SCOUTED

Stories from the future of football. Volume II is out now.

[SCOUTED @scoutedftbl]

Introducing: Volume II., our second magazine of 2026, featuring an exclusive interview with Adam Wharton.

Now available to pre-order in print and download in digital.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Adam Wharton, the Anachronist
📈 Mapping the future of midfield
🇳🇱 Smitten, the Kees Smit story
🇪🇸 Pablo Barrios, Fire and Ice
🇩🇰 Victor Froholdt, Monster
🇩🇪 Kennet Eichhorn, Nuts and Bolts

🎨 Cover by @danleydon

Go get it, right now: https://t.co/BxONUPvHQQ

[SCOUTED @scoutedftbl]

Arsenal are undertaking a much-needed revamp of their midfield this summer.

Martín Zubimendi raises the standards and Christian Nørgaard adds dependable depth. Some have bemoaned the arrival of the latter because he’s not a young and exciting midfield prospect. But Nørgaard needn't prevent the club from making that signing; if anything, he preserves Arsenal's opportunity to make a swing for one in the medium term.

That's why they should lay the groundwork now to sign Ayyoub Bouaddi next summer.

Bouaddi is the type of prospect that Real Madrid or the new-age Paris Saint-Germain would buy to continually replenish their stocks of talent. Indeed, he's the type of prospect that Arsenal have bought before. See: William Saliba, a highly-rated teenager, ahead of the curve in their development, breaking through in Ligue 1. This is how you stay at the top, you buy the very best emerging talent to supplement and ultimately supersede what you already have.

Arsenal’s previous five midfield signings have been aged 31, 24, 28, 26 and 31, and four of them are at the club currently. The next signing should be younger; the next signing should be Ayyoub Bouaddi.

Read our full profile of the prodigious teenager on SCOUTED: https://t.co/wX5K50FjrM

[SCOUTED @scoutedftbl]

Ayyoub Bouaddi played as a right-back yesterday, and Mikel Arteta has put him at the top of his summer wishlist this morning.

[SCOUTED @scoutedftbl]

Savinho to Spurs rumours are kicking up a gear. This time last year, @AshwinRaman_ argued why the Brazilian winger would be one of the signings of the summer – and it all still applies.

https://t.co/xYyAzEBobz

[SCOUTED @scoutedftbl]

This is another great story of talent being everywhere: Doumbia began his career at AlbinoLeffe, a club that has played the majority of their history in Serie C. Never involved with a great Italian academy, nor had a full top-tier season. Now he is a €20 million player.

[SCOUTED @scoutedftbl]

Sporting CP have bought Issa Doumbia for €26 million all in, a big fee for a 22-year-old that has played less than 1,000 minutes of top-flight football – but it has a very good chance of being a shrewd investment in a couple of years. His profile on that platform? Launchpad.

[SCOUTED @scoutedftbl]

Adam Wharton speaking to SCOUTED about Oliver Glasner.

"He wants us to enjoy playing every three days, he wants us to enjoy facing big opposition and pushing our own game onto them. He’s very intense and detail-focused, but that’s definitely rubbed off on the players. That sort of enthusiasm, or relentlessness to improve is contagious, and what you want from your manager."

"There’s not one game where he’s like, ‘Yeah, I’m happy with a draw.’ Every game, the plan is to win. Which sounds obvious, but there are times where people are happy losing to City one-or-two nil. But there’s not one game he’s like, ‘We’re going to sit off and hope to draw.’ It’s: ‘We might sit off, but when there’s a chance to press, we press, win it, and get a chance.’ He asked us before a cup game…I think it was Arsenal away in the league, before Villa in the FA Cup semi-final. We’d had a lot of games and he said, ‘Three days before Villa, Arsenal are a tough game. Do we want to go for it, or focus on Villa?’ He said, ‘If we focus on Villa, fine, but we’ll play the under-21s.’"

"So it’s like, you can’t really say no. We wanted to win. We went there, got the draw. We went down twice and came back. After the game he said, ‘This is what I want in my team. Doesn’t matter if you’ve got a game in three days. You’ll recover. If you’ve got the right mindset, you’ll be ready.’ Then after the semi-final he said, ‘It doesn’t matter if you play every three days. You’ve shown you can do it. It’s whether you want to.’”

