Euro 2025: Bonmatí says Spain being ‘the best team of the tournament' wasn't enough to win trophy
The
2023 World Cup winner
and
2024 UEFA Nations League title holder
still does not have a European title for its stellar generation after
a penalty shootout loss to England
in the final after a 1-1 draw after extra time.
Spain trailed for just four minutes' play across six games in the entire tournament. England led for barely five minutes' play in its three knockout rounds games – and none against Spain.
'We were the best team of the tournament, but sometimes that's not enough,' Spain star Aitana Bonmatí said.
Bonmatí cut a sad figure walking to the trophy ceremony platform to collect her trophy as the best player of the tournament, which she began days after being hospitalized with a bout of viral meningitis.
Bonmatí's spot kick in the shootout was one of two saved by England goalkeeper
Hannah Hampton
. Mariona Caldentey, whose 25th-minute headed goal seemed to set Spain on track for victory, also had her penalty saved.
Caldentey also went close to scoring a second time in the first half, in which tournament top scorer Esther Gonzalez had three chances to score.
Early in the second half, Caldentey's Arsenal teammates
Chloe Kelly
and Alessia Russo combined to level the score on Russo's header.
'I'm a bit in shock,' Bonmatí said. 'It was cruel. We played better, created more scoring chances, but in soccer sometimes that's not enough. It all came down to the penalties.'
'I'm sorry for my miss,' said two-time Ballon d'Or winner Bonmatí, whose teammates Caldentey and Alexia Putellas also failed from the spot in a 2-0 quarterfinal win over Switzerland.
'I think this team deserved more. At least not living with this bitter feeling,' Spain coach Montse Tomé said in translated comments.
Spain captain Irene Paredes said it was 'hard to look for the positives so soon. Right now, it's a very tough moment.'
'England were happy just to reach penalties but, in the shootout, we didn't perform well,' said Paredes, whose Barcelona team also lost the Women's Champions League final in May to an English opponent, Arsenal. 'To be a champion you need some luck, and I believe they had it.'
Spain still is a world champion and will soon prepare to start qualifying for the defense of its title. The 2027 World Cup is being played in Brazil.
'We will be back,' Bonmatí said. 'There will be a World Cup in a couple of years, and that's our goal now. This is a golden generation, with a lot of young players.'
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Yahoo
12 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Spain may not have won – but at least this tournament shows how much has changed
Vicky Lopez expressed the feelings of the entire team. It was her first major defeat with the senior Spain side and she was sobbing as she collected the silver medal, unable to contain her emotions. The world champions had just lost the Euro 2025 final against England following a penalty shootout, falling at the final hurdle in their bid to add the European Championship to the World Cup they won in 2023 and the Nations League trophy lifted in 2024. The disappointment will be felt deeply. They were the favourites against the Lionesses, even though this was their first final in this competition. In fact, Spain had never previously won a match in a knockout game at a European Championship. But when the dust settles and the pain of defeat has eased, they can at least reflect that this tournament has represented a huge step forward for the Spanish national team. The final outcome might suggest otherwise, but they will surely remember Euro 2025 as a significant moment in the development of women's football in the country. The 2023 World Cup arrived amid a battle between the players and the Spanish football federation, the RFEF, that had been brewing for some time and exploded in September 2022 after the last Euros. The players were demanding minimum conditions that would allow them to perform at their best. They became particularly aware of this with the professionalisation of club teams, led by Barcelona, and saw the difference between playing domestically and internationally. For many of them, playing for the national team was like a trip back in time. What did they mean by that? Well, everything. The players wanted better. They wanted to go to competitions in good time to ensure recovery from the journey and avoid it affecting the first match. They wanted to travel in the most comfortable conditions possible to avoid fatigue. They wanted a nutritionist, analysis of their opponents and themselves, enough friendly matches to prepare, physical trainers, more physios, optimal training-ground conditions and elite training. They felt other teams already had all of this and that it put them at a disadvantage when they faced them. Because when talent was equal, the best-prepared team won. Another issue was the hotels. They were always isolated, far from the venues hosting the matches in each competition. 