On the eve of the 2023-24 season around Europe, it's time to ask: Who are we excited about watching this season?
We've got together 10 of the finest brains from across Europe that we think you should keep an eye on in the upcoming campaign. These aren't the best 10 players in Europe, nor are they 10 you've never heard of. There are lots of young players in this list and each writer was to pick someone they are excited about in 2023-24.
We will select two most noteworthy player in 2023/24 season every day. Read on to see who we've selected today.
Evan Ferguson Brighton
Last season was a breakout one for Evan Ferguson.
Aged just 17, he scored and assisted in his first senior start for Brighton against Forest Green in the League Cup, and he never looked back.
That match against Forest Green was his only start under Graham Potter, but he would go on to appear 24 times (14 starts) from December onwards under the management of Roberto De Zerbi.
His next start wouldn’t come until January against Everton, but this time it was in the Premier League. Again, Ferguson scored and assisted. It was a start he had earned after a goalscoring substitute appearance against Arsenal, who were at the time Premier League leaders.
All told, Ferguson scored 10 times in 25 Brighton appearances in 2022-23 at a rate of 135 minutes per goal. Among players to score 10+ non-penalty goals for Premier League clubs in all competitions last season, only Erling Haaland and Roberto Firmino could better that rate. A reminder Ferguson started the campaign as a 17-year-old.
In his 15 starts for Brighton last term, he scored eight goals and assisted three more – including five goals in his most recent six starts. He managed that sort of record despite only completing 90 minutes twice all season – in that aforementioned Forest Green game in August and against Aston Villa on the final day of the Premier League season in May.
Six of his goals came in the league – the most ever by a non-English player while aged 18 or below in a single Premier League campaign.
That goalscoring rate was no fluke, either. Ferguson averaged 0.51 non-penalty xG per 90 in the Premier League last season. That’s level with Mo Salah and more than Marcus Rashford, and shows he had a knack for getting into good goalscoring positions.
But on top of this, Ferguson has also shown himself to be a selfless forward. Among strikers with 500+ minutes played in the 2022-23 Premier League, Ferguson ranked 16th for how many off-the-ball runs he made per 90 (30.7), sixth for how many of those runs he made into the attacking third (14.8 per 90), but was bottom for how often he was actually targeted after making his runs (19.4% targeted). This suggests the Irishman is a player happy to do lots of running for his team, to help move opposition defenders around and create space for his teammates.
Couple that with his efficient goal rate, here is a player who, despite only being 18, is already showing signs of being a well-rounded attacker, adept at multiple aspects of the game. How he builds on this under De Zerbi in 2023-24 will be very intriguing.
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