Everyone is about to fight over Joan García
Plus: Mateus Mide makes his mark, Lennart Karl is a one-man army, and the Championship play-off final looms
Happy Friday, scouts. Welcome to The Shortlist, your weekly, bitesize download on football’s next generation.
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Headliners
The players we watched this week.
There’s only one headline on our minds this week. Yesterday, we officially announced our big summer signing: Ashwin Raman has joined SCOUTED.
Ash will be hitting your inboxes with a brand-new newsletter every single week this summer, to bolster our premium paid offering. We’re incredibly excited to see what the young maestro has in his locker, and hope you are too. Subscribe to support us, Ashwin, and unlock his writing when it lands. It’s gunna be so good.
I thought I’d give him a small space here to introduce himself to you all, if you weren’t already aware of his work. Take it away, Ash:
Hey, I’m Ashwin! I’ve joined the SCOUTED team on a part-time basis for the summer as a writer. I’ve previously been a blogger and freelance writer for a variety of outlets and a remote, part-time scout and analyst for Dundee United (Ash is being modest - he held this job at fifteen. Yes, fifteen years of age. That’s not a typo - ed). After a two-year-long break from football-related work, I’ve joined the SCOUTED team to get back into football writing and player evaluation. Oh, and as a longtime fan of SCOUTED in its various incarnations who has a bookshelf full of Handbooks and a laptop covered with SCOUTED stickers, I’m especially excited to be writing here. Expect to see deep dives and player scouting profiles from me over the next three months.
Ashwin has already hit the ground running with a pre-newsletter story to warm things up. Check it out:
Ashwin Raman
Watchlist
The players to keep an eye on – and where to find them.
As this newsletter is part of our weekly coverage of the U-17 EURO, we thought it apt Watchlist take centre stage this week.
On Wednesday, Llew and I published our deep dive on some standout players from England and France - you can find that here. But we’re watching all the other teams, too, and wanted to find a space for some brief thoughts on the other players we found impressive in the first round of fixtures - and how you can catch them in the next. Please note this was written on Thursday afternoon, prior to that evening’s games.
🇧🇪 Jesse Bisiwu (2008)
Belgium put England through the ringer in the second half of their draw, and instead of Ryan McAidoo and Rio Ngumoha taking the plaudits, it was Jesse Bisiwu who looked most dangerous. A tall and somewhat languid forward, Bisiwu’s feet move much faster than you’d expect; he was a constant, mazy threat on the dribble - he completed seven - and popped up all over the front line. His touch was smooth, his movement elegant, and he released the ball well to threaten England in transition. He drew contact for the foul that gifted Noah Fernandez the opportunity to hit a frankly absurd free-kick goal, and looked most likely to find the winner.
🇧🇪 Belgium vs Czechia 🇨🇿
UEFA U-17 EURO — Friday, 23rd May, 17:00
Link to watch (free)
🇩🇪 Lennart Karl (2008)
Lennart Karl is a little terror. German readers will likely already know this name - his exploits with Bayern’s U19s this season have been hard to ignore, and he came to close to carrying his free-scoring run into this competition in his opener against France. Alas, Germany spent most of the game with ten men, but Karl attacked like he counted for two; driving through midfield and into scoring positions on the regular. Big ‘fine, I’ll do it myself’ vibes, if you ask me. His left foot is to die for - indeed, it might kill off a few teams before this tournament is done. Catch his next game just to say you’ve watched him before he breaks through.
🇵🇹 Portugal v Germany 🇩🇪
UEFA U-17 EURO — Sunday, 25th May, 19:30
Link to watch (free)
🇵🇹 Mateus Mide (2008)
We approached the tournament’s opener with our eyes firmly fixed on Gil Neves, but quickly had our heads turned by Mateus Mide. He was at the heart of everything Portugal did well - which was a lot, they tore Albania apart - by drifting into central areas from the left, or hitting the byline to whip in wicked crosses. He went close more than once before assisting the opener with a delightful out-swinging cross and finally scored a second-half penalty. He was moved into the #10 role after 30 minutes and continued to knit attacks together with aplomb.
Mide looks like one of the tournament’s most exciting attackers and, funnily enough, almost exactly like a young Vitinha. It’s weird.
🇵🇹 Portugal v Germany 🇩🇪
UEFA U-17 EURO — Sunday, 25th May, 19:30
Link to watch (free)
🇮🇹 Christian Comotto (2008)
There was much to like about the attacking potency of Italy, but I thought Christian Comotto was at the heart of much of it. AC Milan’s U19 creator is a lovely blend of frame and fluency; he’s a solid height and build but retains the low centre of gravity to help him unlock tight spaces. Czechia kept backing him into a corner and he kept getting out with little flicks, spins and nutmegs, knitting together midfield play that transformed into rapid attacks. His weight of pass is delightful and he is remarkably balanced; he looks a nice player, and I think you should watch him.
🇮🇹 Italy v England 🏴
UEFA U-17 EURO — Friday, 23rd May, 19:30
You can watch all of England’s games for free on iPlayer in the UK and on UEFA TV everywhere else.
Short…listed:
A short recommendation from Scouting Editor Llew Davies.