'We hardly had any friendly matches, we were staying in hotels located in industrial estates next to petrol stations… we didn't have the same facilities as other teams to recover quickly, and we had fairly limited staff,' former player Veronica Boquete told The Athletic about the 2013 Euros. Years later, that situation had not improved in line with the developments in the women's game. In 2022, the team travelled to Marlow, a small town west of London. For the 2023 World Cup, they were based in Palmerston North, a city in the middle of New Zealand's North Island, far from all the venues. After the group stage, they had to move to Wellington because there were concerns that the condition of the pitch could cause injuries and the facilities proved to be inadequate. This summer, the RFEF decided to base the team in Lausanne, a beautiful city with a lake in the centre of Switzerland, close to all venues. The location was convenient for transport and the players felt so comfortable that after each match, they asked to spend the night there instead of in a hotel in the city where they were playing — Bern, Thun, Zurich — except for the day of the final in Basel. The training ground chosen, the Juan-Antonio-Samaranch Stadium, is one of the best available in Switzerland and the same is true of their chosen hotel, the Hotel Royal Savoy. The RFEF requested that vinyl stickers be placed throughout the hotel where the players would be staying so they would feel at home and know how to get to where they needed to go. They also travelled with a chef and, for the first time, a maitre d'. The facilities included a room to help players who are mothers, such as Irene Paredes, balance their family life. It was also useful for Alba Redondo and her stepdaughter. It was a small room with children's games and a table and chairs for children, close to the dining room where families could eat in peace and where players who needed to could congregate after each meal to be with their little ones. Patri Guijarro is the yardstick for measuring the level of improvement. She was one of 15 players who asked not to be selected in September 2022 and did return to play in the World Cup. She did not want to come back until the conditions were optimal, until the improvement was real. For the 2024 Olympics and this European Championship, she decided she was satisfied the change had taken place. She returned, becoming one of the best players in the tournament. 'Now we have the perfect food, we recover better with more physios, a psychologist, comfortable travel, a gym in all the facilities… those details also make a difference on the pitch,' Guijarro said in an interview with El Mundo a few weeks ago. 'I remember that in England (Euro 2022), the food was always the same. When you're at the top, those details matter.' At Euro 2025 — and for the first time — two doctors and six physiotherapists travelled with the team, along with seven people from the communications department, one from ticketing and another from fan experience. The improvement is dramatic and it is keenly felt. Sources in the dressing room, who wished to remain anonymous to protect their positions, told The Athletic the players finally have confidence that they have professional conditions in absolutely everything. They also feel this is the first tournament they have played in where they have been able to focus solely on football. Since the team began making improvements, and as soon as they were given a truly professional structure, they have won a World Cup, a Nations League and reached their first Euros final in just two years. During this tournament, they have taken their game to new heights. Their identity is increasingly solid, with an unmistakable style of possession and positioning: tiki-taka. They finished top of Group B, unbeaten and having scored 14 goals. They were the highest-scoring of all 16 teams in the competition. In the knockout stages, they eliminated hosts Switzerland (2-0), beat Germany in extra time (1-0) and reached the final for the first time. They showed their strengths, with a midfield that knows each other perfectly, Aitana Bonmati, Guijarro and Alexia Putellas setting the pace for an enthusiastic team in attack. Defensively, there were some weaknesses but ultimately it took a penalty shootout to defeat them. Now, the players can rest. Their fight for better conditions has been admirable from the outside but devastating from the inside. Three years after it began, they can say it was worth it. The song chosen as the soundtrack for the Euros in the Spain dressing room was 'El principio de algo' (the beginning of something) by Spanish band La La Love You. And that's what this Euros feels like for Spain, the beginning of something. Even if they lost the final. This article originally appeared in The Athletic. Spain, Soccer, La Liga, Women's Soccer, Women's Euros 2025 The Athletic Media Company
New York Times
15 minutes ago
- New York Times
Viktor Gyokeres, as told by his team-mates and coaches
