Brian's Scouting Thread - Where Are They Now?

[Mpache]

Decided to play a bit of a game. Hopefully this isn't merged because I want it to be a challenge for myself, but if it's pointless to have two threads, then so be it.

This was my shortlist almost 2 years ago.

Daniel Da Silva - Back at Central Coast Mariners after a disappointing stint at Sydney FC. What's worse is that he doesn't seem to be doing too well. Only 1 goal and 1 assist. He's still only 22 and Australian players develop slow, but not looking good for him.

Gabriele Zappa - Still only 20 and on loan at Pescara. I don't think he'll breakthrough at Inter at this point. He could definitely still make it into Serie A though.

David Neres - Not sure what is of him in 2020, but last season he was superb in Ajax's CL run and I expect him to make a jump to a big club at some point.

Justin Kluivert - 3 goals and 1 assist for Roma in 12 appearances really ain't bad. I haven't heard his name in a while but that doesn't mean much and his record at 20 is pretty OK.

Daniel Arzani - Back at Manchester City it appears after his injury at Celtic had him out for most of the season. 

Roberto Villamarin - Lost cause unfortunately. Failed stint at Alianza Lima two years ago and is now at Ayacucho FC, one of Peru's weaker clubs.

Edson Alvarez - At Ajax and seems to be doing OK from what I've heard.

Jacob Italiano - Playing for Australia's U23's as we speak (as in the competition). Still only 18 and plenty of time to develop. He's also at Gladbach.

Lee Seung-Woo - A lost cause. Can't even get minutes at STVV. I've lost faith in this one.

Ademola Lookman - Looks like he's left Everton for Leipzig. Mistake by Everton in the end in my opinion. Not getting much playing time but he's at the right club if he wants to develop. @RandoEFC 

Orbelin Pineda - I wouldn't call him a lost cause, but Europe is unlikely now. He's still good and performs for Cruz Azul, but he's not going to be the great talent I once thought. He's still 23 though, so still time.

Lautaro Martinez - Doing well at Inter and on course to become a superstar. Not sure how much I get to call the shots on this one, but I've rated him since the U20's before he was a big thing at Racing. So I guess I've done OK here.

Wuilker Fariñez - Still at Millonarios.

Yeferson Soteldo - At Santos now. Had a decent season too. Still time for Europe, that's where he'll know if he's up to become as good as I once said he would become.

Leon Bailey - Still at Leverkusen. Similar to Lautaro, not sure if I can call the shots on this and even less so as I started following him when he was already good.

Thomas Deng - Part of Australia's U23's. Unfortunately doesn't seem to have progressed and he's almost 23. I'm not gonna say a lost cause, but I doubt he'll become something big even for Australian standards.

Gerson Torres - Plays for Herediano now. Lost cause I think.

Krepin Diatta - Heard good progression from him and plays for an already stacked Senegal side. If he's getting call ups there, I can see he's doing well. Still at Club Brugge.

Felipe Saraiva - Still at Ponte Preta and to be frank I've lost faith here as he's almost 22 and still not at a decent club. Not good for a Brazilian.

Henry Onyekuru - Not bad to be honest. He's at Galatasaray and went for a decent fee, so he could still very much impact the football world in some way.

Chidera Ejuke - Move to Heerenveen so not a lost cause yet. Made the jump and now still time to see where he'll end up.

Harvey Barnes - I'll let @Stan and @Dan tell me about this one.

Joaquin Ardaiz - Lost cause. Moved to Whitecaps and flopped. Not much else to say.

Carlos Benavidez - Doesn't seem to get many games for Independiente. Not sure what to say about this one, could go either way as he's still young.

Toni Lato - Not much information seems to be available without digging deeper,  but judging from that I would say he's not doing too well.

Carles Aleña - On and off appearances for Barca.

 

I'd give myself a 7/10 effort.

[RandoEFC+]

47 minutes ago, Vader said:

Ademola Lookman - Looks like he's left Everton for Leipzig. Mistake by Everton in the end in my opinion. Not getting much playing time but he's at the right club if he wants to develop. @RandoEFC 

He hasn't developed significantly since we signed him in January 2017, either at Everton or at Leipzig. He had a purple patch on loan over there but for it to be actually deemed 'development' then he can't spend the next 18 months regressing to the point where he can't get a game for us or in Germany.

I genuinely think history will look back kindly on the fact that we managed to flog him for as much as we did after he'd spent that season failing to break into a pretty average Premier League side.

[Stan]

Harvey Barnes - shows glimpses here and there of the quality he has but is not consistent enough. Seems quite naive in his game at this level and often struggles in comparison to how successful he was at Championship level where he tore the league up with West Brom. Scored an absolute screamer against Sheff Utd but that's the highlight of the season for him so far and that was back in August. He has assisted the most for us which is a silver lining for him but I think he needs to improve his game if he wants to continue with us and up to the level we play at. Think he gets a rough deal because he plays on the left and the partnership with Chilwell isn't that productive. I hope we stick with him and are patient with him though - it would be unfair to write him off with him being so young; he's only 22 and it's his first full season in the Premier League.

 

EDIT: Forgot to add that he has barely scored for us. I'd expect more from our wingers to assist and score. None of the wingers in the side score enough to be fair.

 

[Stan]

58 minutes ago, Vader said:

David Neres - Not sure what is of him in 2020, but last season he was superb in Ajax's CL run and I expect him to make a jump to a big club at some point.

 

He is at a big club to be fair. Was doing well scoring regularly for Ajax before he got injured.