Left-footed centre-backs: a curated shortlist
In lieu of Monday Night Football, enjoy Monday Night SCOUTED instead.
Cup football weekend is insane.
It throws up a ridiculous number of matches, countless debuts, and a heady smorgasbord of ecstasy and agony. It’s impossible to absorb it all.
As a result, this week’s newsletter will not be as focussed as the previous two. Your feedback and kind words about the Højlund newsletter meant a great deal. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the same burst of inspiration this weekend.
Instead, there will be three parts to this edition of Monday Night SCOUTED:
The most exciting discoveries from the FA Cup weekend
A mini SCOUTED Stats update for the Big Five Leagues
A short, curated transfer shortlist: left-footed centre-backs
Let’s begin.
FA Cup discoveries
This weekend was the first time many fans caught a glimpse of their club’s next superstar.
Rio Ngumoha became the second-youngest debutant in Liverpool’s history and the youngest to represent the club in the FA Cup. It didn’t take long for the gravity Llew highlighted in his most recent review of the 2008-born winger to go mainstream.
Meanwhile, Divin Mubama (2004) gave an off-ball running tutorial before James McAtee (2002) completed his first senior hat-trick. But it may have been Nico O’Reilly’s display at left-back that generated the most buzz from Manchester City’s 8-0 demolition of Salford.
It’s not a new phenomenon, but there seems to have been another wave of high-potential academy players clocking senior minutes at full-back. City’s 2005-born, rangy midfielder is the latest.
However, with so many matches on simultaneously, there is no way you can keep across all of the debuts. Promising performances from even more promising players would have slipped through the net. That’s the value of the SCOUTED Stats sections, I think.
It will never be the reason for signing a player, but it will be the reason you started scouting them in the first place. It helps you build a database of players to track and curate a watchlist. At a professional level, it represents a small part of the scouting process, but a part nonetheless.
Stathead provides limited FA Cup data, but we can still run through the available metrics. Everything written below relates to the highest total recorded by a player under the age of 21 from the 3rd round fixtures. Let’s use the FA Cup to discover the next generation.
⚽️ Tyler Dibling (2006) was the only U21 player to score multiple goals. We already know a lot about him.
🅰️ Tyrique George (2006) and Bilal El Khannouss (2004) were the only U21 players to provide multiple assists. Leicester City’s Moroccan did so in just 59 minutes while George played more key passes (5) than any other player during Chelsea 5-0 Morecambe. Interestingly, although purely coincidental, both players have a very slender frame and are much taller than they appear. Based on most websites, George is billed at 181cm and El Khannouss at 180cm. To me, they both seem at least 6 foot.
⚽️🅰️ Facundo Buonanotte (2004, Leicester City) and Rayan Kolli (2005, QPR) joined Dibling, George and El Khannouss with multiple goal contributions. The fact that 3/5 players featured in Leicester’s 6-2 win suggests that could be a good match to rewatch.
☄️ Dibling, Julio Enciso (2004) (pretends to be shocked) and Milan Aleksić (2005) all recorded four shots from ~60 minutes playing time. Aleksić replaced SCOUTED50 alumnus Chris Rigg on Saturday, equalising for Sunderland against Stoke City. Based on FBref’s weighted playing time, the Black Cats have the youngest average age in the Championship at 23.9 years old.
For anyone looking to scout younger players, they’re among the best teams to track closely. Enciso and Aleksić also recorded the joint-most shots on target (3) alongside Cardiff City’s Cian Ashford (2004), who scored the winner against Sheffield United on Thursday evening.
🤕 Buonanotte was the outright leader for Fouls Drawn with five against QPR. Three other players managed four: Cameron Congreve (Bromley), Harrison Jones (another Sunderland player) and Zack Nelson (Luton Town).
