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6th May 2013

Strong Netherlands Under-21 squad named for Euros

Netherlands have announced a strong preliminary squad for the UEFA Under-21 European Championship this summer, featuring the likes of Adam Maher (pictured), Kevin Strootman and Bruno Martins Indi—as well as Chelsea duo Jeffrey Bruma and [...]
4th May 2013

English youngster Brown breaks records

West Brom attacking midfielder Isaiah Brown became the club’s youngest post-war player at the age of 16 years and 117 days on Saturday afternoon, becoming the second youngest player in Premier League history. Brown, who often [...]
4th May 2013

AC Milan capture Jherson Vergara

AC Milan have completed the €2 million signing of Colombian defender Jherson Vergara Amú from Deportes Quindio, subject to medical checks early next week. Vergara, 18, was one of the stars of the Colombia Under-20 [...]
3rd May 2013

Wu Lei: China’s brightest hope?

Wu Lei has been a familiar name to followers of Chinese football for a long time. All the way back in 2006, Wu became the youngest ever player to play a professional match in [...]
2nd May 2013

Lucas Piazon prepared for another season on loan

Chelsea forward Lucas Piazon has told reporters that he is prepared to spend another season on loan in 2013-14, with no knowledge at present as to whether the West London side wish to keep him [...]
1st May 2013

Bundesliga’s Got Talent

The Elastico‘s Christopher Atkins takes a look at some of the attacking midfield talent in the Bundesliga outside of Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund. Read the full piece on ESPNfc
1st May 2013

Leandro Damião Premier League switch “likely” this year

Internacional target man Leandro Damião is set to move to English football within the next twelve months, according to Internacional president Giovanni Luigi—with Tottenham the most likely destination. Read The Elastico’s Next Wave profile of the [...]
22nd April 2013

Gotze to join Bayern for €37 million – report

Renowned German newspaper Bild are reporting that Germany international attacking midfielder Mario Gotze will leave Borussia Dortmund this summer to join rivals Bayern Munich, for a fee of €37 million. While the news is yet [...]
17th April 2013

Cruzeiro beat Chelsea, Liverpool in race for Dedé

Cruzeiro have announced the impending signing of Vasco da Gama defender Dedé on their official club website, having struck a €5 million deal for the Liverpool and Chelsea linked defender. Read The Elastico’s Next Wave [...]
17th April 2013

Just what makes Geoffrey Kondogbia so special?

Geoffrey Kondogbia is very much the man of the moment in European football, with Manchester City, Real Madrid and AC Milan all said to be fighting over his signature. But, what makes him so special? [...]
5th April 2013

Ebenezer Assifuah shines at African Under-20 Championship

The African Under 20 Championships ended in Algeria last weekend, with Egypt emerging as winners after beating the Black Satellites of Ghana 5-4 in a penalty shootout. The game had ended 1-1 in regulation time, when the two [...]
1st March 2013

Man Utd’s Rafael: A contender for Young Player of the Year?

The PFA Young Player of the Year award is bizarre in many respects. Just last season, for example, Sergio Aguero and Gareth Bale were among the nominees despite both having played first-team football for several [...]
28th February 2013

Rodgers admits Sterling is ‘fatigued’

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has admitted that star youngster Raheem Sterling is suffering from fatigue, having played more games this campaign than had initially been expected. Sterling, 18, has appeared 35 times for the Reds [...]
23rd February 2013

Lukaku praised as brace hands West Brom win

West Bromwich Albion manager Steve Clarke has showered praise upon Chelsea loanee Romelu Lukaku after the Belgian striker’s two goals handed his side a 2-1 victory over Sunderland at the Hawthorns. Lukaku, 19, took his [...]
22nd February 2013

Cristian Cuevas confirms Chelsea move

Chilean youngster Cristian Cuevas will join Chelsea this summer according to the player himself, who told media in his homeland that all was agreed earlier this week. Read a Cristian Cuevas profile on The Elastico [...]
20th February 2013

AFCON star Sunday Mba reveals European offers

Nigerian attacking midfielder Sunday Mba has revealed that he has been “inundated” with offers from European clubs since his impressive performances at the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations, including interest from clubs in England, Spain [...]
20th February 2013

Boga inspires Chelsea in NextGen Series

Chelsea moved onwards to the Quarter-Final stage of the 2012-13 NextGen Series with a 2-0 victory over Barcelona at the Mini Estadi, with 16-year-old French attacking midfielder Jeremie Boga key to their success. Barcelona’s Juvenil [...]
19th February 2013

Agbonlahor impressed by Benteke debut season

Aston Villa forward Gabriel Agbonlahor believes that many Premier League sides would love to have teammate Christan Benteke up-front, following the Belgian’s impressive start to life in England. Benteke, 22, moved to Aston Villa for [...]
19th February 2013

Courtois aiming to replace Cech at Chelsea

On-loan Chelsea goalkeeper Thibault Courtois has rubbished suggestions that he will be leaving the Blues this summer, insisting that everything is still progressing as planned on loan at Atlético Madrid. There had been suggestions that [...]
14th February 2013

Kevin Volland: The Shining Light for Hoffenheim

At the start of the season, Hoffenheim chairman Dietmar Hopp said that under the now sacked Markus Babbel, they could achieve a Champions League place. Things have not worked out the way Hopp hoped it [...]
13th February 2013

AFCON 2013 Talent Watch Round Up

From the point of view of someone who looks out for rising talent, the 2013 AFCON was not the most accessible of tournaments. Not a lot of unknown players emerged, and even those who went [...]
26th January 2013

Liverpool agree €13 million Coutinho fee with Inter – report

Premier League giants Liverpool have struck a deal with Inter Milan to sign young Brazilian forward Philippe Coutinho for €13 million, according to respected Sky Sports Italia reporter Gianluca di Marzio. Coutinho, 20, has grown [...]
25th January 2013

Man Utd linked Herrera confirms he will join Porto

Linked to Manchester United for some time, Mexico midfielder Hector Herrera has confirmed that he will join Portuguese giants FC Porto this summer, after days of speculation. Herrera, 22, who starred in helping his side [...]
25th January 2013

Zaha delight at £15 million Man Utd move

England forward Wilfried Zaha will join Manchester United from Crystal Palace in June after passing a medical in Manchester on Friday, with a £10 million initial fee having been agreed between the two clubs. Read [...]
24th January 2013

Matthias Ginter: A Future Partner To Mats Hummels

Remember Freiburg’s sensational turn around under Christian Streich in the second half of last season? Have you been keeping an eye on the club’s incredible run this season? Well, if you haven’t, you may well [...]