While Burkina Faso may have seen their U17 World Cup hopes ended at the hands of Italy today, it takes nothing away from their impressive performance at this tournament and specifically the performance of Mohamed Zongo.
The attacking midfielder/winger, who will turn 16 years old in just a few days, had a standout performance for Burkina Faso at the U17 World Cup. With two goals and three assists, Zongo was a constant threat in the Burkinabe attack. Full of flair and with a magical left foot to complement it, Zongo can provide or score all the same. What stood out to me while watching is how deceptively powerful his ball striking is. On several occasions, it would look like Zongo was about to deliver a chipped cross, floated to the back post, only for an incredibly powerful shot to come off his boot instead. He showed the ability to put a good amount of curve on the ball, even at high-pace delivery. His goals against Czechia and Germany were a fantastic demonstration of ball-striking ability. For such a young player, Zongo has very impressive technical and physical ability.
Zongo is light on his feet and very agile on the ball, being a constant nightmare to opposing fullbacks in this tournament. His pace and acceleration were solid, not game breaking, but this is not something to judge him on at 15. He showed a good eye for identifying dangerous spaces to move into, and provided strong supporting runs for his teammates while in possession. Out of possession, Zongo looked to put in a high level of effort, and from what I could observe, seemed coachable and responsive to touchline instructions.
While mostly starting as a RW for the Burkina Faso U17 squad, Zongo clearly has the abilities to play more centrally as a #10, and often drifted inside onto his preferred left foot. As he still plays his club football in Burkina Faso, this U17 World Cup is the first I and many others have gotten to see of him, and I’m sure there will be several European clubs shortlisting him as one for the future. The right development path will likely be a significant part of his decision on where to sign, when that happens. At such a young age but having already shown very impressive ability, whichever club signs Zongo will have to be careful to bring him up the ranks at the right pace. He would still be eligible to play youth football for another 4/5 years, but it seems likely that he will make a senior debut sooner than that.
I wish Burkina Faso had advanced so I could have seen more of Mohamed Zongo, but he truly impressed and I see a lot of potential. With time on his side, just remember the name, as Mohamed Zongo is one to watch.
Born in 2008 (yes, I feel old too) about 25km north of Napoli in the city of Aversa, Italy, Honest Ahanor is now making his name known. Growing up with Italian legend Paolo Maldini as his footballing idol, Ahanor joined the Genoa youth ranks with that in mind, as he began to develop as a CB. During the 2024/25 season, Ahanor started with the Genoa U15’s, then moved to the U16’s, and promptly again to the U17’s. This same year, at 15 years old, he was called up to play for Genoa’s U19 team, and the following year was immediately promoted to the U20’s. Just three matches at that level in the 24/25 season, and Genoa had seen enough, bringing Ahanor up to the senior team. This rise from U15 football to Serie A in less than 2 seasons was truly remarkable, and since then Ahanor has been showing why he deserved it. After playing in 6 matches for Genoa in the 24/25 season, Atalanta shelled out 20M euros for the defender, the second highest transfer fee of all time for an Italian U17 player. Clearly they saw his potential, and he has repaid their faith so far, performing even better in his first matches with Atalanta than he did at Genoa.
Player Overview:
A true ball playing CB, Honest Ahanor stands out most in possession. He loves to bring the ball out of defence himself, and will frequently use his long frame to skip past defenders in just a few steps. Ahanor does have the early makings of a rare type of defender, one who can very comfortably operate as both a CB, and as a LWB. Think Atlético’s Dávid Hancko, just trade off some of Hancko’s defending/crossing ability for a bit more on the ball skill.
Physical:
Standing at 184cm tall, Honest Ahanor has a relatively slender, but strong build. At just 17 years old, he is nowhere near his physical peak yet, and will almost certainly develop considerably in this area. However, his light and agile frame allows him to move with the ball unlike most defenders, showing strong pace and a quick change of direction. While not aerially dominant just yet, Ahanor has shown a very respectable level of duels as a teenager playing against grown men – winning 14/20 of his Serie A duels and 3/4 of his aerial duels so far.
