There may not be a World Cup or European Championship this summer, but for those missing the football bug during the off-season, cast your eyes on the Under-21 European Championship, which kicks off Saturday, June 11 (readers in the United States can watch the games on ESPN3.com, including Spain vs England on Sunday at 2:35pm ET).

In your preparation for the tournament, here are ten players to watch out for:

1. David De Gea (SPAIN)

The goalkeeper was included in Vincent del Bosque’s provisional squad for the 2010 World Cup but just missed out on the final 23, with Iker Casillas, Pepe Reina and Victor Valdes being chosen instead. De Gea is however seen by most in Spain as the natural successor to Iker Casillas. De Gea first came to prominence in 2009 when he replaced Sergio Asenjo as Atletico Madrid’s number one. He gave away, and saved a penalty in his La Liga debut and his consistently good performances have caught the eye of Sir Alex Ferguson, who confirmed his interest to bring De Gea to Old Trafford last month. De Gea, dubbed ’the new Edwin Van Der Sar’ even before Manchester United’s interest, also helped Atletico lift the UEFA Super Cup in 2010 by saving a Diego Milito penalty. The Spaniard has enjoyed another fine season and will be looking to bring his form into this tournament, insisting the constant speculation about his future will not impact on his performances.

2. Juan Manuel Mata (SPAIN)

Mata will be one of the oldest players participating in this year’s U21 tournament, aged 23. UEFA rules stipulate that players born after the 1st January 1988 are eligible, so the Valencia star just squeezes in. A reported target for Liverpool, Mata played 20 minutes of Spain’s victorious 2010 World Cup campaign, and boasts 11 senior caps for the World champions – scoring 4 goals in the process. He joined Valencia from Real Madrid back in 2007, and with Valencia’s current financial difficulties, he could be on the move again this summer. Mata will be aware of the many scouts sure to be in attendance and will be looking to impress should he leave Los Che – however he does face stiff competition with Jeffren, Diego Capel, Ander Herrera and Iker Muniain all vying for a place in the wide areas.

3. Javi Martinez (SPAIN)

Like his team-mate Mata, Javi Martinez was also part of Spain’s 2010 World Cup squad, and also played 20 minutes of the tournament, replacing Xabi Alonso in their group match against Chile. Martinez is one of the best young players in La Liga, and his club Athletic Bilbao must have seen something in the then-17 year old midfielder – paying Osasuna e6,000,000 for his services. Martinez has been Bilbao’s midfield engine room since 2006 and has never had a season where he has played less than 30 games. He isn’t a goal-grabbing midfielder, but he will offer the Spanish U21s protection and insurance in front of the back four, allowing the likes of Thiago Alcantara and Juan Mata to attack. Martinez continues to be linked to a move away from Bilbao despite extending his contract with Athletic until 2016 just a few weeks ago. The inclusion of both Martinez and Mata, who are now full senior internationals, does prompt England fans to question why Jack Wilshere and Andy Carroll weren’t taken to Denmark to represent their country.

4. Chris Smalling (ENGLAND)

It is incomprehensible to think that just three years ago, Chris Smalling was turning out for lowly Maidstone United in the seventh tier of English football. In the season just gone, he was playing for Manchester United, and featured in games against Chelsea, Manchester City, Marseille and Arsenal. His journey from Maidstone United to Premier League champion is one that all aspiring footballers should draw inspiration from. On the international scene, Smalling has been called up by senior boss Fabio Capello on one occasion but was an unused substitute. He has represented the U21s 11 times, and netted his first and only goal in the first leg of the playoff tie against Romania back in October last year. He has forged an effective partnership with Phil Jones at the heart of England’s defence – a partnership that has been likened to that of John Terry and Rio Ferdinand at senior level.

5. Jack Rodwell (ENGLAND)

Another English talent on show at this summer’s tournament is Jack Rodwell – Everton’s holding midfielder who has been linked with a move to Manchester United for the last two years. Although yet to earn a senior call-up, Rodwell is one of the most-capped players at this level, with 15 caps and 2 goals. He has represented his country at all youth-levels and has often been captain – although that responsibility is likely to go Michael Mancienne this time around. The midfielder seems to have been around for a while but he has only recently turned 20, and he will see this tournament as his opportunity to impress Fabio Capello – especially with next summer’s Euro 2012 in mind. Much like Javi Martinez, Rodwell isn’t a prolific goalscorer but he has bags of energy, good passing range and positional sense.

