Three under-the-radar signings that you and I might have missed (Part 4)
And we are back in Europe with a defensive-focused edition where two full-backs are making the step up and a young centre-back joining the domestic champion!
First of all, I would like to dedicate this newsletter to Diogo Jota and his brother André Silva after they passed away in July 2025. I found this article from Daniel Storey described my feelings very well, it is slightly hard to come to terms that a player who I followed for a while is not here anymore because I have had a small thought that football players are immortals somehow. But Diogo and André’s deaths showed me that players are still humans after all, and a human’s life can be quite fragile. So, dear readers, cherish every moment that you have with your loved ones. Forever in our hearts, and rest in peace, Diogo and André.
It has been a few weeks since I wrote one of these, and there have been many interesting transfers made in Europe. There is also no doubt that many more are to come with the actual summer window has opened since the 1st of July. I can try to squeeze a few signings into this article, but this will turn into a wall of text and that is what I am trying to avoid when I return to blogging because nobody wants and has the time to read that. As such, I will stick with the list of 3 players that I already had in mind and leave recent transfers for future articles.
I also want to give a quick shoutout to Filip Rózga’s move to Sturm Graz and Raul Florucz’s move to Union Saint-Gilloise, two transfers that I had to leave out at the last minute. Watch out for both players because they have landed at two clubs who are doing very well in developing young players and helping them get to the next level before securing a bigger move elsewhere. There might be a chance that you will hear their names again soon!
Without further ado, let’s get stuck into this edition of Under-the-Radar Signings!
Note: All stats and data used in this article are from Opta via FBRef and Fotmob, and vizzes are created using FBCharts’ extension for FBRef unless stated otherwise.
Adrien Truffert
(Stade Rennais → AFC Bournemouth)
At the time of writing, Liverpool have finalised the highly-anticipated signing of Miloš Kerkez from Bournemouth to replace Andrew Robertson. But, for a well-run club like Bournemouth who seem to be doing quite well with their recruitment department, especially in the last couple of seasons or so, it was more interesting for me to see who they brought in to fill in the spot that Kerkez left behind. And way before Kerkez’s move was publicly announced, Bournemouth have moved one step quicker and replaced the Hungarian international with Stade Rennais’ Adrien Truffert.
At just 23 years old, Truffert had already made almost 200 appearances for Rennes’ first team since making the breakthrough during the 2020-21 season. Truffert was exposed to different systems during his time with Rennes, having played as a left-back in a 4-4-2 and a 4-1-2-3 and also a left wing-back in Habib Beye’s 3-4-1-2 formation since January of this year, allowing him to develop his versatility while also retaining his main strength as an attacking full-back down the left-hand side. His attacking output over the five seasons that he spent with Rennes also supported that as he scored 9 goals and assisted 19 goals during that period.
While Bournemouth fans can expect to see a traditional attacking full-back from Truffert, whose profile closely aligns with the outgoing Kerkez, the French international will bring more than just the ability to create chances and bursting overlapping runs down the left-hand side. Firstly, having been used in a more offensive role than the conventional full-back spot, Truffert was given the license to push forward more and be a goal-scoring threat for Rennes (as shown via his 0.07 non-penalty goals from 0.08 non-penalty xG per 90s), even if he has already done that in previous seasons. Should Antoine Semenyo stay with the South Coast-based club, Truffert can bring a few more goals here and there and might turn out to be a difference maker if the team are having a tough time breaking down the opposition.
Moreover, Truffert is surprisingly comfortable receiving possession, especially inside of the opposition’s half, having received 7.95 progressive passes per 90s (ranks 95th among top 5 European leagues full-backs), made 22.04 touches per 90s inside the attacking third (ranks 83rd) and 1.86 touches per 90s inside the penalty box (ranks 70th). While he will be under more pressure with the ball when playing in the Premier League compared to his time in Ligue 1, this highlights the fact that Truffert can be an offensive passing option for the team, and for a transitional-focused team like Bournemouth, Truffert’s ability to retain possession inside the opposition’s half will be crucial.