Mental/Tactical:
While I can’t say I know Honest Ahanor, the human being, we can infer something about his mentality from his rapid rise to the top of Italian football. Every time he has been given an opportunity, he has made the most of it. With Atalanta, Ahanor has played in both Champions League matches so far, albeit just 5 minutes vs PSG. In his full match against Club Brugge, Ahanor was one of Atalanta’s standout players while being one of their least experienced, showing his ability to rise to the occasion. Tactically, as I mentioned before, I believe Ahanor could operate as a LCB/LB in a back 4 system, or as a CB/LWB in a back 5 system. He really enjoys making forward runs, both inverted and overlapping, though in Atalanta’s current system he is asked to make inverted runs more often while playing as the LCB. Ahanor’s off the ball movement is also very impressive, not just often seen. In the match against Brugge, several times Ahanor broke the first (and sometimes second) lines of press by himself, before laying the ball off and continuing his run into the box, adding an extra dimension to the Atalanta attack for defenders to consider. Defensively, his positioning looks quite sound for such a young defender, frequently intercepting and recovering the ball for his side. At times he has to use his long frame to stretch for a block or tackle, and could work more on being in position to not need to make a tackle, like his idol Maldini. Overall, Ahanor looks like a tactically versatile player who can play in multiple roles across a defence.
Technical:
When Ahanor is on the ball, he looks special. Very comfortable with the ball at his feet, Ahanor is a very accurate passer, recording an 86% pass completion rate in Serie A, and in his full UCL debut completing 58/59 passes. Ahanor does like to try a few long balls per game, which does make his pass completion rating more impressive. Ahanor has yet to be dispossessed while in possession this season, which absolutely lines up with the eye test on him. Almost as if he wants to be pressured, Ahanor will draw defenders in very close, before darting around them before they can react. This made buildup for Atalanta relatively easy both against Juventus and Club Brugge, as any time play was switched over to the left side, Ahanor had more than enough space to take the ball into the middle or final third by himself, and had the ability to do so. If you’re an admirer of Total Football, or love seeing a defender attack, then Honest Ahanor is the defender for you.
Summary:
A very exciting Italian defender, Honest Ahanor can comfortably play anywhere from LWB to a central CB, but would be best in a back 5 system. Incredibly gifted on the ball, he is a one-man press destroying machine, frequently bringing the ball out of defence by himself, and then appearing in the final third in central positions you wouldn’t expect a CB to be in. The amount of chaos that he causes to defensive structures is quite unique. With the right development, Ahanor has potential to be an Italian senior national team player at the bare minimum. With a closest player comparison to Dávid Hancko, it is no coincidence that I believe Atlético de Madrid would be a top destination for Ahanor to reach his full potential at. He already has the makings of a top-level ball playing CB, and the defensive development he would receive under Simeone would round out his skillset in a way that could allow him to become a real star. Everton could be another decent option as a LB, looking at their usage of Mykolenko over the past few seasons. Regardless of where he ends up, Honest Ahanor is an extremely promising prospect with the potential to become a world-class “Swiss army knife” type defender: slot him in anywhere in defence and he’ll do a job.
Since the club from little ol Bodø made it to the Europa league semifinal last season, they’ve finally gained some well deserved recognition! As such, some of you reading this may already know who Kasper Høgh is. The 24 year old Danish striker who joined Glimt ahead of the 2024 Eliteserien season from Stabaek has had a meteoric rise since joining the Norwegian champions. After 5 goals in 14 matches for Stabaek in 2023, not many would’ve predicted him to score a goal per 90 minutes in his debut season at Bodø/Glimt, except for the Glimt scouts of course. This is already a trend, where Glimt sign a (at the time) relatively unknown striker without much proven success at their level, and develop them into regular Top 5 league players – Victor Boniface being the prime example. However, many might propose that Høgh’s strong performance was just a factor of him playing for a much stronger team. While it certainly helps to be surrounded by higher quality players, Høgh himself also developed his all-around game as the season went on and became a more complete striker.