Read the exclusive interview in full: https://t.co/LRXXY2cKx0

[Crystal Palace F.C. @CPFC]

Thank you for everything, Oliver Glasner ❤️💙

[SCOUTED @scoutedftbl]

Nigeria is becoming the most popular foreign nation in Czechia.

SK Slavia Prague's formalised connection to the country through the Right2Win academy has only accelerated the process. But what can we learn about the profile of player Czech clubs are scouting for?

@SkillCorner data suggests that explosiveness is the key. Find out how that translates to in-possession and out-of-possession profiles here: https://t.co/b4JQcTs3oQ

[SCOUTED @scoutedftbl]

The future of football is Africa. Discovering which clubs and countries have become trailblazers in investing and developing talent from it can get teams ahead in the transfer market. We have consistently looked to do exactly that.

In 2021, we published the incredible story of Right to Dream in Volume X. We told the Mali story in 2024. While the secrets of Scandinavia don't feel so secret any more. But there is a new pathway emerging, one that demanded we take a closer look.

Nigeria is quickly becoming the most popular foreign nation in the Czech First League. Now that SK Slavia Prague have formalised their relationship with the continent through the Right2Win Academy, it may happen soon.

But what can we learn about the profile of player Czech clubs are scouting in Africa? What type of talent are both top-flight and second division clubs developing? Why have Slavia removed the middle man and established a link straight to the source?

@SkillCorner data suggests that explosiveness is the key. Find out how that translates to in-possession and out-of-possession profiles in our latest analytical investigation: https://t.co/rYXmCFuBDZ

[SCOUTED @scoutedftbl]

Adam Wharton, Player of the Match in the final, and Kees Smit, Revelation of the Season, both feature in the UEFA Conference League Team of the Season.

They also both feature in Volume II. Go and get it.

https://t.co/gaNcVJdcrk

[UEFA Conference League @Conf_League]

👕✨ The UEFA Technical Observer Group has selected its 2025/26 UEFA Conference League Team of the Season...

#UECL | @UEFA

[SCOUTED @scoutedftbl]

Introducing: Volume II., our second magazine of 2026, featuring an exclusive interview with Adam Wharton.

Now available to pre-order in print and download in digital.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Adam Wharton, the Anachronist
📈 Mapping the future of midfield
🇳🇱 Smitten, the Kees Smit story
🇪🇸 Pablo Barrios, Fire and Ice
🇩🇰 Victor Froholdt, Monster
🇩🇪 Kennet Eichhorn, Nuts and Bolts

🎨 Cover by @danleydon

Go get it, right now: https://t.co/BxONUPvHQQ

[SCOUTED @scoutedftbl]

Remember that viral clip of Adam Wharton warming up, running around with the ball while checking his shoulders, before a Premier League match last year?

Well, we asked him about it and the importance of scanning to his game in general. His answers were an invaluable insight into the processes of an extraordinary passer that is always a step ahead.

"I don’t really know why people loved it so much," Wharton says of the viral warmup, shrugging. "It’s definitely something you learn and start to do more, the older you get. You’re not going to be checking your shoulders when you’re eight years old because the game is all about the ball at that age. It’s just something I did to get my brain prepared and ready, not because it’s something I’m actively looking to do. It’s got to be natural - you need to feel it."

Find out more in our exclusive Volume II interview with Adam, everyone's favourite player: https://t.co/LRXXY2cKx0

[SCOUTED @scoutedftbl]

This is your last chance to get Volume II, featuring our exclusive interview with Adam Wharton, in print. Essays and analysis on the future of midfield, all in the first-ever staple-bound SCOUTED magazine. Limited stock available.

Grab your copy now: https://t.co/TGUwgoFSdA

[SCOUTED @scoutedftbl]

He’s going to remember a Man of the Match display in the UEFA Conference League final. That’s three historic trophies with Crystal Palace now.

[SCOUTED @scoutedftbl]

Our exclusive interview with Adam Wharton.

