A brand new year means a brand new edition of FourFourTwo magazine, folks – available in print and on iPad from Wednesday January 7. And our February 2015 issue is a corker, featuring exclusive interviews with Mario Gotze, Koke, Ross Barkley, Aymeric Laporte, Antoine Griezmann, Marco Verratti and Ryan Gauld in our star-studded 23 under 23 segment.
Wily mathematicians will have noted only seven names above. But fear not: there's plenty of stuff on the other 16 in our list, including David Moyes discussing his former Manchester United charge Adnan Januzaj, some things you need to know about alleged [insert big Premier League team here] target Lucas Silva by the man himself, and expert profiles of the other rising starlets on big-club radars.
TEASERMoyes: Januzaj has the characteristics of Cruyff
Don't miss our in-depth analysis of why Paul Pogba could be the world's best player by 2018. The Frenchman may well be remembered as one of Sir Alex Ferguson's biggest mistakes at Manchester United, and here we explain what really happened at Old Trafford, why he's already his country's top dog and an icon of Juventus.
Twenty-five years ago this month, meanwhile, Lord Justice Taylor presented Parliament with his full report into the events that followed the Hillsborough disaster. At the heart of his enquiry was a call to replace the terraces with all-seater stadia – a recommendation that would transform British football. Yet, as hard as it is to believe now, many clubs opposed the changes. FFT revisits the controversy.
Ever wondered what some of football's most fearsome hoolies did once their fisticuff days were over? No, probably not. But maybe there's more to it than you think. From the actor to the lecturer, the chaplain to the coach, former casuals tell us their fascinating tales of redemption.
This month's One-on-One saw FFT sit down with former Newcastle favourite-turned Match of the Day regular Alan Shearer in a Manchester BBC cafe. Here, the Geordie legend allows readers to dissect his career, shares his finest Bobby Robson tale and criticises Neil Lennon for, er, "headbutting his foot". There's more where that came from.
With the January transfer window open, it's likely your club will have its doctor busied by a new face or two. So we thought we'd get the inside track on what a medical's really like, looking in detail at the last barrier between a club and a new signing. Along the way FFT discovers a few dirty secrets... and take one ourselves. Gulp.
Then it's over to Whitstable Town in the Ryman League Division One South. With a mixture of sibling rivalry and brotherly love, Danny and Jim Ward are making a decent fist of co-managing in England's eighth tier. Could this be football's future? FFT finds out...
Amid Britain's chilly season, our Action Replay tracks the rise of undersoil heating and how the relatively new system helped clubs beat the freeze – after flame-throwers, straw and a lot of failures. Brrr!
But that's not all – no, no, no. As usual we bring you news, interviews (Adebayo Akinfenwa's answering silly questions this time) and chuckles in Upfront; a Slaven Bilic exclusive, Lars Ricken and the Polish Portsmouth in Planet Football; plus Christian Eriksen, Tim Howard and much more in Performance.
So whaddaya waiting for? Get your mitts on the mag every month right here.
The February 2015 issue of FourFourTwo is brought to you by… Mario Götze, Antoine Griezmann, Ross Barkley, Koke, Adebayo Akinfenwa, Lars Ricken, David Moyes, Alan Shearer, Slaven Bilic, Marek Hamsik, Graeme Souness, Dunga, Tim Howard, Daniel Cordone, Kevin Phillips, Marco Verratti, Trevor Brooking, Boguslaw Kaczmarek, Jacek Zielinski, Christian Eriksen, Les Scadding, Danny Wilson, Wassim Riahi, Dugagjin Dedaj, Armin Ibraimi, Matt Le Tissier, Ryan Gauld, Lucas Silva, Giovani dos Santos, Aymeric Laporte, Marquinhos, Ipswich Town's Tommy Smith, England physio Steve Kemp, two-time Futsal World Cup-winning coach Javier Lozano, the brothers managing Whitstable Town and Richard Osman from Pointless.