6. Gylfi Sigurdsson (ICELAND)

Sigurdsson is starting to show real promise since joining Hoffenheim from Reading last year. During his time at Reading, the Icelandic had spent loan spells at Shrewsbury United and Crewe Alexandra, before finally getting his first-team opportunities in the 2009-10 season. Sigurdsson made a name for himself as a scorer of great goals, and finished the campaign with 21 goals from 44 games – not bad for a midfielder! He was reportedly on the radars of Manchester United and Liverpool, but instead he joined Hoffenheim late in the autumn transfer window for £7M. A few weeks ago, he was named Hoffenheim’s player of the season by their supporters, having managed to score 10 goals in just 13 games. Scotland fans may remember Sigurdsson from the U21 play-off second leg when he netted two magnificent strikes to ensure Iceland’s place in this competition. He is certainly one to watch for the future.

7. Vaclav Kadlec (CZECH REPUBLIC)

Although his strike partner Tomas Pekhart was the competition’s top goal scorer in the qualification stages, with 9, it is Vaclav Kadlec who should really be considered Czech Republic’s star man. At the tender age of 19, Kadlec has already made his debut for the senior team, getting on the score sheet in the process. He is the youngest ever goal scorer for both the Czech Republic national team, and his club side Sparta Prague, for whom he scored at the age of 16. Again, he is being tracked by Premier League clubs – namely Liverpool and Chelsea. Most probably know him as a ‘wonderkid’ on Football Manager, but he more than lives up to that label in reality. He has great pace, movement and is lethal in front of goal, and has been described in his home country as the best natural talent since Pavel Nedved and Tomas Rosicky. He won ‘Czech Talent of the Year’ in 2010.

8. Xherdan Shaqiri (SWITZERLAND)

The likes of Germany, Spain and Belgium are currently producing real quality young players, but Switzerland should not be overlooked. They won the U17 World Cup in 2009, and many of the same players from that tournament will be in Denmark this summer. In fact, six of the players in this squad have already made their senior debuts for Switzerland. None are more impressive than Xherdan Shaqiri, the FC Basel winger who has been tipped for great things. Still only 19, he has 11 senior caps and has scored once – a 25 yard screamer against England in a European Championships qualifier last year. There’s plenty more where that came from too, just a quick look on YouTube tells you this guy is a star in the making. Not only as he got an eye for goal, Shaqiri is fantastic with the ball at his feet and likes to run at his marker. He may stay with Basel for a short while but don’t be surprised to see him at a top European club in the near future.

9. Yevhen Konoplyanka (UKRAINE)

Ukraine manager Oleh Blokhin has released four players from the senior squad to let them join up with the U21s, and Yevhen Konoplyanka is one of them. Along with Andriy Yarmolenko, Yaroslav Rakitskiy and Taras Stepanenko, he is in a group of players regarded as the future of Ukrainian football. Konoplyanka is currently on the books of Dnipro, and can play on either the right or left hand side, as well as through the middle just behind the striker. While comparisons with Lionel Messi may be a little off the mark, and premature, he does resemble the Argentine. He is comfortable using both feet, loves to beat defenders and has great vision and awareness. The 21 year old has plenty of time left to improve and there will undoubtedly be scouts from big European clubs keeping an eye on him. He already has two goals from 8 full international appearances.

10. Christian Eriksen (DENMARK)

Most would have already heard of this Danish attacking midfielder, currently contracted to Ajax. Eriksen was the youngest player at the 2010 World Cup and has an army of clubs tracking his progress. Martin Jol, who managed Eriksen at the Dutch club, compared him to Wesley Sneijder, and he was named the Eredevisie’s Talent of the Year. He previously had trials at Barcelona and Chelsea but chose Ajax instead, stating “my first step should not be too big”. The youngster recently starred in a 2-1 friendly defeat to England, and won the man of the match award, drawing praise from the English media as well as Rio Ferdinand, via Twitter. He is Denmark’s youngest ever goalscorer in European qualification and the senior coach agreed to let Eriksen participate in this tournament to further enhance his development. The Dane is fast becoming one of Ajax’s most important players, and scored 7 goals in 20 starts last season. He is a fantastic passer of the ball and his delivery from wide areas is exceptional.

Recent campaigns have seen Ferguson’s charges battle Chelsea and Arsenal for Premier League supremacy. Since the 2003/04 season, when Roman Abramovic threw his considerable financial weight behind the Blues, Chelsea have won three Premier League trophies, Arsenal have claimed one, and Manchester United have emerged victorious four times. Next season however, there are two other teams looking to have their say in the title race – possibly the two clubs United fans hate the most, Manchester City and Liverpool.

