Bayer my Leverkusens: SCOUT NOTES, February 28th
The free newsletter for scouting aficionados.
Where the /redacted/ has this season gone? We’re basically in March already. The UEFA seasons have hit the knockouts, there’s like 10 games left in the leagues, and the big summer tournaments are already in view. Weeks pass by like they’re nothing. Days all mash into one. Time is relentless. It’s insane.
Anyway, forget that rather depressing thought, on with SCOUT NOTES…
Brilliant Bayer Leverkusen
Bayer Leverkusen keep skipping along toward a famous Bundesliga title. Their 2-1 victory over Mainz on Friday kept their unbeaten season in pristine condition and put them 11 points clear at the top, at least until Harry Kane – who’s scored 27 goals in the league already, what the /redacted/ – did what Harry Kane does to keep Bayern in with a shout on Saturday afternoon.
Anyway, we were having a little bit of a discussion at SCOUTED HQ (read: an early morning Discord call between the eastern suburbs of Melbourne and the rolling hills of west Wales) about what they’re doing. Basically, we just started reeling off their starting line-ups. Just look at the composition of their team game on game, week on week. They make so much sense.
You have Bundesliga stalwart Lukáš Hrádecký in goal, that’s a solid start; then you have a back three of Jonathan Tah flanked by Odilon Kossounou and Edmond Tapsoba, a fridge-freezer-sized organiser supported by the mobile, dynamic, duelling ball-players; ahead of them is Granit Xhaka and Exequiel Palacios, a double-pivot that complement each other exceptionally well; on the left, Álex Grimaldo, the crossy-passy-set-piecey playmaker; on the right, Jeremie Frimpong, the high-and-wide carrying-and-dribbling outlet; and all of that funnels into a front three of Florian Wirtz, Jonas Hoffmann and Victor Okoh Boniface. The balance is perfect.
Furthermore, they have the likes of Piero Hincapié, Josip Stanišić, Robert Andrich, Nathan Tella, Amine Adli, Patrik Schick, Adam Hložek and now Borja Iglesias on the bench, ready to step in and perform to solid standards. All of those would start for all bar Bayern in this season’s Bundesliga.
Obviously, Xabi Alonso has had a huge impact. He’s the one that’s settled on this formula and has it all clicking in a way that is as exciting as it is efficient and effective, but the squad building has been truly excellent too, headed up by sporting director Simon Rolfes. All you have to do is compare and contrast this Bayer Leverkusen side and squad to the ones that Borussia Dortmund have muddled together in recent years. G’wan, go have a laugh.
And as is often the case in the wake of these sorts of achievements, it’ll all be ripped apart in a single summer. Alonso will go to Liverpool, and the likelihood is that one of the outside centre-backs could go too, as could Frimpong, as could Palacios, as could Boniface, as could Wirtz.
The Dribbly Championship Bois
We’ve not much to say here other than just popping that in there because we made it, and it looks cool, and everyone loves dribbles, and it shows how good Jack Clarke, and it shows how fun Leeds are, and so on, and so forth.
As almost always, we got the data from FBRef. You can have a lot of fun on FBRef by just browsing aimlessly, clicking around. You should do that.
Federico Redondo to Inter Miami…
Some were surprised about this transfer when it first popped up earlier in the month, but it ties in to one of the topics of last week’s SCOUT NOTES — Major League Soccer is changing, quickly.
Moves like this are becoming the norm for a competition once ridiculed as a retirement league with some justification. Even Redondo – everyone’s favourite player that they’ve only ever watched on a 2-minute long compilation on Twitter, and son of Real Madrid icon Fernando – is seeing the value in it.
Young prospects are increasingly seeing MLS as the bridge to the elite level, supplemented by competitive wages and an enticing lifestyle. Redondo follows Jovan Mijatović and David Martínez in jumping to the US. He’ll play with Lionel Messi while shadowing Sergio Busquets. The appeal is obvious, and the move is one that is much more suitable for his level than people think.
What constitutes home-grown?
There’s been a lot of discourse around this, deriving from this Trent Alexander-Arnold tweet featuring the photo above following Liverpool’s League Cup triumph against Chelsea.
A few busy bodies have correctly pointed out that most of those aren’t really “home-grown” – seven were signed at 15/16 years old from other academies, one as recently as last summer – but, quite frankly, who really cares?
Most of those aren’t “home-grown” by our definition either, but they’ve all still played at academy level for the club. And there are four there that are definitely “home-grown” – Quansah, Danns, Koumas, Trent, and Curtis Jones should be there – which is an impressive return in itself. And more pertinently, they’re all emerging talents within the club that Jürgen Klopp has made concerted efforts to involve and utilise, rather than brushing them under the carpet and crying about a lack of options.
Ultimately, you’re getting hung up on a word. Klopp’s Kids still applies. Well done, lads.
The National League… on Sofascore!?
We use Sofascore a lot. Like, a lot. The tab is always open on our laptops, the app is always draining the battery on our phones – we often just sit there, scrolling through games, looking at stats, seeing who’s doing what, where. It’s an essential tool in what we do as the little football-covering business that we are.
So, knowing that, you’ll realise how excited we were when we saw that the National League – the increasingly professional fifth-tier of English football – is one of the leagues that is now being covered in detail by Sofascore. They’ve even gone back through the season and plugged in the detailed data.
Anyway, having a quick skim through it all, a player that stands out is 2005-born Jayden Luker. We don’t take much notice of Sofascore ratings (and neither should you) but they do signpost players pretty well, especially those that do well on the data – and Luker is one of them.
Luton loaned Luker to Woking in January. In his nine back-to-back appearances since, which includes eight starts, the 18-year-old has averaged 4.9 dribbles per 90, put up some eye-catching single-game numbers in other metrics and scored this goal.
A little bit of digging after the discovery shows that Luker was signed by Luton from the ProDirect Academy in east London back in 2022 and seems to have been on the fringe of the first-team squad before this loan. That’s interesting in itself, and now we’re keen to watch more. Cheers, Sofascore!
Football Manager Corner
First there was Endrick, now there’s Estêvão. Palmeiras are on a bit of a heater when it comes to producing generational academy talent. Just one of them would be a club-defining prospect for most clubs, let alone two, and let alone in back to back years.
Most of you SCOUTED Notebook readers and Football Manager players will already be well aware of Estêvão, obviously, but we’re just highlighting him to those that aren’t. 2024 promises to be a breakthrough year for him in real life, and you should get on him quickly in your FM24 saves. He’ll probably get a juicy upgrade in the winter update as well.
Luis Guilherme is another right-sided left-footed attacker at Palmeiras worth looking at. He’ll be capable of a more immediate impact than Estêvão in game, even if his ceiling is capped at a lower level. Whatever you do, plump for Palmeiras.
SCOUTED’s Reading List
Here’s a brilliant interview with Eddie Gray, Leeds United legend and great-uncle of current Leeds starter Archie Gray: Rick Broadbent spoke to him about the Chelsea tie and his hopes for the emerging Archie.
This is a great watch if you want golden nuggets of insight into junior scouting at the elite level from Rising Ballers: an in-depth interview with Chris Robinson, who spent 12 years in the Chelsea academy.
And finally… read Stephen Ganavas’ latest piece in collaboration with our data partners, SkillCorner, in which he explains how Brighton & Hove Albion find the value that they do in the South American markets.
This publication is amazing!! This is such an upgrade from the run-off-the-mill football news & articles that are just being churned out en masse with little substance or new knowledge. I haven't been following much else other than the EPL so thanks for bringing me up to date! Xabi Alonso's record has been sick all year. I can't wait to check out the rest of your posts!!