City and Liverpool fight over Larsson, O'Reilly rocks, Delap kicks a ball
All your wonderkid news in one place: The Shortlist, 4 April 2025.
Happy Friday, scouts. Welcome to The Shortlist, your weekly, bitesize download on football’s next generation.
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Announcements
Headliners
The players we watched this week.
Short…listed:
A short recommendation.
This week, a we're adding a highly-rated defender to the shortlist.
His name is Finn Jeltsch, and he plays for VfB Stuttgart. He made a €10 million move to Die Schwaben in January from 1. FC Nürnberg, where he was having a breakthrough season in senior football, and has carried that momentum into the top-flight of German football.
Whilst VfB have struggled to win games recently, Jeltsch has installed himself as a regular starter already by flipping between centre-back and right-back – and he has a big cup final to look forward to. The 18-year-old fits the modern bill at the back: a solid all-round athlete, mobile and adaptable defender, and a very capable ball-player in possession.
You should remember him from our FIFA U-17 World Cup coverage from a couple of years ago. That was just a taster of what was (and still is) to come. We think he has the potential to go onto become a regular for a Champions League team and for Germany's senior side, as well as a big-money sale for Stuttgart.
HEATWATCH
SCOUTED50: Keeping tabs on the golden boys.
🔥 9 / FRANCO MASTANTUONO
The noise around Argentinian creator Franco Mastantuono is reaching a quiet crescendo. Quiet, because European eyes on Argentina - even a club as big as River Plate - are always limited. But those watching are growing ever-more excited about the rangy creator, who is still just 17. During the international break, lowkey rumours of Premier League interest - namely from Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City - began to surface. Longtime South American surveyors Atlético Madrid are also circling. If you haven’t watched Mastantuono yet, here’s an easy place to start. The summer approaches.
🧊 22 / VASILIJE ADŽIĆ
Vasilije Adžić was tipped for huge things this summer - not least by us. That was in part because he was breaking through at our dearly departed Steve’s beloved Juventus, and at the time Juve’s Next Gen pipeline looked like a world-beater. Adžić looked set to be part of Thiago Motta’s new-look midfield after impressing in pre-season, but things have gone wrong: he’s played a grand total of 24 Serie A minutes so far, largely due to niggling injuries, and Motta’s been tossed aside. Adžić is still just 18 - nobody panic.
SCOUTED Stats
The stat leaders piquing Jake’s interest. For the full list, read this week’s Monday Night SCOUTED.
⚽️ At 19 years and 299 days old, Desire Doué was the youngest player to score multiple goals this weekend and the only teenager to do so. He followed it up with a goal against Dunkerque in the Coupe de France semi-final. He truly is gifted by name, gifted by nature.
🎒 Lamine Yamal equalled the 2024/25 single-game record for Carries into the Penalty Area across all ages, becoming the fourth player to reach double figures after Sávio, Jérémy Doku and Vinícius Júnior. He also equalled the single-game record for Passes into the Penalty Area. Dual threat, baby.
🛡️ Perhaps the most surprising stat this week is that Bradley Barcola (!) was the under 23 player with the most Interceptions in a Big Five League game this past week. He made five against Saint-Étienne, also providing two assists.
Watchlist
The players to keep an eye on – and where to find them.
I (Jake) have been working on my Winger Archetypes so both picks this week are players popping up as interesting alternatives to mainstream favourites.
🇮🇹 Matteo Cancellieri (2002)
Serie A — Saturday, 5 April 2025, 17:00 BST
When I dropped Matteo Cancellieri into the Slack chat as a name to revisit for this newsletter, Stevie replied “Garbo”. That’s not a great start. However, I am intrigued by the fact that Cancellieri is not only one of the fastest wingers across Europe’s Big Five Leagues but also one of the more reliable aerial threats - that sounds like a very good out ball to have in your team. Of course, even if he races onto a through ball or wins the first header, none of that will matter if he is unable to create or shoot. Judging that part of his game against Inter, arguably the best defence in Europe, is probably unfair. But given Inter’s expected dominance, we should get to see how valuable he is as an outlet.
If he does not feature, you should at least to watch Adrián Bernabé (2001) - the Spaniard profiled as one of the most progressive passers in Europe when we investigated that profile.
Jake Entwistle
🇪🇸 Raúl Moro (2002)
LaLiga — Sunday, 6 April 2025, 17:30 BST
Raúl Moro is one of the most electrifying wingers in sports entertainment. He has the One-Man Army role in a struggling Real Valladolid team, putting up huge dribble and carry numbers as a result. Moro is one of 18 players with 900+ minutes, across all ages, to average 2.2 Carries into the Final Third, 2.2 Carries into the Penalty Area and 2.2 Successful Take-ons across Europe’s Big Five Leagues this season. I am currently working on Winger Archetypes for my next SkillCorner piece and let’s just say that Nottingham Forest should be placing a bid...yesterday.
For Getafe, the man of many positions, Christantus Uche (2002), is back from suspension and Uruguayan centre-back Álvaro Rodriguez (2004) might get a start after winning EIGHT (!) Aerial Duels in 28 minutes when he came on against Villarreal last weekend.
Vox Populi
We’re listening - here's a quick poll, for fun.
Last week, we asked you which England generation was the most stacked. The results are in:
🥇 U21 (Nwaneri, Bellingham, McAtee etc) - 44.4%
🥈 U19 (George, Dibling, Rigg etc) - 27.8%
🥈 U17 (Dowman, Ngumoha, Gorman etc) - 27.8%
Your takes:
💬 Jake A (U-19s): “U-19 for me. The amount of players that young who have all got a decent amount of first team experience in the PL and Championship is scary. Rigg is a regular for promotion chasing Sunderland, Miley has started games in the UCL, George, Acheampong and Mhueka have all made Chelsea debuts. Dibling is priced at £100m..., Moore has featured numerous times for Spurs. Majority of that squad would play for the u21's for other top European nations imo.”
💬 Adil (U-21s): “Probably slightly unfair given recency bias probably plays a part here but the current U21 team has players that have become key players in top teams within a short space of time and a few can make the World Cup side.”
💬 Nab C (U-17s): “Because you haven't even mentioned Jun'Ai Byfield” (There’s only so many spots, chief).
This week:
The summer is coming and a whole bunch of SCOUTED50 names are being linked to the world’s biggest clubs.
We thought we’d try something different this week: here’s a few of the in-the-news players. We’d like you to play Sporting Director: which player would you most like to sign for a market-value fee, and for which club?
- Andrey Santos
- Hugo Larsson
- Franco Mastantuono
Join in the fun by using this link, or filling out the embedded form below. I’m excited to read the responses!
Further reading
This week, we just have a quick notice: we’ve put together a page collating every week’s featured player from the Short…listed section.
If you’ve missed past editions of this newsletter or are new around here, this is a useful way to catch up on the players Llew’s been watching - and wants to add to your shortlists.
Tuck in!
Tom Curren
Finally…
If you scrolled past the announcement at the top, here’s another chance to fill in our first customer survey. Aren’t you lucky! It’ll take all of twenty seconds and will be a huge help in keeping us alive. Thanks!
That’s all, folks. See you next Friday.
For everything on the next generation, stay tuned to SCOUTED.