United’s “noisy neighbours” have the spending power to acquire almost any player in world football and are rumoured to share an interest in some of United’s reported transfer targets. At the risk of being cynical, a player given the choice to join either City or United would probably opt for the blue half of Manchester, purely for the financial package they can offer. If they can afford to pay Yaya Toure £220,000 a week, just imagine what they would pay Wesley Sneijder or Alexis Sanchez. One advantage United did have over City was the lure of Champions League football but that is no longer the case thanks to City‘s 3rd place finish last season. Meanwhile, Liverpool have improved dramatically under the stewardship of fan’s favourite Kenny Dalglish, and look set to spend big this summer. Eden Hazard, Ashley Young, Connor Wickham and Jordan Henderson are all reported transfer targets, and a prolific forward partnership in Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll could also be forged if both can avoid injuries.

With all their rivals looking set for summer sprees, supporters of Manchester United must harbour doubts as to whether their club can still afford top quality players in such an inflated market. Ferguson still has an eye for a bargain – you only need to look at Chicharito for proof of that – but it’s looking increasingly likely that at least one creative midfielder is needed at Old Trafford and they may have to spend upwards of £30m to get one of the necessary quality. Despite being over £500m in debt, David Gill has constantly reassured that there are large sums of cash reserves to add to the playing squad, and Ferguson must surely be looking to spend it. David De Gea looks set to sign from Atletico Madrid to replace the almost irreplaceable Edwin Van Der Sar, and the likes of Wesley Sneijder, Luka Modric and Ashley Young have also been linked.

Sir Alex famously said his biggest challenge was knocking Liverpool off their perch. Now he turns his attention to staying on it.

Regardless, it is an important fixture for Paul Lambert’s men. They had gone five games without a win before the 4-1 thumping of Ipswich last weekend and even though four of these these were draws, it was a victory they needed.

Now, it is time to push on from here. The players, management and fans will be in high spirits for the game at Pride Park and in a league as tight as the Championship, this is always something you want to make the most of.

When you put in a performance like Norwich did last weekend, you don’t want it to be a one off. Everyone at the club will want it to be the start of another unbeaten run – this time with a few more victories.

There is no reason why they can’t either. Past Norwich teams at this level wouldn’t go to somewhere like Derby County expecting to pick up three points. This team will go their demanding three points. That has been the attitude away from home this season and it has paid off with a decent away record.

Norwich have established the hard to beat tag already this season. Look at the game against Burnley last month for example. Trailing 2-0 with 20 minutes to go, the Canaries fought back for a point. It was the same against Leeds a couple of weeks later. 1-0 down, but never out as they salvaged a draw.

What the game against Ipswich did though, was suggest that Norwich are ready to move on from being just hard to beat. Don’t get me wrong, they have shown attacking flair plenty of times this season already, but there was something special about Lambert’s m en going forward last Sunday.

Arsenal youngster Henry Lansbury has no doubt influenced this as he adds to a team that already possesses the likes of Andrew Surman, Andrew Crofts, Wes Hoolahan (who came off the bench against Ipswich), Chris Martin and of course Grant Holt. There are several players here that many Championship managers would love to have in their team.

As things stand, Norwich sit 5th in the Championship and it is fully deserved. Three points against 4th placed Derby, something they are more than capable of achieving (consider the fact they would have beaten leaders QPR at Loftus Road had Hoolahan converted a penalty) and they could go third.

So, as good as the win against Ipswich would have been for Norwich fans, it might not even be the highlight of their season.

Onwards and upwards for Norwich City.

No-one can deny the impact that Craig Bellamy has had on Cardiff City this season. The man on loan from Manchester City has given the whole club a lift and helped them make an excellent start to this year’s Championship campaign.

Dave Jones’ men sit level on points with Queens Park Rangers at the top of the table ahead of this weekend’s game with 4th placed Norwich City.

To say that this is all down to Bellamy would be incorrect. Cardiff didn’t need too much of a lift to ignite their promotion push as they have been there or thereabouts for a while now. Bellamy is just the extra element to proceedings that gives them their best ever shot at reaching the Premier League.

Some may remember the impact Darren Huckerby had on Norwich’s promotion bid back in 2003/2004. The Canaries had a decent squad of honest, hard-working players – Huckerby provided the spark that led them to the title. Bellamy is similar. He lifts everyone in a squad that was pretty well equipped for success anyway.

Cardiff boss Jones was keen to stress how much of a team effort it is ahead of the weekend’s game and on the back of an excellent 4-0 victory at Elland Road. He said the Bluebirds are ‘certainly not a one man team’ and that ‘there are some good players besides Craig.’

This certainly is the case. Just look at that win against Leeds United most recently. Yes, Bellamy was influential, but it was Jay Boothroyd that stole the headlines with two goals that took his total to eleven in all competitions this season. The former Coventry City man has been in inspirational form this season and has made himself just as important to the side as Bellamy.

