This summer is one of those close seasons that do not contain a major football tournament. Fans are instead restricted to the Confederations Cup and European U21 Championships in the hope of spotting new talent.
The Tottenham money men seem to be concentrating their summer recruitment policy on the Real Madrid clearout sale and despite there being plenty of desirable talent on offer at the Bernabeu, Daniel Levy and co. should also look out for bargains at the tournaments currently occurring.
In South Africa a potential World Cup final warm-up looks set to take place, with Brazil and Spain, as expected, emerging as the dominant forces in the Confederations Cup. A new signing from one of those squads will be nice, but a potential recruit from the hosts or other participating nations is more likely.
23-year old Bernard Parker has scored twice for Bafana Bafana, taking his international goalscoring record to seven from 16 appearances, a good return for a player who often plays as a winger. Parker has recently joined Red Star Belgrade, where he has made a good start, and his progress should be monitored.
United States have been the surprise package, edging out Italy to join Brazil in the semi finals. There has been a steady flow of American talent into the Premier League and young midfielder Michael Bradley, currently of Borussia Mönchengladbach, could be the next to join the list.
The Euro U21s event taking place in Sweden, where England have reached the semi-finals, is the ideal source of discovering young talent. These players are generally at major European clubs but are yet to make the breakthrough and a decent tournament in Sweden suggests they can cope in the pressurised environment of the Premier League.
Sweden’s Marcus Berg grabbed the headlines by scoring a hat-trick in his team’s opener against Belarus. The FC Groningen forward has already scored four goals for the full national team and has been a regular scorer in Dutch football since his club paid IFK Gothenburg £2.5m for his services two years ago.
Berg is strong with both feet and is good in the air, so would be a potential target man if Harry Redknapp decides to shake-up his forward line.
The Tottenham money men seem to be concentrating their summer recruitment policy on the Real Madrid clearout sale and despite there being plenty of desirable talent on offer at the Bernabeu, Daniel Levy and co. should also look out for bargains at the tournaments currently occurring.
In South Africa a potential World Cup final warm-up looks set to take place, with Brazil and Spain, as expected, emerging as the dominant forces in the Confederations Cup. A new signing from one of those squads will be nice, but a potential recruit from the hosts or other participating nations is more likely.
23-year old Bernard Parker has scored twice for Bafana Bafana, taking his international goalscoring record to seven from 16 appearances, a good return for a player who often plays as a winger. Parker has recently joined Red Star Belgrade, where he has made a good start, and his progress should be monitored.
United States have been the surprise package, edging out Italy to join Brazil in the semi finals. There has been a steady flow of American talent into the Premier League and young midfielder Michael Bradley, currently of Borussia Mönchengladbach, could be the next to join the list.
The Euro U21s event taking place in Sweden, where England have reached the semi-finals, is the ideal source of discovering young talent. These players are generally at major European clubs but are yet to make the breakthrough and a decent tournament in Sweden suggests they can cope in the pressurised environment of the Premier League.
Sweden’s Marcus Berg grabbed the headlines by scoring a hat-trick in his team’s opener against Belarus. The FC Groningen forward has already scored four goals for the full national team and has been a regular scorer in Dutch football since his club paid IFK Gothenburg £2.5m for his services two years ago.
Berg is strong with both feet and is good in the air, so would be a potential target man if Harry Redknapp decides to shake-up his forward line.
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