Hale End: dancing in the Bernabéu
Myles Lewis-Skelly bullies Modrić, Andrey Santos scores bangers, Sverre Nypan interests Aston Villa
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Headliners
The players we watched this week.
🎈 Llew has been writing at length about how little Myles Lewis-Skelly uses his diminutive but immensely powerful frame to bully players a decade older. In the past week, home and away, he’s danced through Real Madrid.
The below is one of many defining moments in the home leg, for me:
- MLS traps a really tough high ball, with Rodrygo closing fast over his left shoulder.
- Rodrygo closes the ground between them and almost gets ahead. But Lewis-Skelly keeps his body between the Brazilian and the ball…
- …and a second later, he’s created a full step of separation with one of the world’s best wingers.
- This is my favourite bit: MLS uses his right arm to lever his body between an enclosing Modrić and the ball, brushing him out the way…
- …and pops a pass off to Martinelli that doesn’t quite come off. Almost magic.
💙 Anyone else absolutely love Jake’s breakdown of Andrey Santos on MNS this week? The Brazilian is a complete weirdo: basically, he’s scoring and assisting a ton without taking many touches in the final third, either comparatively to his peers or in volume.
I thought it’d be interesting to have a browse of all of Santos’ shots from this season with this anomaly in mind. I won’t say I noticed anything as scientific as a pattern, but my brain certainly clicked into a theme of sorts. Instead of regularly crashing the box, Santos often waits on its edge for the second phase. When the ball pops out, he whacks it. Remove set pieces from a map of his average shot position this season and you’ll see what I mean.
Here’s an example: his January screamer against Lille.
- A long, whipped cross is thrown into the Lille box…
- …it’s headed away. Andrey Santos isn’t even in the frame.
- Oh, there he is.
- Yeah, that’s a banger.
We don’t do conclusions in Headliners - we’re just here to show cool players doing cool shit. But I’d certainly be interested to see Santos play for a team who have the ball around the box a lot, because he sure does seem to love smacking one when it pops out.
Short…listed:
A short recommendation.
A trend has emerged in La Liga this season: home-grown talent is all the rage. As clubs struggle to compete in an increasingly expensive transfer market, they have turned to their own canteras to evolve their teams and pad out their squads.
One of the best examples of it is the emergence of Jesús Rodríguez at Real Betis.
Since the turn of the year, the 19-year-old has stepped up from B team football into a regular role for Manuel Pellegrini's side, starting the biggest games against the best teams, as Betis compete on domestic and European fronts.
I have questions marks about Rodríguez's skillset and how it scales to higher levels, but one thing is undeniable: he is a very talented dribbler and carrier of the ball.
The Spaniard is a leggy athlete that looks to take on defenders whenever possible. He rides challenges in deeper areas before driving into space, jinks through smaller gaps and bursts out the other side, slides inside and outside to put defences on the back foot, and does it all with a shifty style that catches the eye straight away. The numbers back it up, too – while chunks of his admittedly limited data profile leave plenty to be desired, the dribbly bits are green, green, green across the board.
Rodríguez's breakthrough into first-team football hasn't gone unnoticed. The links to your Chelseas and Liverpools and Arsenals are already piling up, but those links are premature. Let him have a full season at Real Betis to refine his game further. Allow him to really find his feet in senior football and show us the breadth of his ability. Put him on your shortlists for now and keep close tabs.
HEATWATCH
SCOUTED50: Keeping tabs on the golden boys.
🔥 12 / SVERRE NYPAN
Sverre Nypan is balling out in the new Eliteserien season and it seems very unlikely he’ll finish it. After Arsenal came close in January, it now seems Aston Villa are the likeliest to bring him straight to England. How much he’d play in a stacked midfield - I thought Boubacar Kamara, Morgan Rogers and Amadou Onana were pretty great against the fluidity of Paris Saint-Germain - remains to be seen, but Lucas Bergvall has set the precedent. All eyes on Sverre.
While you're here, read this week’s SCOUT NOTES for more.