From cut knees on the gravel pitches at his first club, to special gym workouts, Viktor Gyokeres is testament to the transformative powers of resilience, dedication and self-improvement. All-encompassing graft has turned a strong but unspectacular young player, who at one stage seemed good enough only for the Swedish first division, into a goal-scoring phenomenon at the top level of the club game. Advertisement Hard work is standard for most successful sportspeople, but the 27-year-old harnessed it from an early age. In doing so, Gyokeres ensured that, despite being a late bloomer, constant toil would make him one of the world's most coveted footballers. As Arsenal finally complete their move for the Sweden international, The Athletic spoke to former team-mates and coaches to find out what it's like to play with and against him. Additional reporting: Art de Roché, Sebastian Stafford-Bloor and Jack Lang At first, David Eklund needed some convincing. The scout for Stockholm club IF Brommapojkarna had decided just to keep tabs on the 11-year-old striker at local amateur team Aspudden-Tellus he had heard about. 'I was not immediately sure,' he tells The Athletic. 'He was really strong. Not so big then, but strong and hard-working. 'He could shoot from distance and score with his head. In the penalty area, he was a killer. But he was not so good technically. I didn't think he'd be a superstar. Maybe he'd play the highest level in Sweden or something like that.' At that time, Eklund was only just learning about the young Gyokeres' relentless work ethic and ambition. It had long been apparent to team-mates and coaches at Aspudden-Tellus, a club run by volunteers in suburban south Stockholm, roughly a mile from Gyokeres' childhood home. 'It was very clear,' says Bjorn Thuresson, Aspudden-Tellus' president. 'All his trainers spoke of his super dedication, and that was apparent early on. 'He wasn't that big as a child, but he was always physical. It is funny to see now, because there are aspects of his play he's kept from his early years. There would always be a bunch of adults watching when his team would play. 'He was goal-oriented. He was not that interested in spending too much time in the middle of the pitch — he always headed for goal and he scored a lot.' Advertisement Gyokeres' father Stefan was a coach at the club and oversaw his son's team. 'You would often see Viktor and his friends practising before training,' recalls Thuresson. 'He was extremely focused on his football, and that's all you heard about him. 'Well, that and you'd just hear people talking about how many goals he scored.' Gyokeres started playing with Aspudden-Tellus at the age of six and when he was old enough to play in games, it was all a far cry from the manicured surfaces he would one day grace in stadiums across Europe. 'He started off with us on the gravel pitch,' says Thuresson. 'It has changed, with more artificial pitches, since but at the time it was the only option. 'They had to wear special trousers so as not to scratch their knees. It was very down-to-earth.' Aspudden-Tellus, whose senior team play in the Swedish fourth tier, did not have an all-weather surface, so during the harsh winters, Gyokeres and team-mates would hone their skills playing indoor futsal. Despite the club's humble setup, Gyokeres stayed with them until he was 15. 'We accept anyone who wants to play, so the skill levels can be very different on the same team,' explains Thuresson. 'But it means the kids play many different types of games: sometimes with the best and they can hone their skills one way, but others with less advanced players and they must take on another type of responsibility. 'That was useful for him. He enjoyed it because if you join an academy (at a professional club), you only get one level of team-mate. I think having that responsibility will have helped him.' Eventually, Gyokeres did move on, after Eklund arranged for him to join Brommapojkarna's academy. 'I followed him for a while, watching him once a month, and made the first attempt to get him when he was 13,' remembers Eklund. 'I kept in contact with his father for the next couple of years. 'We played technical football, so it (his lack of finesse at that stage) was a bit of an issue, but sometimes you can just go for technical players and they don't work. His goalscoring was so good, it boded well for the future, and working with our coaches would improve him. He scored with both feet, the head, (he laughs) the ass.' By that stage, Gyokeres, who is now 6ft 2in (188cm), had started to grow taller and get stronger. 'The first time I properly met him and shook his hand, his hand swallowed mine!' says Eklund. Eklund had competition from other Stockholm teams, but Brommapojkarna's reputation for developing young players put them ahead of the rest. The interest in the young forward did not stretch beyond his homeland's borders, though. 'Bromma had the best relationship with the family and is the best club at developing young players,' says Eklund. 'Nobody from outside of Sweden was looking at him. They didn't know about him in Denmark or Norway. He has always been a late bloomer.' Advertisement Despite coaching his son and being a constant advisor as his career began to take off, Eklund insists Gyokeres' father was not overly controlling. 