2015 UEFA European Under-21 Championship: Stock Watch
The UEFA European Under-21 Championship concluded on Tuesday, when Sweden edged out Portugal on penalties to lift the trophy.
A small-scale sample size in the middle of summer is never the time to make sweeping conclusions about players—particularly ones this young on an international stage—but we can identify players and managers with rising or falling stock off the back of it.
Read on to see who came out of the tournament with their prospects enhanced and whose reputation went distinctly the other way.
Stock Up: William Carvalho, Portugal
1 of 9William Carvalho can't learn a thing at this level; he's bigger, stronger and smarter than almost everyone else, and it wasn't until extra time in the final that he was truly stressed.
But what his dominant midfield performances did was reinforce the belief that he is the complete modern-day holding midfielder, and any cracks of doubt about him as a prospect have been filled. If anything, it was a tournament of affirmation for the Portuguese.
He's like Victor Wanyama but with the technical skill set to push forward and influence play on the ball. We're loath to compare him to Patrick Vieira, but, you know, he's close. According to the Sun (h/t the Mirror), Arsenal could make an offer of £28.5 million for this kid, and it's easy to see why.
Final penalty miss aside, he's a top prospect waiting to be snatched up.
Stock Down: Luke Garbutt, England
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BBC Sport is among the outlets reporting that Luke Garbutt has signed a new five-year deal at Everton, tying him down until 2020.
It's a show of faith in a player who's been optimistically compared to Leighton Baines, and while the relatively small size of U21 tournaments means they are not the time or place to definitively condemn or support such comparisons, it's reasonable to say the player didn't do himself any favours.
Defensively, Garbutt struggled against some admittedly tough players, and he let the team down moving forward. His link-up play wasn't on point, and he failed to get beyond his marker to stretch the pitch and provide an outlet. His crossing and free-kick deliveries left a lot to be desired too.
As stated, a summer tournament is not to the time to make sweeping conclusions about a player, but Garbutt certainly has some work to do to repair his reputation.
Stock Up: Sergio Oliveira, Portugal
3 of 9Sergio Oliveira has to rank as one of, if not the find of the tournament. There aren't many secrets in under-21-level football these days, but this man's emergence has even taken some Portugal fans by surprise.
Playing for two years on loan at Pacos de Ferreira from FC Porto, he's been nurtured outside the spotlight. There's now talk of the Dragons' wish to enlist him in their squad for the 2015-16 season, but other clubs outside of the Iberian Peninsula should be taking notice.
Oliveira is a classic box-to-box midfielder with energy, leadership skills, drive and a knack of keeping moves going in the most simplistic, uncomplicated ways. It's a refreshing look.
Stock Down: Max Meyer, Germany
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Max Meyer was one of the best overall players heading to the tournament, boasting top-tier Bundesliga and UEFA Champions League experience only a select few others could.
That immediately marked him as a player to watch, as he should spark those far less experienced. However, Meyer was essentially ineffectual across all four games Germany played, struggling to make any sort of positive impact.
Amin Younes, Leonardo Bittencourt, Kevin Volland and Emre Can all played significantly better football than Meyer; the usually dazzling No. 10 looked slow to react to chances and failed to create anything of note.
Stock Up: Jan Kliment, Czech Republic
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Jan Kliment was borderline unheard of before this tournament started, but many will now be familiar with the player who scored a wonderful hat-trick against Serbia as Czech Republic crushed Mladen Dodic's side in the second round of group-stage matches.
He stepped in for the suspended Vaclav Kadlec and absent Matej Vydra, carrying the Czech torch through three games. He made good runs, showed sharpness and impressed the crowd with his energy.
Kliment could take a Marcus Berg-esque trajectory up the footballing pyramid—the Swedish striker excelled in the 2009 iteration and immediately won an expensive, ill-fated move to Hamburg—and Stuttgart have immediately bitten, securing his services, per their official website.
He could be more of a dud than a stud, but his profile is sky-high following the tournament nonetheless.
Stock Down: Gareth Southgate, England
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All that good work Gareth Southgate did during the qualifiers to clear his name and all the progressive steps he took to leave behind an unwanted reputation have been forgotten. That's what a tournament at the helm of an England team will do to you.
For the record, England would have done very well to qualify from Group B; they were the third-best team in it on paper, and Sweden pulled up all manner of trees to triumph as this year's shock package.
But that doesn't help Southgate, as these facts are lost on the majority who tune in solely to watch England. Southgate's men finished bottom of the their group with one win and two losses. As such, the manager's name and reputation return, at least temporarily, to the gutter once more.
Stock Up: Emre Can, Germany
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As uMAXit Football's Jack Lusby brilliantly outlined, Emre Can was tried in three different positions at the European Under-21 Championship this summer, and his fortunes differed in each.
He did not thrive as a holding midfielder, guarding the defence. Nor did he thrive in a faux-No. 10 role, slipping between the lines and attempting to link play to the striker. No, it was somewhere in between those two that suited him best.
Unleashed as a box-to-box midfielder, with Joshua Kimmich settled and anchoring behind him, Can did damage in the final third.
His passing range is OK, his drive forward lethal, and he's capable of coming up with the odd goal. Brendan Rodgers should now have no questions as to which is Can's best position.
Stock Down: Horst Hrubesch, Germany
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The sabotage job Horst Hrubesch did on Germany this summer was quite special; it's rare to see such a talented side fail to kick into gear—particularly when it plays in the colours of Die Deutsche.
Hrubesch's charges qualified from Group A, granted, but they did so in underwhelming fashion, only sparking into life against Denmark. Laboured draws against Serbia and Czech Republic—two distinctly inferior sides—sandwiched that victory, and the 5-0 loss to Portugal in the semi-final was, well, humiliation in its simplest form.
As B/R's Stefan Bienkowski illustrated, Germany paid the price for a defensive approach to the tournament, and Hrubesch's odd XIs crippled the team. Playing two left-backs against Czech Republic, poorly configuring the midfield in the semi-final and generally refusing to play Leonardo Bittencourt rank among his biggest faux pas.
Stock Up: John Guidetti, Sweden
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John Guidetti is officially a free agent, with his contract at Manchester City having come to an end on June 30, 2015. Given he's fresh off a European Under-21 Championship-winning campaign, in which he played a pivotal part, his agent is certain to be besieged by calls in the coming days.
If you're about to hit the market, you best leave a good lasting impression. The one Guidetti left in the Czech Republic was one of grit, determination, tactical intuition and instinctive finishing ability. He's a little limited technically but comes alive in the box and scores goals.
Its arguable he's only really found success in the Netherlands—the spell in Scotland with Celtic perhaps an exception—so he's got a lot to prove. Fortunately, clubs will offer him that chance.
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