Issue number 138 of the CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post presents the 10 most fielded U21 players per position. French Ligue 1 footballers are the most represented, while English Premier League players are the least numerous. However, Anthony Martial (Manchester United) tops the table for forwards, while Héctor Bellerín (Arsenal) heads the full back rankings. Among the most fielded young players are two Schalke 04 players: Leon Goretzka and Maximilian Meyer.

Issue number 137 of the Weekly Post presents analysis on the performance levels of Champions League last 16 round participants during the group stages. The study covers both defensive and attacking areas of play. This allows us to predict the most likely winners. The biggest performance gap was measured between Real Madrid and Rome: +32%. Atlético Madrid and Bayern Munich also performed significantly better than PSV Eindhoven and Juventus: +25% and +23% respectively.

Issue number 136 of the Weekly Post compares fees paid to sign big-5 league players during the January window with transfer values estimated on the basis of the algorithm exclusively developed by the CIES Football Observatory. In 34 cases out of 49, the difference between the fee invested to recruit a big-5 league player and his estimated transfer value was less than €2 million. The analysis also highlights that the inflation in transfer costs continues.

Manchester United have fielded the most players at English Premier League level since the start of the season. At the opposite end of the table is Arsenal. Arsène Wenger has only used 21 players so far, while Louis van Gaal has already fielded 28 footballers. The data for all clubs is available in issue number 135 of the Weekly Post. Previous research from the CIES Football Observatory suggests that maintaining a core group of footballers is more likely to allow clubs to achieve top level results.

Issue number 134 of the Weekly Post ranks players according to the level at which they outperformed their teammates since the start of the season. This allows us to highlight the outstanding performance levels of footballers who are, for the most part, not yet part of the most competitive teams, but could reach that level in the future. Several U23 players are in the top three rankings per league and position, such as Adam Masina (Bologna) and Leroy Sané (Schalke 04).

Issue number 113 of the Weekly Post ranks clubs according to their efficiency since the start of the season. The indicator of efficiency refers to the ability of teams to achieve the highest number of points with respect to their level of grip on the game and dangerousness. Stoke City is the most efficient club both in the English Premier League and at big-5 league level, ahead of Villarreal, Paris St-Germain and Hertha Berlin.