'Stefan is a nice guy,' says Eklund. 'He was not the pushy sort who would be demanding his son play in a certain position, etc. He always used to say Viktor had to do it himself. The most important thing for him was a club with the best coaches who'd take care of his son.' Hard work and a physical growth spurt led to early first-team opportunities for Gyokeres with Brommapojkarna in the Allsvenskan, Sweden's top professional division, after he had scored 16 goals in 17 games for their under-19 team. 'I remember the first team had a lot of injured players in 2015 and the coach called me and asked if we had any academy players who were strong enough to play for the first team,' says Eklund. 'I said, 'Yes, Viktor Gyokeres is strong enough to play there.' That was when he was 16. 'They took him and, the year after that, he started to do really well. He was like a grown man.' He joined the first team in 2017, when they were in the second division. Thirteen goals and eight assists in a season put Gyokeres on the radar of clubs beyond Sweden, and that September, he signed a two-and-a-half-year deal to join Brighton & Hove Albion of the Premier League in the following January window. His farewell performance was a hat-trick in a season-finale win which clinched promotion back to the top flight. A post shared by Viktor Gyökeres (@viktorgyokeres) The next stage was a step into the unknown with Brighton via under-23s football in Premier League 2. 'I met him in Nando's the day before he signed for us,' recalls then Brighton Under-23 team-mate Steven Alzate. 'I'd seen Vik in the training ground during the day and later that evening, I was getting food with (then Brighton goalkeeper) Robert Sanchez. We saw him there with his girlfriend before he'd been announced. Advertisement 'We got chatting and then it was easier for him to approach us the next day, because he recognised us and got more relaxed around us. 'We used to go for brunch. Other times, we'd meet up and watch Champions League games together.' Alzate, now with Hull City of England's second-tier Championship, admired his new friend's discipline. 'He is always in the gym,' he says. 'He loved doing his core work. He would be (in the gym) every day, doing his own little routine. 'You see him now and he's ripped. Shredded. He's obviously carried on with that discipline and hard work. He's done everything he can that's in his control and now the rest has fallen into place for him.' Not everything fell immediately into place for Gyokeres in England. He scored seven times for Brighton Under-23s in the second half of that 2017-18 season, but senior-level opportunities were limited. 'His attitude and appetite stood out,' remembers Dale Stephens, a first-team regular in Brighton's midfield at that time. 'We were struggling at the time (it was Brighton's first Premier League season, and they finished 15th in the 20-team division) and he was young, so he found his opportunities limited, but what was noticeable was the size of him for a kid. He was a big, powerful boy, a threat, and that was along with that appetite to get better. 'What you see now is the result of years of that same mindset.' Stephens admits that, despite Gyokeres' physical power and scoring record back home, he did not seem a natural at the higher level he encountered in England. 'It was more about him being incredibly athletic, powerful, and a threat in terms of his pace behind,' he says. 'But I wouldn't have said at the time he was a natural goalscorer. He was 21 then, so I would say it's not a natural gift; it's something he's worked very hard on. His finishing is a testament to hard work. Advertisement 'It can be quite daunting coming in as an under-23s player when you're so young, but he was training with us regularly. He wasn't afraid of putting in challenges in training. You could see how he trained and he never missed a gym session. Because he relied on his strength, you can see that it was important to him and why he's maintained it. He obviously knew he needed that in his armoury to play at the top level.' With first-team exposure at Brighton only fitful after his first full year with the club, in July 2019, Gyokeres moved on a season's loan to St Pauli of the German second division. People behind the scenes at the Hamburg club recall the same extra work after training, on both technique and his fitness, mentioned above. Gyokeres is remembered as a talented player, and St Pauli had a bid to make the move permanent rejected by Brighton after his loan spell brought seven goals and four assists in 26 league games. Brighton were not ready to give up on the young Swede, but he still could not break into their first team under then head coach Graham Potter. Potter wanted a No 9 who could drop deep and link build-up play, and Gyokeres did not fit that profile, so loans into the Championship at Swansea City and then Coventry City followed, before a permanent move to the latter in summer 2021. Gyokeres never got closer to playing for Brighton in the Premier League than a handful of appearances on the bench, and of the eight times he did get a game (five starts), during which he scored once, four were in the Carabao Cup. 