In contrast to Kerkez, Truffert will bring a bit more defensive solidity as he has shown to be fairly active in both making interceptions (0.88 per 90s) and getting stuck into challenges and tackles (1.99 per 90s). In fact, the French international’s defensive ability is more aligned to Fran García’s last season at Rayo Vallecano, another left-back that Andoni Iraola has elevated to a higher level, as both players tend to be more active and engaging in defensive situations. This will come as good news for Bournemouth’s centre-back pairing, whoever might fill in those two spots after the departure of Dean Huijsen and the potential departure of Illia Zabarnyi, as Truffert can be a proactive defender while the centre-backs can provide a bit of coverage for the French left-back.
In a physically-demanding system like Iraola’s system, Truffert will be asked to run and cover a lot of distance, which he is definitely capable of doing. From analysing his numbers at Rennes over the past 365 days (or maybe from last season), his profile fits very well into a traditional line-hugging, attacking full-back who likes to create chances from his crosses (1.27 chances created per 90s, 1.24 successful crosses per 90s), which fits what Iraola is looking for from his full-back and also explains why García, Kerkez, and Truffert’s percentiles under Iraola’s guidance all look quite similar. There is also a potential that, maybe it is less realistic than I think, Iraola will explore Truffert in a slightly different role to an attacking full-back, particularly because his passing ability has not been utilised as much. It will not be a regular occurrence, but should Iraola look to adapt to the opposition, Truffert might offer the flexibility of moving inside or even be a free-roaming full-back thanks to his well-rounded profile.
Being able to find a player with a similar profile to Kerkez for an easier integration period is one thing, but the fact that Bournemouth found the Hungarian’s replacement who is only 2 years older and for just £14.4 million is quite surprising and a testament to Bournemouth’s recruitment department. Instead of being a raw talent who needs time to develop into a top-level player, Truffert arrives at Bournemouth having gathered plenty of experiences at a top level European league and even in the Europa League and Conference League, which might prove to be helpful as the club push for a European spot next season. At just 23 years old, Truffert still has the potential to return to the French national team if he can step up to be a regular starting left-back in the Premier League, and that will only bring more benefits to Bournemouth should an opportunity to make profit on him comes up in the future.
On the opposite side, while Rennes will be losing a top and promising talent at left-back, I do not think the club will struggle to replace Truffert. Firstly, the club have triggered the €12 million option-to-buy to bring back their homegrown talent Lilian Brassier from Olympique de Marseille. While Brassier’s preferred position is centre-back and manager Habib Beye prefers to use three centre-backs, Beye also has plenty of centre-back options at his disposal, so I suspect Brassier might cover at left wing-back for a short period until first-choice option Alidu Seidu has fully recovered from his cruciate ligament injury. But, more importantly, Truffert’s departure will pave the way for Mahamadou Nagida to play a more prominent role in the team. Last season, the 20-year-old Cameroon international played a total of 430 minutes and only started 4 matches out of the 13 that he played in, but I hope that Nagida will get more minutes in between Seidu’s recovery and Brassier covering the position temporarily, which will aid his development and allow for Nagida to step up to be the future starting left-back for Rennes.
Up until this point, I might come across as praising Bournemouth a bit too much for what seems like a pretty ordinary deal, or maybe because they are ‘smart’ in identifying Truffert as a replacement for Kerkez. While everything that I have said are just assumptions, I feel the need to actually praising a good signing in a business where a lot of clubs are still wastefully spending their money to overpay for a player or not getting enough value out of a signing. In this economy, getting a decent, Premier League-quality left-back for £14.4 million is quite cheap and, should Truffert’s development being guided rightly by Iraola and his coaching staff, the club can get a top-quality left-back in the near future or make profit from selling him to a bigger club. It is a smart, but sensible signing by Bournemouth, and I think time will provide the best answer to whether that statement is right or not.