The talent doesn’t stop there either. Michael Chopra, Peter Whittingham and Chris Burke are all excellent players. You can certainly see why Jones’ men are up there and you would be a brave man to do anything other than back them in their promotion charge. To be honest, they look even stronger than QPR because you can see Cardiff getting better and better. After all, Bellamy has still got to hit goal scoring form yet!

All of this means that Cardiff go into tomorrow’s game with Norwich City as favourites to pick up three points. It won’t be easy for them though in what is the pick of the games for the Championship this weekend.

Under Paul Lambert, Norwich have performed above expectations this season and could go within three points of their hosts with a win on Saturday. This is testament to the start they have made.

Especially away from home, the Canaries have made themselves extremely hard to beat. The 0-0 draw at table topping QPR proved that. They would have won the game had not been for a Wes Hoolahan penalty miss too.

It isn’t just about being hard to beat for Norwich either. They have an in-form striker in Simeon Jackson, one of the most creative players in the league in Hoolahan and one the hardest strikers to play against in Grant Holt.

Further back, they have a hard-working midfield and a centre back pairing of Leon Barnett and Elliot Ward that has worked extremely well so far this season.

They will be up against their biggest challenge yet this weekend though as Bellamy and co look to run riot in front of their home fans.

The presence of Bellamy is a side plot to this game actually. He started his career at Norwich and is still held in high regard by their fans, so should receive a warm reception from them.

All in all, it should be a cracking contest between two good teams pushing for a win.

Prediction? An entertaining 2-2 draw.

Enjoy your weekend.

Follow Thomas on Twitter

Many have compared Manchester United’s 3-1 victory over Arsenal at the Emirates last night to Manny Paquiao’s demolition of Ricky Hatton. In all honesty, it is clear to see the similarities – Hatton and Arsenal were brushed aside by opponents with more speed, power and all round ability.

The intention of this article isn’t to wax lyrical about Manchester Untied though. They were very professional on the night and showed why they are European champions. For the record, they will probably retain their trophy.

Instead, it seems significant to see how this result can affect Arsenal. First of all, it means that another season has passed by without a trophy. The last piece of silverware they picked up was the FA Cup in 2005.

For a club of Arsenal’s size, this isn’t really good enough. Arsene Wenger has been a fantastic servant to English football, the Premier League and of course Arsenal, but how long can a club with their pedigree go without having something to show for their success?

It was mentioned in the build up to the Champions League games with Manchester United that the relationship between Wenger and Sir Alex Ferguson had improved in recent times. The reason for this is simple though – Ferguson and Manchester Untied no longer see Arsenal as a threat.

It is no coincidence that Ferguson and Rafael Benitez have been the main ‘mind-game’ operators this season as their teams aren’t to far away from each other in terms of the Premier League title.

Arsenal on the other hand have only made their way into 4th position in the last month or so. At one point, it seemed as though Aston Villa would pip them to a place in next year’s Champions League. This would have been devastating.

There have been murmurs of Wenger coming to the end of his spell in charge in the past, but don’t be surprised if this goes up a notch between now and the end of the season. There is only so long that the word ‘potential’ can be used after all.

In the end, it will come down to what Arsenal want to achieve as a club. Are they happy being a top-four Premier League side with lots of young players who often fall short of the major prizes? Or do they want to become the Champions of England, Europe and the World like Manchester United?

The answer, presumably, is the latter. Arsenal is such a fantastic club. They have brilliant fans, a marvelous stadium and some hugely talented players. So why haven’t they been able to win some silverware in recent years?

This question probably can’t be answered with a simple response. However, could one reason be that Wenger has become obsessed with bringing the youngsters through? Should he look to bring more experienced professionals to the club? Should he bring in more players like Andrei Arshavin who have proven themselves at the highest level?

The most successful Arsenal team of recent years, ‘The Invincibles,” contained a lot of experienced players. Martin Keown, Patrick Viera, Thierry Henry, Robert Pires and Dennis Bergkamp to name just a few.

With this in mind, why has such a different approach been adopted in the last two or three years? Considering Arsenal’s lack of trophies, should they have taken the Carling Cup more seriously and played their strongest team throughout? Silverware is silverware!

I appreciate that lots of questions have been asked in this article. It’s just that I am desperate to find out everyone’s views on Arsenal’s situation. They are a fantastic team to watch and provide plenty of entertainment; it’s just that this might not be good enough anymore.

One final question – if Wenger refused to budge from his current youth policy, is it possible that he could be asked to move on? Is this something Arsenal fans are even considering?

The gulf between Manchester United and Arsenal was so great over the two matches and this will act as a real eye opener for the Gunners. Perhaps it is the beginning of the end for the current regime.

Looking forward to your views on this.