'When he wasn't getting the opportunities (to play), he actually took the hit and went to Coventry,' says Stephens. 'It was a step down in level, but he catapulted forward in development terms. He had his chance, did well and earned the move to Sporting. It's a good example for most young players.' Gyokeres' first season as a permanent Coventry player was memorable, with 18 goals in all competitions. Midfielder Ben Sheaf was on loan at the Midlands club from Arsenal at the same time and also joined permanently in July 2021. 'When he came (on loan), he was in and out of the team and showed glimpses of quality,' says Sheaf, who is the same age as the centre-forward. 'He signed permanently after the first loan, and he came back having put more muscle on and was even more physical. Advertisement 'He was relentless with how much he practised. He'd do a lot of finishing drills after training. I remember once in training, we did 11-v-11, and the ball got thrown into him when I was playing against him. 'He pinned and rolled me, and I just couldn't do anything about it. That was the first time I remember thinking: 'Blimey, this is what opposition teams are going to feel'. That was the first time I felt his physicality. 'He was always ultra-competitive in training. He'd throw his toys out of the pram if we didn't win a small-sided game.' Coventry spent time working on Gyokeres' ability with his back to goal in tighter areas, as well as moving across defenders and finishing early. He responded with 38 goals in 91 league appearances for the club. 'He was our main man,' says Sheaf. 'He could run in behind, hold the ball up and was so physical. The way we played was probably based around his attributes. 'We loved having the ball, but at times we could sit in deep and know we've got him on the counter to drag us up the pitch.' Gyokeres' physical dominance meant he was a constant option for hard-pressed team-mates. 'The goal that stands out most is against Wigan (in 2023),' says Sheaf. 'The ball gets booted clear. He brings it down on the halfway line and just drifts away from everyone. I was actually the person running behind him and he was dribbling away from me when I was trying to catch up. 'He ended up scoring anyway.' Even as a deeper-lying midfielder, Sheaf recalls knowing that the sight of Gyokeres running the channels was a strong passing option. 'I knew I didn't always have to get it out wide or play short,' he says. 'There was an option in knowing that if he's running the channel, he's winning the ball because he's that powerful. He makes your pass look good.' Advertisement Off the pitch, Gyokeres was starting to come out of his shell. 'He's a serious guy until you get to know him and he opens up,' Sheaf says. 'He's a good lad but he'd be arguing in training, always wanting to win and doing finishing drills after — absolutely t**ting balls in. 'Ben Wilson, our 'keeper, used to call him 'You big Swedish meatball-head', in his Geordie accent. But he was one of the lads that was closest to him at the time and they used to take the p**s out of each other.' After smashing in 22 goals in the 2022-23 season for Coventry, which ended in penalty shootout defeat to Luton Town in the Championship's play-off final with Premier League promotion on the line, Gyokeres joined Portuguese top-flight side Sporting CP on a five-year deal for a club-record €24million (£21.6m/$28m). In Lisbon, he went into overdrive. Last season, he scored 54 times in 52 games as Sporting won the league title and cup double. 'A phenomenon,' Sporting coach Rui Borges called him after hr got two goals against Casa Pia in March. 'He's got it all: technical quality, strength, lucidity. He's one of the best strikers ever to play in our league.' Before facing him in another game that month, Estrela da Amadora defender Ferro suggested the only way to stop the Swedish forward was with a 'magic potion'. Now comes the biggest test yet, with Gyokeres charged with translating all that to the English top flight he never quite got to play in with Brighton and fell just shy of reaching as a Coventry player. Is he ready? Eklund is sure. 'He needs to play every week,' he says. 'He's perfect for the Premier League.' Stephens, who made 109 Premier League appearances for Brighton and Burnley, agrees. 'He has all the attributes. I suppose it'll be: can he do it in the big games? But I don't think Arsenal will look at this as a risk. They will have looked at him against the top teams in the Champions League.' Advertisement Finally, for Sheaf, the Arsenal move, along with Gyokeres' Champions League exploits — including a hat-trick against Manchester City last season — is evidence that 'The big meatball-head' is much more than just power and pace. 'He's not just a machine that can run through people and bully defenders,' he says. 'He can play more intricately. He's going to have to adapt his game, but he's only going to get better.'