Louis Oppie
(Arminia Bielefeld → FC St. Pauli)
In my short opinion piece about Arminia Bielefeld discussing their historic run to the final of the DFB-Pokal, I made the assumption that after a few years of being unsuccessful on the transfer market, the club and their new sporting director Michael Mutzel have changed their approach to signing promising youngsters from academies across Germany and giving them a chance to play first-team football in the 3. Liga. While their first year with that approach almost became disastrous as the club flirted with a third-consecutive relegation in a row that would have sent them all the way down to the Regionalliga, the second year was the complete opposite as Arminia’s young squad fired them to the 3. Liga title along with a ticket back to the 2. Bundesliga, another Regional Westfalen title, and the DFB-Pokal runner-up medal. And a player who played a very important part in that team was left-back Louis Oppie.
After signing for the club from Hannover 96’s B team at the beginning of the 2023-24 season, Oppie made the left-back position in Michél Kniat’s 4-1-2-3 formation his own during the two seasons that he played in the non-existent city of Bielefeld, and rightly so as he delivered during some of the most important moments for the club. Playing as an attacking left-back, the German youngster was given the license to make overlapping runs and drive forward with the ball into the final third, where he was the most effective. Last season alone, he made 9 assists in all competitions, with 8 came in the league, while also created almost 2 chances and made 1.2 successful crosses per 90s in the 3. Liga. His numbers from the previous league season were also quite similar, with 1.49 chances created and 1.59 successful crosses per 90s while also achieved a crossing accuracy of 36.2%, indicating that Oppie’s most effective weapon to create chances for his teammates is his crosses down the left-hand side. This makes a lot of sense when I think about the type of striker that Mutzel and Arminia targeted last season since Roberts Uldriķis and Joel Grodowski were all very good in the air and were targets inside of the penalty box that Oppie could aim his crosses at.
Besides from the ability to create chances for others, Oppie is also capable of converting chances by himself as his long shots proved to be a huge attacking threat that Arminia were able to make the most of. These two goals against Ingolstadt and Osnabrück were just two of the total nine goals that he scored for the club in all competitions and they are just a taste for what he is able to do. His ability to strike the ball well and with power made it very hard for the opposition’s keeper to save his shots, and that is not mentioning the placement of his shots that made it even tougher, Freiburg’s keeper Noah Atubolu will tell you how hard it was to save this shot from Oppie.
But as good as Oppie was when he had the ball, his defensive side left a lot to be desired. Since Arminia were predicted to be one of the dominant teams in the 3. Liga, Oppie’s defensive ability was not exposed that often and he got away with losing duels or not getting stuck into a challenge many times. In the two seasons with the club, he only won slightly more than half of his duels (55.4% in the 2023-24 season and 52.9% in the 2024-25 season) and made less than 1 interception per 90s (0.91 and 0.6 interceptions per 90s respectively). The DFB-Pokal final against Stuttgart was one of those occasions when Oppie was left exposed quite heavily and allowed Enzo Millot to run the show. Without adjusting for actual possession, it will be hard to know Oppie’s actual defensive numbers since the difference between both seasons also rely on the fact that Arminia had to defend more in their first season back in the 3. Liga. However, the plain numbers still raised a bit of concern and an aspect that the young German full-back will need to improve quickly.
Luckily for Oppie, he will be joining a St. Pauli side that are managed by Alexander Blessin, who prefers to use a back three on most occasions. It is very likely that Oppie will provide a bit of depth at the left wing-back spot where his weakness in defence will be covered by the left centre-back behind him, but he will also have more license to join the team’s attack more often without having to worry too much about the defensive side. Oppie’s role and profile will be somewhat similar to how Blessin used Loïc Lapoussin at Union Saint-Gilloise previously as the Malagasy international was successfully converted into a wing-back while still retained his goal-scoring ability. But Oppie will not be the only player who will compete for that left wing-back role, though, as he will face stern challenges from Lars Ritzka and another new signing in Jannik Robatsch. It will also be interesting to see how he will handle making the step up from the 3. Liga all the way to the Bundesliga since St. Pauli have spent €2 million for his service, a fee that while not too expensive, it still shows that the club have a lot of faith in him and Oppie will need to live up to that faith.
