Data is more than ever a must when it comes to scouting. The CIES Football Observatory has developed a unique methodology to assess the performance of players on an objective basis. Using the data from InStat, issue number 317 of the Weekly Post presents the 10 best performing footballers born in the 2000s for each of the six areas of the game covered in our approach. Only players fielded for at least 450 domestic league minutes up until December 7th are included in the rankings.

Nathan Collins (Stoke City) stands out when it comes to rigour (duels). He should soon receive his first call for the Irish senior national team. At the top for recovery, Mohamed Camara (RB Salzburg) is following on the footsteps of other top footballers trained in the academies ran according to the precepts of the French maestro Jean-Marc Guillou. Born in 2002, Ryan Gravenberch (Ajax) heads the distribution table, while Khvicha Kvaratskhelia (Rubin Kazan) has the top score for take on.

Dominik Szoboszlai (RB Salzburg) and the 2002-born striker Noni Madueke (PSV Eindhoven) are at the top for chance creation and, respectively, shooting. The 60th edition of the CIES Football Observatory Monthly Report details the basic principles of the statistical approach developed and presents the top 10 overall rankings in the different areas of the game taken into account for each of the 35 leagues examined.

Dear football/soccer enthusiast,

the CIES Football Observatory academic team kindly invites you to take a little time to answer this anonymous questionnaire about the fans’ opinion on professional football.

Your answers will be analysed and made available in the January’s 2021 Monthly Report. Through your participation, you help us making known the fans’ point of view.

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Issue number 316 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post compares clubs from 31 top divisions of UEFA member associations according to the average age at which they recruited their current players (not including footballers from the youth academy). CSKA Moscow made the earliest recruitment (21.1 years), ahead of FC DAC 1904 (21.7) and SC Heerenveen (22.1).

Real Madrid is the big-5 league club most focused on signing young talents. Their current squad members were on average recruited at the age of 22.2 years. This value is particularly low also for RB Leipzig (22.3) and OGC Nice (22.5). European champions Bayern Munich are in the 30th position of teams having signed the youngest footballers (23.4). Tottenham Hotspur (23.9) and AC Milan (24.3) top the rankings in Italy and England.

At the opposite end of the table is Gençlerbirli?i SK with an average age of recruitment of 29.0 years, followed by Anorthosis FC and BB Erzurumspor. At the level of the big-5 leagues, the teams least focused on the signing of young players are Benevento in the Serie A (28.1 years), Elche CF in the Liga (27.8), West Bromwich Albion in the Premier League (26.5), Montpellier HSC in the Ligue 1 (26.1) and Union Berlin in the Bundesliga (26.0).

Issue number 315 of the Weekly Post highlights the big-5 league players whose transfer value has increased the most in November according to the CIES Football Observatory algorithm. The Norwegian prodigy Erling Haaland tops the table for footballers with a transfer valuation of more than €80M: €155M compared to €120M at the end of October (+€35M).

If the reported €75M release clause valid from 2022 really exists, Borussia Dortmund will be certainly tempted to transfer him at a much higher price at the end of the current season. If Erling Haaland continues to score so many goals and perform at such a great level, once the COVID-19 pandemic is over, he could break the €222M transfer fee record currently held by Neymar.

The top increases in November for the other price ranges considered were measured for Giovanni Reyna (+€34M) for players with an estimated value between €40 and €80M, Florian Wirtz (+€16M) for the €20 to €40M category, Nicólas González (+€7M) for footballers valued between €10M and €20 M and Yunus Musah (+€4.5M) for players whose current transfer value is still below €10M. The updated estimated value ranges for all big-5 league players is available here.

Issue number 314 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the ten most represented foreign origins in 126 professional leagues worldwide. The Brazilians represent the biggest contingent of expatriates in 23 championships, followed by the Argentineans (15) and the French (13). The Atlas of migration displays more exclusive data on international transfer networks.

Players who grew up in France notably are the main expatriate workforce in the English Premier League (47 players), the German Bundesliga (36), the Italian Serie A (35) and the Spanish Liga (30). The French represent the most represented foreign origin in eight other associations: Belgium (both 1st and 2nd division), Bulgaria, Turkey, Switzerland, Romania, Qatar, Algeria and Luxembourg.

The most frequented migration route connects Brazil to Portugal: 141 Brazilians play in the top Portuguese division and 106 in the second one. The three other major migratory channels connect neighbouring leagues, with the bigger nation providing workforce to the smaller: from England to the top Welsh division (100 players), from France to Luxembourg (93), as well as from England to the Scottish Premiership (90).

Issue number 313 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the 100 players from the 10 best European leagues who won the highest percentage of aerial defensive duels since the start of the season. Chelsea’s centre-back Kurt Zouma tops the table with 26 aerial duels won out of 27 (96.3%). Berat Djimsiti (Atalanta) and Harry Maguire (Manchester United) complete the podium.

Often criticised by his own supporters, the English international Harry Maguire lost only three defensive aerial duels out of 30. With 90% of defensive aerial duels won, he has the second best ratio in the Premier League ahead of Yerry Mina (Everton), James Tarkowski (Burnley), Jonny Evans (Leicester City) and Tyrone Mings (Aston Villa).

The five youngest footballers in the top 100 are all born in the year 2000: Loïc Badé (RC Lens), Matteo Lovato (Hellas Verona), Arthur Theate (Ostende), Sven Botman (LOSC Lille) and Tommy St. Jago (Utrecht). Only players having won at least 20 defensive aerial duels were included in the rankings elaborated using the data of our partners InStat.