As he started the 2025 season, Høgh once again looked to be a much improved player. This year, he started adding more playmaking to his game, averaging 0.32 assists per 90, up from 0.08 p90 in his debut Glimt season. Here is a good example of his evolved positioning and playmaking from today’s match vs. Sandefjord.
First, Høgh sees his team win the ball back in their own defensive third, and makes a quick run out to the wide channel to offer an outlet. He pulls the RCB out of position, but holds the ball up successfully and turns to bait a second Sandefjord defender in.
Then, spotting the underlapping run of his fullback, Høgh plays a perfectly weighted through ball between the two defenders marking him, leading to a clear cut chance on goal.
While very competent in the air, it would be a mistake to profile him as a target forward. Høgh has needed to become strong in holdup play, as he is often a lone outlet if Glimt are under extended pressure. He likes to drop in deeper at times and look to play through one of his teammates before arriving late in the box. When he does get the ball at his feet in the box, he produces a quality shot on target much more often than not. Høgh has consistently outperformed his xG numbers for all 3 seasons in the Eliteserien, as well as in last season’s Europa League. If a player overperforms xG in one season, there is right to have caution they may not replicate the same success. However, some players (though they are rare) can consistently outperform their xG, and that is what we are seeing so far with Kasper Høgh.
Strong out of possession, Høgh leads the Glimt press, with his main role being to force the ball up one side of the pitch. On average, he gets dribbled past (breaking the first line of the Glimt press) once every 5 matches, and wins the ball back in the final third more often than he is dribbled past. If moving to a club with a manager who can coach players in pressing, Høgh could no doubt become a very serviceable pressing forward at the Premier League level in such a system. He has only committed ~1 foul per match at Bodø/Glimt, and has only received a single yellow card on his disciplinary record.
The reason I believe that he will be available to purchase is because he recently signed a new contract extension at Glimt. This is a very common occurrence at Glimt right before a player is sold for a decent transfer fee. Høgh also just cannot stop scoring. Still scoring at a goal per 90 minutes in the league with Glimt, and at 0.6 p90 in the Europa League last season, Høgh will get a shot to prove himself in the Champions League this year. With the January window coming at the end of the Norwegian domestic season, it is often a convenient time for players to move, and I have little doubt that Høgh would succeed playing in a higher league. For reference, Høgh is scoring at a higher rate than Victor Boniface did in his final season at Glimt. I’m not sure if there’s some unofficial goals p90 threshold for Glimt strikers that other clubs have alerts for, but I’m certain that plenty of clubs around Europe’s top leagues are taking a look at Kasper Høgh right now.
A striker who has that bit of ego you want him to have when the ball finds his feet in a good scoring position, but all-around a very strong team player. By no means is Høgh a selfish player, and takes great delight in seeing his teammates score instead of him. His linkup and holdup play is strong, he is willing to battle with a bigger CB, and is a natural finisher in the box.
Just one example of a club that could 1. afford and 2. have a real use for Høgh would be Crystal Palace. I believe they’re looking for another striker to rotate alongside JP Mateta, and Kasper Høgh can play quite a similar style game to Mateta. Palace are in the Conference League this year, and Høgh already has experience scoring goals in the Europa League: with three against Olympiacos, a goal and assist against FC Porto, and a brace against Maccabi Tel-Aviv on his record.
If Høgh is still at Bodø/Glimt after the 2026 summer window, I will be shocked. It is not a question of if he will be purchased from Glimt (for a possible club record sale fee), but when. If Glimt qualify for the UCL knockouts there is a chance he could be persuaded to stay until the summer window, but I doubt his time at Glimt will last any longer than that. In today’s transfer market, there are many worse strikers than Kasper Høgh who a club could pay a lot more money for. Whoever signs him will be getting guaranteed value for money at the very least.