▫️ Not remembering the FA Cup final
▫️ Moving from Blackburn to London
▫️ Oliver Glasner's all-in mentality
▫️ The mechanics of his scanning
▫️ His obsession for football and sport

Read now, only in Volume II: https://t.co/z8Vd94etsq

[SCOUTED @scoutedftbl]

Berserker: The Morgan Rogers Archetype

A powerful runner that can obliterate defensive lines. The Berserker combines destructive carrying through central areas with unstoppable momentum and frenzied passing in an attempt to blow open the most impenetrable of fortresses.

Read about the Morgan Rogers Archetype for free on our website or subscribe to SCOUTED and download the full 23,000-word Volume I PDF to keep forever.

Go berserk: https://t.co/cFCz6yvv8N

[Kosuke Tobe🇩🇰 @s_phx13_n]

The monster: how Victor Froholdt redefines physicality https://t.co/b32DVyJpuo

[SCOUTED @scoutedftbl]

@scout_aussie Lots of nations could learn a lot from the way Morocco do things. Not a coincidence that two of the best nations in recent cycles to do it have been Wales and Morocco, both having been under the leadership of Osian Roberts.

[AussieScout @scout_aussie]

I wrote about this during the last World Cup, but Australia has a lot to learn from Morocco's international recruitment strategy. On the ground scouting, constant communication - these things all work in recruiting dual nationals.

[SCOUTED @scoutedftbl]

No less than 20 of Morocco's 26-man squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup were either born in or represented youth teams of other nations such as Spain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Canada.

A complete overhaul of domestic infrastructure, player development and coaching is integral to Morocco's burgeoning reputation on the global football scene, but the reform of scouting abroad was just as significant. A concept not usually associated with international football, completely revamping Morocco's approach to recruitment ensured the national pool was enriched by their diverse diaspora.

Dual national players are now scouted much earlier. Reaching them before they represented their country of birth was ideal, convincing them to join Moroccan academies even better; early adoption of the project's central values was key. As a result, scouting and recruitment became aggressive. Morocco operated like a club.

Osian Roberts, Technical Director of the Morocco national team from 2019 to 2021, explained the set-up when speaking to Ed Aarons for The Guardian in 2022: "We had full-time scouts in Holland, Germany, France, Spain and Scandinavia that are monitoring these players on a regular basis. There was a database for all of those who were eligible for Morocco in all those countries... it was necessary given the amount of players living overseas. That department has been extremely important."

The new remit was again based on the model of the Mohammed VI Football Academy, with dual nationals now scouted intensely from the age of 12.

Find out more in Tiwizi Dreams: The Morocco Story, an epic @JakeEntwistle essay featured in Volume I: https://t.co/hXl8NrqNtD

[SCOUTED @scoutedftbl]

Believe Munongo will be fun to watch in Ligue 2 next season for FC Metz – unless another club snaps him up this summer.

[SCOUTED @scoutedftbl]

@Vrdfr_ Just us or is the pitch really sticky?

[SCOUTED @scoutedftbl]

Nico O'Reilly has been perhaps the revelation of the season, earning a regular role at Manchester City and securing a place in the England squad for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. But who could have predicted his sudden rise to prominence and importance?

The 21-year-old came into 2025/26 with 527 league minutes to his name, while City spent €37 million on Rayan Aït-Nouri over the summer to fill the position the Englishman is now undroppable from.

Football is a relative game. Every team is on the pitch with an opponent. Positions aren’t real; players are real. The future midfield will be defined by the questions coaches like Pep Guardiola are asked, and the answers they’ll find in response: today, that answer is Nico O’Reilly. But tomorrow? Until they’re asked, we can’t know for sure what kind of midfielders will fit the answer - we can but learn the patterns past answers have left.

"It’s very valuable for us to accept that we’ll always be surprised by football", @Jon_Mackenzie says. "We like to think we understand it, that we understand the delineations of the pitch and the players and the profiles in it. But five years ago, none of us would have expected football to have gone in this direction. But it has done. And here we are."

Here we are: vaguely gesturing at the questions coaches might be asked, and attempting to trace the patterns of the answers they’ve offered before.

Read Future Midfield, an essay by @tomocurr, to discover the mysteries of football's enduring centre - and which players will define its future: https://t.co/eylScfqLSV