New York Times
15 minutes ago
- New York Times
So, Viktor Gyokeres has joined Arsenal. Which other strikers could your club target?
Viktor Gyokeres has joined Arsenal from Sporting CP, ending a protracted saga. The summer has been one of movement in the striker department. Gyokeres' transfer for €63.5million (£55m; $75m) plus a potential €10m more in add-ons, joins those of Hugo Ekitike, Liam Delap, Joao Pedro and Jonathan David on the list of big-name front men to change clubs ahead of the 2025-26 season. Thierno Barry (Villarreal to Everton), Jonathan Burkardt (Mainz to Eintracht Frankfurt), Lorenzo Lucca (Udinese to Napoli) and Ange-Yoan Bonny (Parma to Inter) are on that list, too. With over a month still to go until deadline day, you might be concerned that your club have missed the bus in terms of adding a top striker. But fear not — The Athletic has looked at those who may yet be viable targets for your team before the window shuts on September 1. Alexander Isak has quickly emerged as the standout name here, after The Athletic reported on Thursday that he had informed Newcastle United of his wish to leave this summer. The 25-year-old has a unique blend of qualities that have helped him thrive in the Premier League, with consecutive 20-goal seasons in 2023-24 and 2024-25. Isak is an athletic dribbler with the power, technical prowess and eye for goal that teams covet. His footballing brain is incredible too, with well-timed runs into goalscoring areas, excellent link-up play and the ability to drag defenders out of position due to his comfort in receiving the ball across the pitch, as seen below. A history of several minor injuries across the past three seasons and the massive expenditure teams would need to commit to get a deal done are the concerns surrounding the Sweden international. But his age and a skill set that will help him fit into a variety of attacking schemes make him an attractive proposition. Advertisement Speaking of potentially expensive strikers who know their way to the physio's room, it would be remiss to leave Victor Osimhen out of this section. The 26-year-old Nigeria international is power personified, capable of unstoppable finishes, particularly on his stronger right foot. Osimhen is a high-volume shooter who thrives in the box, regularly outperforms expectations, and relishes physical duels. That package helped him score 37 goals in 41 matches for Galatasaray — on loan from Napoli — last season. Osimhen's troubles have been in keeping himself fit, missing seven or more games for club and country due to injuries in each of the past five seasons. His contract at Napoli expires in summer 2026, with the Italian club signing Romelu Lukaku a year ago to replace him. But his salary demands, reportedly £10million ($13.5m) a year, could prove prohibitive for interested teams. Aston Villa's Ollie Watkins, who is on Manchester United's wish-list, offers a slightly different skill set. The 29-year-old England international is the kind of channel-running centre-forward that United coach Ruben Amorim's system could use. Watkins' threat in behind helps him pin opposition centre-backs and open up the half-spaces for his creative team-mates to operate in. Data from SkillCorner shows he averaged the highest share of runs in behind as a percentage of a player's total in the 2024-25 Premier League, indicating what an important part of his game that action is. But Watkins' best work is done in the box. His rate of 2.8 shots per 90 minutes last season does not stand out, but he got 44 per cent of them on target, resulting in a 16-goal return. Watkins also combined his channel runs with end-product, creating several chances and providing eight assists using a combination of cutbacks and passes on the turn. Advertisement Yoane Wissa is another who falls into this category, having improved statistically season upon season since joining Brentford from France's Lorient in August 2021. Initially a supersub who played across the front line, Wissa has maintained that positional versatility while evolving into a multi-faceted centre-forward who has scored 31 league goals over the past two years. He is solid at getting into optimal shooting positions, with his expected goals per shot figure of 0.207 in last season's Premier League trailing only that of Erling Haaland. But as tracking data from SkillCorner shows, Wissa's big value comes from his work out of possession. His relentless and clever running dragged defenders out of position, creating space for Bryan Mbeumo, Kevin Schade and Mikkel Damsgaard to exploit on the way to the best Premier League seasons of their careers so far. The low-cost option in this bucket is Dominic Calvert-Lewin, who