This post has been a long time coming. A little bit of backstory: 2-3 years ago when starting a new Football Manager save, I found Zsombor Gruber in the Puskas Akademia youth ranks, took him with me when I left Puskas Akademia, and had him captain my Bodø/Glimt side to three UCL titles. Naturally as one does, I decided to track his progress in real life!
Born on 7 September 2004 in Győr, Hungary (Hungary’s 6th-largest city, about halfway between Budapest and Vienna), Zsombor Gruber joined the Győr academy as a young boy. At the age of 13, he was scouted by Puskas Akademia and brought into their academy. An attacker who can play on either wing, as a #10, or as a striker, Gruber started being selected for the Hungarian youth national teams at age 15. His development path actually saw him spend a year in Switzerland, at the Basel academy on loan from Puskas Akademia. If you don’t know, Basel have seen several players go on to become top European stars after developing in Switzerland – Mohamed Salah, for one. Gruber debuted for Puskas Akademia’s senior team at age 17, and in his first full season at senior level played >1100 minutes, and started 12 matches, scoring 3 goals.
In the 2023-24 season, Zsombor Gruber contributed 3 goals and an assist in ~650 minutes for Puskas Akademia, before being loaned to fellow NB I side Zalaegerszeg, where he scored another 3 goals in <300 minutes. In the summer, Hungary’s top club, Ferencvaros, signed Gruber, seeing his potential, and loaned him to MTK Budapest at the start of the 2024-25 season. This would allow him to get some more playing time, essentially in the backyard of Ferencvaros, as both clubs are from the Budapest area.
Despite suffering a thigh injury at MTK which forced him out for 5 weeks of the season, Gruber contributed a goal contribution every other game which led to Ferencvaros recalling him from loan for the second half of the season. This spell would see Gruber score his first goal for Ferencvaros, as well as gain the experience of being a part of a title-winning squad. That leads us to this year. Former Spurs legend Robbie Keane is the new manager at Ferencvaros, and he seems to see the potential in Gruber that I and others have. So far, Zsombor has 3 goals and 3 assists in the first 5 matches for Ferencvaros this season, including providing an assist just minutes after being subbed on in Champions League qualifiers to secure Ferencvaros passage to the final qualification round. Providing a goal contribution every 43 minutes so far, this is looking like the start of Zsombor Gruber’s breakout season with Ferencvaros. If he didn’t have the full trust of his manager before, he is surely earning it with his performances. I am confident that Gruber’s potential is to be a Champions League quality player.
As mentioned previously, he is a versatile player who can play across the front 4 positions. This means that while he is playing as a striker now (although operating more in a second striker role alongside Barnabas Varga), he could be coached into a winger or #10 long term, depending on the system that he goes to next. On 19 November 2024, Gruber received his first callup to the Hungarian senior team, and debuted at the Puskas Arena against Germany in a 1-1 draw. There is somewhat of a gap in generations in Hungary’s national team striker ranks. Barnabas Varga is 30 years old, and all other forwards currently called up to the Hungarian team are 25 or older. Then there is Zsombor Gruber, who will turn 21 in a month’s time. None of the players in the 25-28 age range have really solidified their place in Hungary’s attack, so there is a pathway for Gruber to continue to receive important developmental minutes for the senior national team.
As a technically strong player who has good pace and off the ball runs, but also the vision to pick out a pass, I believe that Gruber’s best role long term is either as an inside forward role (playing as a winger), or as a second-striker. While 183cm tall, he is not a traditional target forward, with a build that leans more into agility and speed than pure strength. His potential is to play in a Top 5 league, at the Champions League level. Also, Hungarian clubs can rarely request transfer fees in the 10’s of millions of euros, so acquiring Gruber would be a relatively cheap purchase (currently valued between 1 – 3 million, if I had to estimate; Transfermarkt has not updated his valuation since last season).
A very exciting prospect, a motivated and humble individual, Zsombor Gruber looks set for big things in the future. Whether that is as a homegrown star at Ferencvaros, or a move abroad, only time will tell.
One thing is for certain: Zsombor Gruber is One to Watch.