Meanwhile, Arminia have quickly moved and signed Tim Handwerker from Jahn Regensburg, who will potentially start and fill in the left-back spot that Oppie left behind. They still have the service of Christopher Lannert, who can play on both sides and have done so on multiple occasions over the last couple of seasons. However, it is more likely that the Austrian full-back will be a rotational option on the right with Felix Hagmann, another youngster that I am quite excited about. They have also signed Benjamin Boakye from Stuttgart, who can cover as left-back but only if needed since his preferred position is a winger and I expect Boakye to play higher up the pitch, unless Kniat decides to switch to a back three and uses Boakye as a left wing-back like in a few of Stuttgart II matches from last season.
It is quite exciting to see Arminia and Mutzel’s approach starting to produce some results and I will be following with a keen eye to see how Oppie will perform in the top division. The step up can be quite significant, but a few players have managed to adapt quickly and establish themselves as a decent Bundesliga player, including Benedict Hollerbach, who I have covered in the first part of this series. St. Pauli will have a very interesting player who can offer plenty of excitement on the ball and someone who, unintentionally, fits Blessin’s system like a glove, which can only be a plus in their quest to stay for another season and make progress in the Bundesliga.
Luca Marianucci
(Empoli FC → SSC Napoli)
After regaining the Scudetto title from Internazionale, Antonio Conte’s Napoli have been going hard in the current summer window. They have swiftly moved to secure Kevin de Bruyne’s service on a free from Manchester City and they are still working hard to bring in Darwin Núñez from Liverpool (as of writing, rumours have said their pursuit have failed and have since turned their attention to Udinese’s Lorenzo Lucca). But amidst the headlining moves that have rocked the transfer window, Napoli have quietly secured a signing that might complete their future centre-back pairing in Luca Marianucci from Empoli.
Another talent coming out of the Empoli talent factory in recent years after Tommaso Baldanzi, Jacopo Fazzini, Mattia Viti, Samuele Ricci, and Kristjan Asllani, Marianucci only made his professional debut for Empoli in 2024 after returning from a loan to Serie C-side Pro Sesto, where he made 32 league appearances, and it took him until November to make his Serie A debut against newly-promoted Como. However, he did start in two matches prior to his Serie A debut in the Coppa Italia against Catanzaro and Torino where he played the entire 90 minutes while also made 1 assist in each match along the way. That was probably a sign for what was to come from Marianucci, as he stepped up from February and started regularly in defence for Empoli even after he served a two-match suspension for a red card that he received against AC Milan during round 24. That is not accounting the fact that Marianucci is only 20 years old at the time of writing (he will turn 21 in late July of 2025).
Even though he only became a regular in the latter half of the season, Marianucci still managed to play in a total of 1069 minutes for Empoli and became an integral part of Roberto D’Aversa’s 3-4-2-1 system. In most matches, he was used either in the central or on the right of Empoli’s back-three, which suits his preference to play on his right foot more often. However, the Italian youngster also offered a bit more versatility as he was also able to step into midfield and play as one of the two defensive midfielders in front of the back-three on a few occasions.
While his individual effort was not enough to save Empoli from returning to Serie B and Opta/Fotmob did not give him a favourable overall rating, Marianucci still left the impression that there is a lot more to come from the young Italian centre-back, which Napoli have quickly caught onto. His per 90 stats and percentile ranks from last season painted the picture of a ball-carrying, forward-thinking centre-back who liked to get stuck into challenges to regain possession for his team, the centre-back profile that many top teams are seeking for.
What stands out immediately besides from Marianucci’s defending stats is that he is ranked very high for progressive carries (1.01 per 90s, ranked 81st among top 5 European league centre-backs) and successful take-ons (0.42 per 90s, ranked 86th), which are two highly unusual metrics for a centre-back to stand out in. At first glance, these outliers can be attributed to the fact that he was used in midfield, a position in which Marianucci would have been able to dribble with the ball slightly more. However, the number of occasions where he played in midfield was insignificant compared to how many minutes he was used as a centre-back. As such, these outliers highlight Marianucci’s preference to carry the ball forward and he excelled at doing so last season.