is a free agent following the end of his Everton contract in June. While he turned 28 in March, there is a lingering sense of unfulfilled potential with Calvert-Lewin. Injuries are the primary contributor to that, with multiple hamstring problems since 2020-21 and 88 matches missed over the past five seasons. Everton's system has played a part, too. Calvert-Lewin spent much of his time on the pitch away from the action, with his involvement often being limited to battling defenders to win first and second balls. Not being actively involved resulted in rushed finishes, scuffed opportunities, and a goal return of around one every four games. Calvert-Lewin's strengths are his hold-up play and meeting balls coming into the box. His 19 headed goals since the start of the 2018-19 Premier League season only trail the hauls of Chris Wood (28) and Harry Kane (24), while just Mohamed Salah (359) has got off more first-time shots than his 278 in that same period. He may yet stay at Chelsea, given his contract there runs to the end of the 2032-33 season, but if Nicolas Jackson is available following the arrivals of Delap and Joao Pedro this summer, his profile will interest teams. In the grand scheme of things, Jackson is quite inexperienced, with exactly 100 top-flight appearances in Spain and England, though he is now 24. The inconsistency in his finishing creates frustration, but 43 goals in 129 combined appearances for Villarreal and Chelsea is a decent return, and his attributes outside of scoring are encouraging. Advertisement Jackson is excellent at leading the press and using his physicality to unsettle defenders. He has a rapid turn of pace, spinning defenders who get touch-tight and sprinting past them with raw speed, too. As the chart below using SkillCorner data shows, Jackson is at his best when playing off the final defender's shoulder, offering a threat in behind and the game sense to get into good shooting positions. Like Wissa, his selfless runs without the ball help get the best out of those around him. Two red cards in five appearances at the end of last season might give some interested teams pause. If the demand is for a box threat instead, Fiorentina's Moise Kean is worth considering. Kean has spent the past few years in the footballing wilderness, crossing 1,000 league minutes only twice across the six seasons between 2017-18 and 2023-24. But the most recent campaign, his first in Florence, brought a career-high 2,710 league minutes and 19 Serie A goals. Kean, 25, feasts on opportunities within the six-yard box, as his shot map below shows. After spending several seasons as a backup option or an emergency striker in a two-man forward line, the Italy international showed that he is at his best as the sole target man in a system that generates passes to his feet from a variety of angles. Kean is good at sizing up defenders and is a nimble dribbler capable of carrying the ball for long distances. At 6ft (183cm), he does not offer much aerial threat and is not too involved in link-up play, letting his goals do the talking instead. Benjamin Sesko, who is of interest to Newcastle amid doubts over Isak's future, falls into this category too, after scoring 17 goals across last season's Bundesliga and Champions League for an inconsistent RB Leipzig team. The 22-year-old's calling cards are his aerial presence (he stands 6ft 4in/194cm) and consistently improving passing arsenal. Sesko completed only 68 per cent of his passes in the 2024-25 German top flight, largely due to his willingness to take risks, with 19 chances created and five assists. Advertisement On the flipside, his finishing can be erratic, often opting for the prospect of spectacular goals over precision and the guarantees offered by better positioning. Those factors make his off-days look worse than they actually are and can also harm his goalscoring chances against low blocks, which most top teams will face across a season. Another year in the Bundesliga will help his development — he'll only turn 23 two weeks after it ends — but the interest in his talents is understandable. The excitement of watching a pacy forward at full flight is palpable. In a nutshell, that is what Emanuel Emegha offers. Emegha is rapid, with an eye for goal. He scored 14 times in Ligue 1 for Strasbourg last season, nearly doubling his return from 2023-24 (eight) in one fewer appearance (27 to 28). The 22-year-old Dutchman is excellent at running the wide channels in build-up and finding gaps when in the box, modifying his pace to position himself in the best goalscoring position. In this example against Rennes, Emegha recaibrates his runs twice to get behind a defender and then a third time