Get used to reading, hearing and seeing much more of Joan García. The 24-year-old will be one of the hottest properties in the upcoming transfer window.
Why? Because he’s really good, basically. Like, obviously really good. He’s the first goalkeeper to get Shortlisted, and he was the first goalkeeper to make it onto the SCOUTED Database. We don’t usually venture into goalkeepers, so that says something.
The first thing he did when I watched him for the first time last week was stab a first-time, 50-yard pass square onto the chest of his centre-forward while backpedalling. As first impressions go, that was a brilliant one, and everything he did after that only enhanced that impression.
The way I gauge goalkeepers is by how simple they make things look. Alisson is a prime example: his simple catch is another ‘keeper's camera save. In that regard, García is similar to Alisson. He made the difficult things look easy - coming to claim high balls into the box was a doddle, super clean footwork was the order of the day, there were a couple of full-stretch saves that looked effortless, and his distribution was pretty easy.
García has been billed as the Next Big Thing™ in the goalkeeping world and it’s easy to see why. The €25 million release clause in his Espanyol contract represents tremendous value. Clubs shouldn’t miss out on a rare opportunity.
HEATWATCH
SCOUTED50: Keeping tabs on the golden boys.
🔥 38 / OLLIE ARBLASTER
Ollie Arblaster tore his ACL in November: a heartbreaking handbrake on what should’ve been his coming-of-age season. On Saturday, he’ll watch from the stands as his Blades fight for their place in England’s top flight. He’s back on the grass but still some time from a return; we’re including him as this week’s hot pick in the hope that, next time we watch him on a football pitch, it’ll be as a captain in the Premier League.
🔥 13 / CHRIS RIGG
Sike! We’re not taking sides here - we just hope everyone has a good time. Seeing Sunderland’s youth-stacked squad earn their ascension would be an equal delight: not least because we’d get to see teenager Chris Rigg in the big time. But then we’d also like to see Eliezer Mayenda, Enzo Le Fee, Dan Neil, Jobe Bellingham…but let’s keep this about Chris, as he was the only one to make last year’s S50. Honestly, I can’t wait for Saturday - the play-off final is always one of the best days of the year.
SCOUTED Stats
The stat leaders piquing Jake’s interest. For the detail, read Monday Night SCOUTED.
⛺️ Nick Woltemade averaged more Touches in the Attacking Penalty Area per 90 than any other player during the 2024/25 Bundesliga season. More than Jamal Musiala. More than Hugo Ekitiké. It's part of the reason why the 1.98m Stuttgart forward has received his first senior international call-up. Woltemade will be part of Julian Nagelsmann's squad for the UEFA Nations League Finals before joining up with the Under-21s for the U21 EURO in June. A busy summer could get even busier if he continues to perform at this level.
🎬 Rayan Cherki recorded at least 17 more Shot-Creating Actions than any other player during the 2024/25 Ligue 1 season. He was the only player with 450+ minutes to average 6+ per 90. He was named in the Ligue 1 Team of the Season and also picked up the UEFA Europa League Young Player of the Season award. According to reports, Olympique Lyonnais will be forced to sell their most mercurial of talents for as little as €40 million this summer. Is this the summer a club finally takes the risk? Like Woltemade, Cherki also received the first senior call-up of his career this week - they could even face each other in the final.
🩰 Lamine Yamal has set the record for Successful Take-Ons by an U-23 player in a single Big Five League campaign. Following his 7/14 completed against Villarreal, Yamal became the first U-23 player to break 150 on the Stathead database and is ranked 7th across all ages. Seven more on the final day of the 2024/25 LaLiga season would see him equal Wilfried Zaha's 163 from 2019/20 and take him into the top five. However, he would need to complete 29 to equal Messi's 185 from 2017/18. He has plenty of seasons to try again.
Vox Populi
We’re listening - here's a quick poll, for fun.
Last week we asked you who’d be winning the U-17 EURO Golden Ball. You’ll be shocked to know most people went for Max Dowman - but there were a few dissenting opinions of note. Thanks for all those who got involved!
💬 Anon (Max Dowman): “Bold pick, but pretty much every time I saw him play for Arsenal U18s he was the best player on the pitch by a comfortable margin. If the U18s hadn't been in a title race until recently I think he would have played with the U21s for sure (at 15!), probably would have made his senior debut already as well if he were allowed to.”
💬 Joe T (Lennart Karl): “It's hard to ignore his 34 goals in 29 games at this level with a juggernaut like Bayern Munich. To add to that, his ability to bring his teammates into creative attacking transitions is brilliant. He reminds me of an Odegaard. Not to mention his composure in and around the oppositions box is precise, and the fact he has a left footed wand from freekicks. He's got the full package that I don't think many others have at this tournament.”
💬 Anon (Wisdom Mike): “He’s so good on the ball.”
💬 Fede C (Thomas Campaniello): “Already played in Serie A and Coppa Italia, really good and already won the tournament last year with Italy.”
Next week’s Shortlist will ask you to pick your actual Golden Ball winner as the tournament concludes. Keep watching and thinking - we’ll publish the best.
That’s all, folks. See you next Friday.
For everything on the next generation, stay tuned to SCOUTED.
