Milos Kerkez is blasting off again

The first thing I am going to report each week is the youngest player to feature across Europe’s Big Five Leagues. At 17 years and 8 days old, that honour goes to Thomas Campaniello this weekend. Born on 29 February 2008, Campaniello played five minutes for boyhood club Empoli in the 0-1 defeat to Roma. This was his second appearance of the season, having made his debut before his 17th birthday in a 0-5 defeat to Atalanta. He plays on the right of a front two for Empoli’s Primavera side. The youngest player to feature in a Big Five European League game this season is Djylian N'Guessan. The 2008-born left-winger made his debut for Saint-Étienne at 16 years and 127 days old in January and has since started two Ligue 1 games.

Mohamed Kader Meïté made his full Ligue 1 debut this weekend for Rennes against PSG - a match included on Friday’s Watchlist because of Jérémy Jacquet, who provided an assist and made the most interceptions than any U23 player this weekend (5). Back to Meite. At 17 years and 148 days old, the 2007-born, 191 cm striker was the youngest player to start a Big Five League game this weekend and rattled off 4 Shots against the Ligue 1 leaders. No U23 player attempted more this weekend; nine different players attempted four, but that is way off Jamal Musiala’s record of 10. However, only six players have attempted 4+ against PSG in a Ligue 1 match this season. You could argue Meité should have scored at least one, but to step in against the most dominant team in the country and find space for four shots at 17 years old is a huge green flag. Get this guy on your radar. He seems to have everything clubs are looking for in a centre-forward and fits the Power Forward Archetype.

Lucas Stassin was the only U23 player to record at least 1 NPxG this weekend. Granted, 0.88 of this was due to his on-the-line tap-in, but I wanted to mention him as he was a nailed on inclusion for the Next Three Leagues SCOUTED Squad from earlier in the season had Saint-Étienne not already snapped him up from Westerlo. Since the turn of the year, the 2004-born Belgian has five goals and one assist in 10 Ligue 1 appearances. Make a note.

Fresh from accumulating record-breaking xG totals last week, Mika Biereth is back with an Expected Assisted Goals record. In Monaco’s 1-1 draw against Toulouse, Denmark’s Next Gen Goal-Hanger decided to put chances on a plate for his teammates, with an xAG total of 1.5. Not only was this the most at the weekend, it equals Nuno Mendes’ single-game season record.

Valentín Barco attempted the most passes this weekend, logging 95 against Nantes. Although this falls way short of Willian Pacho’s record of 141, he also completed 11 Passes into the Final Third, the only U23 player to reach double figures this weekend. Again, this fell short of Marc Casadó’s record of 22, but the significance of Barco’s stats are realised when considering the position he played. Having previously been deployed exclusively on the left flank for both Sevilla and Strasbourg this season, the Brighton loanee was plugged into a double-pivot alongside Andrey Santos this weekend. We highlighted Barco’s willingness and proficiency at inverting into midfield from full-back in a lesser-spotted YouTube video - perhaps all the qualities highlighted in that scout report will see him find a permanent home in midfield.

Adam Wharton made 6 Key Passes against Ipswich Town, at least two more than any other U23 player this weekend. Although it was two short of the record jointly-held by Nico Paz and Joško Gvardiol, Wharton also racked up 1.2 Expected Assisted Goals - a tally only bettered by the aforementioned Biereth this weekend. The Crystal Palace midfielder also became just the seventh different U23 player to record 5+ Key Passes, 5+ Passes into the Final Third and 5+ Long Passes Completed in a single game this season, alongside Lewis Hall, Pedri, Cole Palmer, Rayan Cherki, Nathaniel Brown and Hugo Larsson. The outside-of-the-foot through-ball to Eddie Nketiah was peak Wharton; Tommy Tuchel, do not let us down.

Hákon Arnar Haraldsson was this weekend’s U23 leader for Shot-Creating Actions, recording eight in Lille’s 1-0 win against Montpellier - that means Lamine Yamal’s record of 13 is safe. But the Icelandic winger was also one of two U23 players to complete 4 Passes into the Penalty Area this weekend, alongside Désiré Doué, and also made 4 Key Passes - a tally only Wharton could better.

Raúl Moro and Jérémy Doku recorded 5 Carries into the Penalty Area, halfway to this season’s U23 record, but I wanted to take the opportunity to show an awareness of Moro. The 2002-born winger has appeared consistently when looking at dribbling and ball-carrying metrics this season, made even more impressive given Real Valladolid’s horror season. Given their inevitable relegation, I expect Moro to be plucked from their squad almost immediately. In this same game, he also recored 8 Touches in the Attacking Penalty Area; only Bradley Barcola (9) could beat that this weekend.

I feel like I have rarely mentioned Jude Bellingham this season, which is bizarre. There was one week he popped up for NPxG+xAG but I recall even that was a relatively forced mention. In this new format, though, we might see more of him. This weekend, he made more Tackles (8) than any other U23 player. This was at least four more than any other Real Madrid player, while two of them came in the Attacking Third. But it was four away from the Tom Bischof record (12).

Dean Huijsen made 16 Clearances against Spurs, at least three more than any other U23 player this weekend. It also ranks him in the top 5 across the whole season in terms of single-game tallies recorded by players under the age of 23 - Charlie Cresswell remains top (20). For Huijsen, it feels like a call-up to the Spain senior squad this month is inevitable (Gasiorowski, Cubarsí...feels like we mention a young Spain CB every week - ed); as does a €50m move this summer.

Koni De Winter is the U23 record-holder for most Aerial Duels Won this season, winning 12 back in September. This weekend, the Belgian became the first player to reach double figures in 2025, winning 10/13 against Cagliari. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but Juventus sold both Huijsen and De Winter at the start of the season - although the latter’s move was the result of a conditional obligation to buy clause in the 2023/24 loan to Genoa - and started Federico Gatti alongside Lloyd Kelly in the 0-4 defeat to Atalanta. Those decisions have not aged well.