Llew Davies
🧊 2 / ALEKSANDAR PAVLOVIC
Aleksandar Pavlović was voted our number two player to watch last Autumn. Now, he’s playing primarily as a…bench warmer. A resurgent Leon Goretzka has kept Pavlović out of the team in recent weeks, and the German tempo-setter only played seven minutes across two legs as Bayern’s Champions League hopes were dashed by Inter.
SCOUTED Stats
The stat leaders piquing Jake’s interest. For the detail, read Monday Night SCOUTED.
🧊 Cole Palmer is being memed for his goal drought but recorded 16 Shot-Creating Actions in Chelsea’s draw against Ipswich Town, the most generated by a player under the age of 23 in a Big Five League game since the start of the 2017/18 season.
🌐 James McAtee generated the highest xG this past week, racking up 1.4 against Crystal Palace. He also topped the charts for xG+xAG with 1.7. His ability to accumulate shots has been a consistent feature for England U21s and throughout his Cup displays; he’s attempted 30 in 832 minutes across all club competitions this season which averages out at 3.3 per 90.
🗻 Jon Martín made his full LaLiga debut and proceeded to win 11 (ELEVEN!) out of 11 (ELEVEN!) Aerial Duels. He's the second-youngest player since 2017/18 to win 11+ in a Big Five European League while maintaining a 100% win rate. Remember, you'll find out the youngest in Monday Night SCOUTED below.
Jake Entwistle
Watchlist
The players to keep an eye on – and where to find them.
🇬🇭 Caleb Yirenkyi (2006)
Brøndby IF vs. FC Nordsjælland
Superligaen, Championship round — Friday, 18 April 2025, 18:00 BST
You know how it goes. Right to Dream Academy to FC Nordsjælland seems to be a guaranteed hit. Caleb Yirenkyi is the next player treading the same path as fellow Ghanains Mohammed Kudus, Kamaldeen Sulemana and Ernest Nuamah as well as the Ivorian Simon Adingra. As the Danish scout posted following his most recent display:
“Caleb Yirenkyi has been nothing short of incredible since this tweet [referring to Yirenkyi’s contract renewal and promotion to the first team]. FCN/RTD have done it again. Gotta enjoy him in the Danish Superliga while we can, big clubs will soon come knocking.”
So, this is your chance to enjoy him. Get ahead of the curve.
🇧🇪 Lucas Stassin (2004)
Saint-Étienne vs. Olympique Lyonnais
Ligue 1 — Sunday, 20 April 2025, 19:45
Although it looks increasingly likely that Saint-Étienne will go down, the only way is up for Lucas Stassin. I first noticed the Belgian when building a squad of the most fascinating players from Europe's Next Three Leagues in November. Here's why:
Lucas Stassin played five games for Westerlo before AS Saint Étienne signed the 19-year-old. Why? Alongside his 1.1 NPxG + xGA, he was the only outfield player in our search averaging 3+ shots and 3+ key passes per 90 minutes. If not for that move, he would have been in the Squad as well.
Although the underlying numbers have dropped off, his output has not. Stassin has scored 10 goals and provided four assists in 1,728 Ligue 1 minutes since his move, Lamine Yamal is the only player born in 2004 or later with more goal involvements in a Big Five League this season. Get him on your radar.
Jake Entwistle
Vox Populi
We’re listening - here's a quick poll, for fun.
This one’s quick and easy. The Champions League quarter-finals were shaped by the indomitable quality of youth.
But who defined the round?
🏴 Bukayo Saka
🇧🇷 Vinicius Jnr.
🏴 Morgan Rogers
🇫🇷 Desiré Doué
🇪🇸 Pau Cubarsí
🇵🇹 João Neves
🇧🇷 Gabriel Martinelli
🇩🇪 Max Beier
🏴 Myles Lewis-Skelly
🇪🇸 Lamine Yamal
🇫🇷 Michael Olise
Vote here, drop us a comment, and we’ll all have a massive fight about it next week. Okay? (And if you don’t vote for MLS I’ll find you).
That’s all, folks. See you next Friday.
For everything on the next generation, stay tuned to SCOUTED.
