21 Under 21 is back

The show where Ali Maxwell and George Elek pick the top 21 EFL talents returns to your screens next week in words, in data and, of course, on video.

We’re back…

NTT20’s EFL 21 Under 21 is returning every weekday at noon in June. George Elek and Ali Maxwell provide the definitive list — without rankings — of the 21 players under the age of 21 who have done enough in their short careers to show us that they deserve wider attention.

…And we’ve got previous!

Some of our past picks not only deserved the attention at the time but have gone on to grab the footballing limelight. We’ve seen big things, and we expect bigger still, from our 2022 and 2023 graduates, whether it’s Iliman Ndiaye, Brennan Johnson and Fabio Cárvalho, or Alex Scott, Eiran Cashin and a certain midfielder freshly called up to the England Squad…

Those picks of the past have become shining examples of EFL-talent-done-good in the present. But who is the future? You’ll find out soon.

The criteria

Let’s whip through the rules…

To qualify, players must not have played significant Premier League minutes, nor come to the English game in a big-money transfer from overseas. This is about players who came through at their local club or had to dust themselves down, having slipped through the net in a top academy system, and cut their teeth in the English Football League.

Players are eligible if they live up to the following criteria:

How it will work

In words, in pictures, on video and in your inbox…

Every weekday at noon in June, we will publish one episode, featuring one player on the 21 Under 21 list. That’s it in a nutshell — but let’s break it down.

Previously, 21 Under 21 was published on YouTube and Sky Sports, making it ‘video-first’ content. But now NTT20.COM will be published exclusively via Substack, which allows us to do a little more and a little differently.

Ali and George discussing each player on video will, of course, remain at the heart of each episode. But on top of that, we’ll be able to set the scene a little better with some words of context, as well as adding extra colour and insight through sexy, sexy data visualisations.

If you are a paid subscriber, you’ll get the whole shebang direct to your inbox at midday, from Monday to Friday, all through June. Free subscribers will get a chunky preview — including our write-ups and data visualisations — but the video content featuring Ali and George will sit behind a paywall until later in the summer.

To keep NTT20.COM going at full throttle, we need to coax a few more of you to become paid subscribers. And we hope that a month of 21 Under 21 might convince you to do just that.