There’s a fun story out of Norway recently, when Eirik Granaas became the youngest ever Eliteserien player at 15 years and 90 days when he made his debut as a late substitution for Frederikstad last week. This made him 27 days younger than Martin Ødegaard, the previous record holder who debuted in 2014.
The young midfielder actually made his unofficial debut at 14 years old in a friendly match for Frederikstad. While I obviously haven’t been able to see much of the kid yet, the staff at Frederikstad clearly see something special in him. His older brother Sondre, is already making regular appearances for Molde at 18 and recently impressed at the Euro U19 tournament for Norway. Now this is no guarantee obviously, but we OFTEN see the younger sibling of multiple that play a sport turn out to be the better one. Playing against his (clearly skilled) older brother for his whole life in their yard will have done numbers for Eirik’s development, and it does make sense why Eirik seems to be ahead of his age group. This is a full footballing family, their father Lars was a former player for Mjøndalen and is their current manager. Both boys came through the Mjøndalen youth system before their transfers to Molde and Frederikstad.
Even if he is only getting a few minutes per match, this still means that Eirik has earned his coach’s trust enough to be getting subbed on in Eliteserien matches. He would have to be performing well in training against fully grown professionals to have been given that chance, which is a very promising sign. A full scouting report is not yet available, but I will be tracking Eirik Granaas’s progress very closely, and will look to watch him play when he starts being given more than a handful of minutes per match.
11 years after Martin Ødegaard set Norway’s record for youngest ever player, coming on as a promising young midfielder for Strømsgodset, Eirik Granaas has broken it in much the same circumstances. He is certainly one to watch, and I will keep you updated on his progress!
The next player that caught my eye at the U21 Euro’s was the young Slovak CB, Jakub Jakubko. The 20 year old defender who plays for FC Košice in the Slovak top flight is almost certainly a relative unknown for the football world. At this tournament, he partnered the more established Adam Obert in defence, and never looked out of place. Obert, for comparison, has already played 77 matches for Cagliari in Serie A, and has registered 12 caps for the Slovak senior team. As Obert was the more ball playing CB, Jakubko played a defensive cover role very effectively.
The first thing I noticed about Jakub Jakubko was his mentality. He is as determined of a player as you’ll ever see, with the bravery required to make crucial blocks and tackles. While he was not yet leading and commanding the backline (naturally, due to Obert’s seniority), he will still be eligible for the next U21 Euro tournament in 2027, where he will be the most experienced CB on the squad and given a leadership role.
Physically, Jakubko is as ready to play at the top level as any 20 year old CB you might see. Some physical development will come with time, but he already exhibits very good pace and stamina. While not losing duels at this tournament on strength, that could be a development curve if he were to play in a top 5 league right now. However, with his pace and positioning sense, Jakubko often puts himself in place to make a defensive play before the need for a physical duel is necessary.
In this match against Spain, the Slovak defence was put under heavy pressure for the majority of the match. Jakubko showed impressive concentration throughout the match, and made many important blocks. He rarely put himself in position to concede a penalty, being very smart with his physical challenges inside his own box.
The area most requiring development (if it was required for the system he is playing in), is his on-ball play. Comfortable making short to medium range passes, you could not call him a ball playing CB at the moment. Not all systems require ball playing CB’s, and so this is more a hurdle if Jakubko is to play for a top team in Europe.
Overall, I think that Jakubko could be playing for a mid to low table Serie A club within the next year. There has been a successful path to the Italian leagues for promising Slovak players. Milan Skriniar, Tomas Suslov, Ondrej Duda, Stanislav Lobotka, the aforementioned Obert, and of course, Marek Hamsik are all examples of Slovak national team players who came through Italy in their club careers. Clubs like Cagliari will look at Obert’s success at that level and have (hopefully) seen that Jakubko made a very solid CB partner for him at this tournament. Barring significant technical development on the ball, I think Jakubko may not play for Inter Milan and PSG like Milan Skriniar did, but he absolutely has a very strong chance to be a good Top 5 leagues player and Slovak senior team starter.
futbird 