Talent Scout

The UEFA U-19 Championship 2008 tournament was held in the Czech Republic this year, and it was contested between 14th to 26th July, 2008. Germany lifted the UEFA U-19 Championship trophy after beating Italy 3-1, and in doing so claimed their first ever title.

For those of you who read World Soccer (which is an English language football magazine) then the name Andrea Russotto will be know to you. This is because World Soccer named him in their list of ‘Top 50 of the worlds best players under the age of 21‘ calling him “the nearest thing Italy have to Roberto Baggio”.

It seems like a lot of the players I mention within this section are from Spain and that is in part to La Selección dominating the U-19 European Championships, and also the fact that the Spanish have arguably some of the best youth systems in the world.

This article is a change from past ‘Talent Scout’ articles in that it will not name any players. Don’t worry I have not gone mad by not naming any players as I am creating an article to point out that a tournament is about to start in China in a few weeks which will contain a wealth of talent from around the globe.

Getafe’s sporting director, Toni Munoz, presented the club’s new signing, Polish nationalised German Eugen Polanski, to the press in the past few days, and this is an interesting move to all those involved.

Now is the time to pay attention to the Campeonato Ecuatoriano de Fútbol as thier league is about to be reviewed.

There are three players of interest who stand out to me from this corner of the world, and this is due to their current rating in relation to what I think they should be. Please note that this is my opinion, and not that of the SM Researchers.

Italy currently have a seemingly never-ending list of explosive talents coming through at present, with the likes of Mario Balotelli, Sebastian Giovinco and Fernando Forestieri just a few of those tipped for great things.

Another player who is starting to catch the eye is Juventus-owned forward Davide Lanzafame, and now is the time to take notice before he really does explode on to the scene.

AC Milan are looking ahead to the new season already, and they have 23 year old central defender Michele Canini on their radar.

Italo-Argentinian footballer Fernando Martín Forestieri only turned 18 at the turn of the year, and he is a name on many peoples lips in the Italian Peninsula.

I have a trio of talent for you to look into and they consist of a Burkinabe, Italian, and a Chilean. Some of the players may be known already, but if you have not heard of them before then now is a good time to scout them!