The most fascinating U-21 players from around the world

Désiré Doué, eh?

In the space of a week, Paris Saint-Germain won two finals, scoring eight goals without reply. This prodigious roaming forward was directly involved in five of those goals. Across all domestic leagues with advanced FBRef data available on Stathead, Doué was the only player with at least 900+ minutes to average 2.5 Shots, 2.5 Key Passes, 2.5 Successful Take-Ons, 5+ Progressive Passes and 5+ Progressive Carries per 90 in the league in 2024/25. On Tuesday, he celebrates his 20th birthday.

This week’s newsletter is not about Doué. I recently wrote about the striking similarities between him and Florian Wirtz which you can find below - funnily enough, 2023/24 Wirtz is one of the few players that can match that Doué statline, you can find the full list here. I simply wanted to intro Monday Night SCOUTED with those stats because Doué has quickly become the Parisian’s priceless asset.

Is Désiré Doué a Florian Wirtz clone?

Comparing two of the best young attacking midfielders in world football.

SCOUTEDJake Entwistle

So what is this week’s newsletter about? Well, with the recent re-addition of advanced data for the likes of the Belgian Pro League, Portuguese Primeira Liga, Serie B and more, I wanted to create another squad of fascinating young players. This time, I am looking at players born in 2004 or later in attempt to discover the next generation of fascinating players.