Good morning tactics fans and welcome to the Wednesday newsletter – full of analysis, scouting and tactics. Fill up on your football knowledge – follow the Total Football Analysis page and be part of the squad that want more than just a match report.

Today’s TFA Talent is Ronald of Gremio, a tidy DM who should be on the radar of Tier 1 European sides.

Head of Set Piece Analysis Marcel Seifeddine takes a look at what is improving at Southampton at set plays this season, under the guidance of Andreas Georgson.

Head of Women’s Football Analysis David Astill explains why Angel City are in a good spot to be considered dark horses for the NWSL playoffs.

Switzerland’s Young Boys confirmed their place in the 2023/24 UEFA Champions League group stages after beating Maccabi Haifa in their playoff clash last night — read our analysis of how Raphaël Wicky’s tactics guided them back to the Swiss Super League summit last season.

After plenty of speculation this summer, Iván Fresneda is seemingly set to join Sporting CP — we highlighted the 18 y/o as the next star full-back to emerge from Spain back in January in this scout report.

Kenan Yildiz has reportedly signed a new deal at Juventus, keeping him with the Serie A giants until June 2027 — our November 2022 scout report goes into detail on why Juve are keen to keep hold of the “next-gen Mesut Özil”.

After finishing sixth last season, Southampton got their 2023/24 Women’s Championship season off to a good start by cruising to a dominant 4-1 win over Lewes at the weekend. We discussed why “the sky is the limit” for the ambitious club in this team analysis article from last season — can they push for promotion this term?

Anastasios Douvikas moves to Celta Vigo for €12m – we scouted Douvikas for a client back in August 2022 and then tracked him throughout the season, grading him as being capable of playing for a good Tier 1 side.

Juan Carlos Gauto moves from Huracan to FC Basel – xGOLD identified Gauto as a profile of interest back in March 2023 and our video scouts decided that the teenager could definitely play for a Tier 1 club next, meaning Basel might have found themselves a future star.

Fares Chaibi is moving from Toulouse to Eintracht Frankfurt according to reports – we scouted Chaibi back in October 2022 for a client and felt that the young striker was capable of playing at Tier 1 level.

Georges Mikautadze is set to sign for Ajax according to reports – xGOLD highlighted the Metz striker back in March 2022 as a player to monitor and we tracked throughout last season, deciding he was a player who would be a good fit at Tier 2 level.

That’s it for this today – we are back at the same time tomorrow. Spread the word!

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