Another trait of his that I think is also worth pointing out is the fact that Marianucci is very good at making switch-play passes and crosses…as a centre-back. The Italian centre-back did not make plenty of passes last season (38.81 per 90s) and was ranked very low for both passes attempted and passing accuracy (%). Yet, when it came to long passes volume (5.39 completed from 9.93 attempted per 90s), he was ranked among the top 20% of top 5 European leagues centre-backs in that regard while he was also ranked among the top 10% for switch-play passes (0.76 per 90s) and crosses (0.59 per 90s). Combine with his preference of carrying the ball forward and it makes sense for why Marianucci was used fairly often as the right-sided centre-back since it allowed him to carry the ball forward from deep and make crosses into the box, very similar to Atalanta’s trademark overlapping centre-backs under Gian Piero Gasperini in previous years.
I have slightly refrained from analysing Marianucci’s defensive numbers because, even though they look quite impressive at first glance, it is important to note that Empoli conceded the third-most goals per match (1.6) and the ninth-most total xG (50.9 xGA) last season. This means Marianucci and his teammates had to do a fair bit of defending, which would skew his defensive numbers a fair bit and especially without adjusting for possession on top of the raw numbers to reflect his actual ability. However, his numbers still showed that he was an active defender who was good at getting stuck into challenges and being at the right place to intercept passes to regain possession for his team.
For Napoli, they will be getting a slightly different centre-back profile from Amir Rrahmani and Juan Jesus and someone who fits very well in a back-three system that Antonio Conte used at Internazionale previously. At just 20 years old, Marianucci is also a long-term replacement for Rrahmani and Jesus since they are both well into their 30s at the time of writing. Along with Alessandro Buongiorno, Napoli will have a domestic centre-back pairing that will lock in the two starting positions for a few years, or at least until a bigger club come swooping in for their service. However…with the recent rumours that they are also going for Bologna’s Sam Beukema, I think the chance of getting regular minutes for Marianucci might be slim since Conte and Napoli will have five centre-backs to choose from.
Unless Conte switches to a back three for next season, it might probably be better for his development to go out on a loan to another Serie A club or might even go back to Empoli in Serie B. It is also worth remembering that last season was only Marianucci’s second full professional season and his first at the top level. Getting more and consistent playing minutes at a higher level than Serie C will only do more good to his development and will give him more opportunities to improve his game. Nevertheless, securing a highly promising centre-back who has the potential to be a future starter for just €9 million is a good, low-risk piece of investment if Marianucci does not follow the usual path of an Italian player who gets loaned out every single season, and Napoli will also have a decent backup centre-back that can grow over time.
So far, it has been great to cover under-the-radar signings and using data to predict how they will perform at their new club. Being able to discover new players and revisiting names that I have known via Football Manager via this way has been fun and I hope you have enjoyed reading these four parts. Unfortunately, as much as I enjoy writing these, I think they are getting quite repetitive and I found myself repeating the same stuff a few times, which I don’t really like doing. It will not be the end of the series, however, as this will be on a small hiatus until August and make way for the ASEAN U23 Championship while I figure out new ideas and way to make this series more enjoyable for you to read.
It was not an easy decision, but instead of forcing myself to churn out these articles every couple of weeks and repeating the same stuff again and again, I want to explore other ways of making these bite-sized scout reports more enjoyable for you to read and for me to write. If that means taking a quick pause to improve the quality then I will do it. I am also open to any ideas or feedback that you might have or things that you want me to write about through this series, so please do not hesitate to leave a comment down below!
Loved these so far! The repetitive nature doesn't bother me, but I can understand how the writing gets boring. I hope you'll find new inspiration and am looking forward to the next ones (particularly players moving to the Bundesliga).
Tolle Arbeit! Grüße aus Deutschland :)