I want to highlight Nelson as he is a player that I made a note of when watching Luton’s opening game of the season against Burnley. The Tottenham Hotspur academy graduate played the full 90 minutes and, despite the 1-4 home defeat, impressed me with glimpses of his ball-carrying ability. His minutes and starts have since been limited, but his appearances in this list speaks to the style of play that caught my eye. I hope we see more of him this season.
🔮 Oliver Scarles (2005) made five interceptions in 76 minutes against Aston Villa. He was even named Man of the Match, despite the Hammers’ defeat. Scarles has played in centre-midfield, left-wing and even as a centre-forward in the PL2. Where did he play against Villa? Left-back.
As I said earlier, this is not new, but the evolution of multiple full-back roles provides even more opportunities for the best young players to rack up senior minutes. Albeit, in this case, Scarles is comfortable in that role. He was an integral part of West Ham’s FA Youth Cup and Premier League South double in 2022/23. According to Transfermarkt, he played CB, LB, LB, DM, LB, LB during the cup run and featured mainly as a LWB in the league.
🦵 Ashley Phillips (2005, Stoke City) was the only other U21 player to make more than two interceptions. Not only did the Spurs loanee make four of them against Sunderland, he also won four tackles, the outright most by an U21 player. After a string of promising performances, I wonder if Tottenham have considered recalling Phillips to ease their injury crisis. Although, the value of guaranteed minutes will be better for his long-term development.
I do not usually use Tackles Won as it only includes tackles which result in the tackler’s team winning possession. If you make a last-man tackle but it spills out to another opposition player, it wouldn’t count. Alas, Tackles Made is not available for the FA Cup and I wanted to include as much as possible.
👶 Finally, at 16 years and 135 days old, the aforementioned Rio Ngumoha was the youngest player to make an FA Cup appearance in the third round and the only 16-year-old to do so. Here is a list of the nine 17-year-olds that featured:
Mikey Moore (Tottenham Hotspur)
Jake Richards (Exeter City)
Trey Nyoni (Liverpool)
Amin Nabizada (Watford)
Chris Rigg (Sunderland)
Ronan Kpakio (Cardiff City)
Trevan Sanusi (Newcastle United)
Sol Sidibé (Stoke City)
Harrison Armstrong (Everton)
In total, 113 players under the age of 21 made an appearance. Plenty of players to discover.
Even if they have already been mentioned, please share your thoughts on any young player that impressed you over the weekend
SCOUTED Stats
In the future, I may open up this section to all domestic leagues with advanced Stathead data. The more leagues we add, the more likely a record is going to be broken. The more records broken, the more players we might discover.
Also, with no Premier League football and the Supercopa de España, only one U23 single-game record was matched in Europe’s Big Five Leagues at the weekend.

Rayan Cherki equalled the record for Through Balls. He completed four in Lyon’s 2-1 defeat against Brest, matching the tally of João Neves and Xavi Simons.
Cherki was also the in-game leader for: Progressive Passes (16), Progressive Carries (8), Key Passes (6), Successful Passes into the Penalty Area (5), Successful Take-ons (5) and Carries into the Penalty Area. He is insanely talented.
A short, curated transfer shortlist
As I watch players, sort spreadsheet columns and create custom Stathead searches, I find myself building internal shortlists for particular positions, roles or even specific player replacements.
The reason I want to develop different formats for MNS is because, sometimes, no one breaks any single-game records and I find myself forcing the issue for the SCOUTED Stats section. Inspired by the January transfer window, this is what I came up with.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, I find myself editing and updating a Saka Understudy database that still does not have a physical form. More recently, however, I keep stumbling across players that all fit the same description: left-footed centre-backs.
I am not even looking for them. Admittedly, my next massive SkillCorner piece is based on centre-backs, but not specifically the left-footed variant.
Earlier this season, I suggested the future of football is left-footed. This was loosely based on the disproportionate number of left-footed players that made up the top 15 for Shot-Creating Actions: 73.3% of them. This is remarkable when you consider that, according to Mark Thompson’s quick check in 2023, just 27% of players from a pool of 2,800 were left-footed.