to sprint past him (frame three) and meet the cross. These qualities meant he averaged 0.28 xG per shot in Ligue 1 last season — the highest of all players across Europe's top five leagues. Despite that, Emegha's finishing can feel clumsy, and he often drives the ball into the ground, resulting in scuffed shots, though his potential is obvious. Shifting focus to Serie A, Roberto Piccoli and Nikola Krstovic are two of the more interesting options. Piccoli was part of a Cagliari side who thrived in transition in Italy's top flight last season, averaging a league-best 14.6 counterattacks per 90 and scoring its third-most goals from fast breaks (seven). The 24-year-old is not a channel runner, preferring instead to use his positioning against unsettled defences to get into scoring positions. Advertisement He is a powerful header of the ball, which contributed five of his 10 league goals from open play last season. No other player to score 10 or more in their domestic league managed a higher share across La Liga, Bundesliga, Serie A or the Premier League. While right-footed, he has a decent shot with his left, too. Though he is not the best at link-up play, Piccoli can generate moments like the one below in transition against Bologna. Receiving a pass from his defence, he spins off an opponent and carries the ball several yards before laying it off to a team-mate. Once in the box, he surveys the defence to spot his colleague pinning a defender and moves into the perfect position to blast a header home. While he is a threat in fast-paced games, Piccoli's skill set will need to evolve for him to be a decisive factor in possession-based team styles and against low blocks. Krstovic offers a little more creativity, due to his willingness to drift to the wings and find his way back into central areas. The Lecce striker is a scoring threat with both feet and his head. He can produce powerful finishes, with his quick release and minimal backlift giving defenders little time to close him down. The 25-year-old Montenegro international often prioritises power over precision, though, and can easily be tempted into taking on low-quality chances from distance. Among players to score 10 or more goals across Serie A, La Liga, the Premier League and Bundesliga, only Antoine Semenyo and Matheus Cunha averaged a lower xG per shot last season than his 0.088. It means Krstovic is capable of spectacular finishes such as the one below against Milan… What a hit from Nikola Krstović 😮💨#LecceMilan — Lega Serie A (@SerieA_EN) March 9, 2025 … as well as some ridiculous shots including this one against fellow relegation candidates Venezia in April, with Lecce chasing a winner at home in the game's closing moments (yes, that dotted line is the approximate trajectory his shot took). Krstovic offers more with his passing, laying on five league assists last season, and defensive work than Piccoli, but can be a frustrating watch due to his overwhelming tendency to go for goal. Finally, if pace, power, potential and a cool name are the needs of the hour, look no further than Promise David. Advertisement The 24-year-old has followed a strange career path, starting in his home nation of Canada and featuring spells in Croatia, the United States, Malta and Estonia before joining Brussels' Union Saint-Gilloise last summer and helping them win the Belgian title. David stands at a massive 196cm (6ft 5in) and is a long strider but has a unique elegance that allows him to carry the ball large distances. He's someone who enjoys the physical challenge of taking on opposition players, the best example of this being the goal he scored against Royal Antwerp in March, where he runs in behind a defender who drags his shirt twice without luck. David beats him and the goalkeeper before delivering his trademark side-footed finish across the latter. His celebration in front of the Saint-Gilloise fans with an Incredible Hulk-esque torn jersey is an all-timer. This is what makes David so difficult to stop. While he is a threat in behind due to his pace, his physical attributes mean he can bulldoze past defenders too. There are understandably areas to improve, too. His weak-foot finishing is awkward, and despite his frame, he often mistimes his leap to meet aerial passes. David can also be caught flat-footed at times when collecting passes under pressure and often needs an extra touch to compose himself before shooting, which gives defenders the chance to make a last-ditch attempt to block it. Overall, though, the four-time Canada international is a promising talent who has needed to take the less-travelled road to get to where he is now and could explode in the coming years. (Top photos: Getty Images)
