace him to the ball.

The most interesting thing about him though is that you would think with his pace that he'd look to just bomb down the wing on the overlap the whole time, but in reality the opposite is nearly true. More often than not he'd actually tend to cut inside and make underlapping runs, which is obviously perfect for what Ange wants as shown by Udogie's runs.

Also while his long crossing is quite good, he tends more often to look for cut backs or low driven crosses which again is what Ange prefers for his system.

Defensively then, being Argentinian he obviously has that aggression and real passion for the defensive side of the game. He's one of those players too where even if a player does get past him, they never actually fully escape him as his pace just gets him back goal-side instantly. That pace is also of course super helpful with recovery runs on counters, which we now know again is obviously immensely important for the way Ange wants us to play.

I personally think of all the players I've recommended so far, Agustin Giay is probably the one I think is most perfectly suited to what Ange wants and so I would be super happy if we ended up signing him and also super proud of myself for having spotted him

Click to expand...

I like doughty but can’t see us selling Davies so I think he’ll remain as lb cover plus lcb. I think rb is more urgent (much ad I love royal we really miss porros creativity) and would go for kwp personally. One of the most creative fullbacks around, helps solve the big club trained problem for European squad and 1 year left on contract this summer. Makes too much sense.

Now it's Spursonal said:

Unfortunately there just seems to be a massive shortage of top level 6’s out there atm, I don’t even rate Zubimendi that highly either as to say he looked ordinary against PSG would be a stretch.

Hoping this is a position where the scouting team can find a gem from a more obscure league potentially.

Click to expand...

Surprising to see redondo moving to Miami, I was hoping we might go for him. The lure of playing with Messi I guess

cockerel downunder said:

I like doughty but can’t see us selling Davies so I think he’ll remain as lb cover plus lcb. I think rb is more urgent (much ad I love royal we really miss porros creativity) and would go for kwp personally. One of the most creative fullbacks around, helps solve the big club trained problem for European squad and 1 year left on contract this summer. Makes too much sense.

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Davies could stay as LCB back up and we could bring in Doughty as LB competition. If we get Europe, we can't go in to next season with just 5 players covering LB and both CB positions.

Doughty has also played RB in 1/3 of the games he has played this season and can play CM too, so would he a great squad player IMO and the fact that he is on a free at the end of the season and HG makes it a no brainer.

I like KWP and the fact that he is club trained has huge appeal, however, there are still big question marks around the defensive side to his game.