As for centre-backs, I imagine the rise in demand for left-footers has coincided with the increased responsibility in build-up. While it doesn’t matter which foot you use if you’re heading away ten crosses each game, it does make a difference when receiving the ball on that side of your own six-yard box.
I also believe demand has increased yet again due to the inversion of full-backs and other in-possession shapes. At the very least, you might see a left-footed centre-back deployed at left-back to fulfil a similar role. Essentially, the left-sided centre-back has never been more left-sided.
Get to the fucking shortlist, Jake.
Yes, I know I waffle. It is how I get from brain to paper.
When reviewing my list, I noticed that they were born in ascending years: 2001, 2002, 2003, and 2005. So, it made sense to find a representative for 2004 and present a five-player shortlist based on these age groups.
I also want to emphasise that the scouting process for these players is not yet complete. I simply wanted to share names I am looking at more closely than others and explaining the reasons why.
Mika Mármol
2001 — Las Palmas, Spain
For a Squawka video at the start of the season, I suggested Mármol as an alternative for clubs competing for the signature of Jorrel Hato - you will see why he is in-demand later.
A year earlier, Llew analysed Mármol’s move to Las Palmas and got it spot on. Again. Read the full thread.
In his debut top-flight season, Marmól completed more take-ons and made more successful tackles than any other centre-back in LaLiga.
This season, like Hato, he’s been deployed at left-back most often. Due to his height, LB or LCB in a back three is most likely his best position at the elite level. It reduces the potential for his weaknesses to be exploited, mainly his lack of aerial prowess, while maximising his strengths: ball-playing, aggressive defending, mobility and speed.
Otávio
2002 — FC Porto, Brazil
Within a year, Otávio was signed by Famalicão for €500k and sold to Porto for €12m.
Like Marmól, the Brazilian seems to be an extremely aggressive, front-footed defender. Despite standing at 188 cm, he also shares a weakness in the air. On the ground, however, he is a force of nature, making him the perfect cover for an extremely attacking full-back.
In recent games, Wenderson Galeno, one of the most productive players during the 2023/24 UEFA Champions League campaign, has been deployed at left-back; he was playing left-wing during that UCL campaign. Of course, Porto are one of the most dominant teams in the Primeira Liga so can take more risk, but Otávio’s ability to cover large spaces makes it an even easier decision to rationalise.
I will not say too much more as he features heavily in the upcoming SkillCorner piece I mentioned. For now, trust me.
Konstantinos Koulierakis
2003 — VfL Wolfsburg, Greece
Frequent MNS readers will not be surprised to see this pick.
Konstantinos Koulierakis featured in back-to-back editions earlier this season after posting monster ball progression numbers before a dropping a couple of impressive performances during the November international break.

Your new favourite centre-back, the U-21 EURO dream teams, and the cleanest sheets in South America
The Greek international is closer to the throwback style. He wins 60% of his aerial duels and makes plenty of clearances. When he does play the ball, it usually travels a long, long way. He averages 10.7 Long Passes and 1.3 Switches per 90 minutes; both tallies rank him in the top five for 2001+ outfield players in Europe’s Big Five Leagues this season (450+ minutes played).
His title as PAOK’s record transfer sale is under threat due to reported Liverpool interest in Stefanos Tzimas. I wonder how close he will get to Kevin De Bruyne’s €76m Wolfsburg record.
Bram Lagae
2004 — KV Kortrijk (on loan from KAA Gent), Belgium
This was the birth year I did not have an instant pick for. Generation 2004 includes soon-to-be Manchester City centre-back Abdukodir Khusanov and MNS regular Joel Ordóñez. But they are both right-footed. So Llew threw over some suggestions from Slack:
Your best bet for a 2004 lefty is probably Mikayil Faye at Stade Rennais (Diambars graduate who went to Croatia then signed by Barca). Alan Matturro is interesting, your classic Uruguayan CB, but isn't playing much at Genoa. Maxim Dekker and Dominik Prpic worth a look. Seydou Sano was interesting/eye-catching at U-20 World Cup but went to Qatar.
I already lean heavily on his insight to provide further evidence for the points I make in this newsletter but I did not want to completely nab the picks. So, I did a little search to look for some alternative names.
Football is not played on spreadsheets but I noticed that Koulierakis was the only player on this list so far with a aerial duel success rate above 60%. To fix that, I searched for players born in 2004 and beyond (to provide some context) that had won at least 20 aerial duels this season while maintaining a 65%+ win rate. That returned 12 players:
It’s a very cool list which includes another soon-to-be Manchester City centre-back, Vitor Reis, among names that SCOUTED fans will be familiar with.
From the five 2004 candidates, only Bram Lagae is left-footed. Brahim Traoré appears to be completely two-footed but in the clips I found he seems to be deployed on the right side most often. I made a note of his name, but he does not make this shortlist.
Lagae operates on the left of a back three and seems to enjoy a foray forward. Even though the Belgian gets the spot by default, it is not without merit.
If you add a 65%+ Dribblers Tackled threshold to the above list of 12, it shrinks to just four names: Bram Lagae, Jorrel Hato, Yarek Gasiorowski and Vitor Reis. That is very good company to be keeping. That warrants further investigation.
Nathan Zézé
2005 — FC Nantes, France
At the moment, Nathan Zézé does not do much else but clear the ball. But he has done it more often than any other centre-back born in 2003 or later across Europe’s Big Five Leagues this season. Including 2001+ players, only Murillo, Botond Balogh, Nathan Collins and Illia Zabarnyi have made more.
Zézé has the telescopic athleticism we highlighted as Leny Yoro’s standout attribute ahead of the big move to Manchester United (and interest from Real Madrid). I wrote this for Zézé’s entry in SCOUTED50 2024/25:
“Zézé is very much a ground defender. He has the physical profile to compete and hold his own in the air, but thrives when covering large distances to sweep or making front-footed lunges to intercept the ball before it reaches the desired recipient.”
A transfer is inevitable. If not this window, expect to see his name a lot in the summer.
TL;DR
Here are five left-footed centre-backs I think we will hear plenty of transfer rumours about in 2025:
🇪🇸 Mika Marmól (2001, Las Palmas)
🇧🇷 Otávio (2002, FC Porto)
🇬🇷 Konstantinos Koulierakis (2003, VfL Wolfsburg)
🇧🇪 Bram Lagae (2004, KV Kortrijk (on loan from KAA Gent)
🇫🇷 Nathan Zézé (2005, FC Nantes)
As I alluded to, I am going to rotate this format into MNS - unless I hear a reason not to.
It will not be in every newsletter, but it is a format I can lean on should there not be a major story that triggers an alternative investigation. Let me know what profile, position or player you would like me to look at next.
Thank you for reading,
Jake
Last week at SCOUTED:
We had a delightful time at HQ last week, roaring (crawling) back to life for 2025 with a trio of pretty damn good stories. In case you missed anything:
Monday Night SCOUTED was a deep, Sherlock Holmes-inspired investigation into one Rasmus Højlund, why he doesn’t take many shots, and what Manchester United can do about it.
The Reuell Walters Story is Phil Costa’s long-form narrative interview with the ex-Arsenal defender currently re-igniting his career at Luton Town. Arsenal fans: don’t miss this one. There’s some juice here. Part II is coming this week. It’s a technical analysis interview of a kind we’ve not done before - stay tuned.
On Friday, Jake and Llew released their Team(s) of the Year for 2024. We’ve not done something like this before but are pretty happy with the selections we made, featuring both the best of last year and the most exciting for the next one. Check it out, and let us know if you disagree with any selections.
Jake Richards seem to be flying under the radar but he's currently first choice for a mid-table League One side and performing so well he deserves his place in the side. Has yet to sign a pro contract so not sure where he'll end up next.
Lazar Samardžić ✨👌