Tom Maston
Tom Maston is a features editor at GOAL who focuses on opinion-led, long-form coverage of the global game, with a particular emphasis on transfers, future stars and football’s biggest individual prizes. Since joining GOAL as an intern in 2012, he has moved through a series of roles in the news operation before switching his focus to features in 2020 and ultimately taking on responsibility for the outlet’s feature output. He now oversees wide-ranging features while curating the annual NXGN awards that spotlight the world’s best teenage players.
Transfer windows and big-money deals
Maston’s transfer window work stands out for its blend of grading, context and narrative across major European leagues. He leads GOAL’s regular transfer grade features, assessing marquee moves such as the €80m outlay on Anthony Gordon and other big-money deals in the 2026 summer window. His transfer archives also track sagas that drag across the summer, highlighting unresolved storylines even as pre-season approaches. He frequently covers moves involving clubs like Manchester United, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, Barcelona and Liverpool, from contract renewals to loan deals and record signings.
Much of this work is framed explicitly as opinion and analysis, using fees, club needs and competitive ambitions to judge whether a transfer makes sense beyond the headline number.
NXGN and football’s next generation
Maston is closely associated with NXGN, GOAL’s flagship project that ranks and profiles the top teenage talents in world football. He oversees the annual NXGN awards and writes accompanying features that explain why certain youngsters are poised to become superstars of the future.
His NXGN pieces range from global lists of wonderkids to detailed profiles of individual prospects such as Jude Bellingham, Rodrygo, Fabio Silva, Zeno Debast, Dijon Kameri and Garang Kuol. These articles place young players in tactical and developmental context, linking their club roles to long-term international potential, including looking ahead to tournaments like the World Cup.
Across this strand of his work, Maston treats youth development and scouting as central stories in themselves rather than peripheral notes to senior football.
Ballon d’Or and elite performers
Maston’s coverage of the Ballon d’Or focuses on what truly separates contenders at the elite level rather than treating the award as a simple popularity poll. He contributes analytical pieces and round-table features that weigh seasons from players such as Rodri, Vinicius Junior and Jude Bellingham against the criteria used by award voters.
He has discussed Lionel Messi’s standing in the Ballon d’Or race around major tournaments, including ranking the forward outside the top tier before a World Cup and reassessing his chances as performances unfold.
In this work he brings together club and international form, competition difficulty and the timing of peak performances to build comparative cases for and against leading candidates. The result is a body of writing that treats individual awards as a lens on wider questions of dominance, influence and consistency in modern football.
Features across leagues and tournaments
Maston’s broader feature work spans domestic leagues, European competition and international tournaments, often following recurring characters over time. Earlier in his career he regularly reported from Premier League grounds and later covered the 2018 World Cup on the ground, experience that now informs his longer-form analyses. His archives include pieces on topics such as Richarlison’s suitability for Everton despite a hefty fee, Liverpool’s Champions League final defeat framed through Sergio Ramos’ challenge on Mohamed Salah, and Neymar’s reputation at World Cups.
He also writes tactical and selection features around major tournaments, including how national teams like England might line up and the roles of players often criticised for wasteful finishing, such as Raheem Sterling. Beyond GOAL, his professional experience includes editing and reporting roles across digital sports media and freelance work with national newspapers and specialist sports titles, adding breadth to his perspective on both elite and emerging players.
4 more sports journalists.
Aaron Bower
Aaron Bower stands out for covering rugby league through transfers, contracts and squad strategy. He is commissioning editor of Love Rugby League and leads its news and analysis output, while also working as a sports journalist for national outlets. His reporting spans Super League, the Championship, international rugby league and the NRL. He writes hard news, features and audio coverage, from club injuries and signings to long-form pieces on squad building, player contracts, club grading and father-son links. He also covers international selection, eligibility and the impact of NRL-Super League deals. His work treats club news, match context and off-field decisions as part of the same competitive story, and his editorial role places him at the centre of written, podcast and multimedia coverage.
Adam Becket
Adam Becket is a news editor and road racing specialist at Cycling Weekly, combining live race reporting, detailed stage analysis and regular opinion columns on elite men’s professional road cycling. He focuses on grand tours, general classification battles and shifting hierarchies in the peloton, tracking how results reshape team dynamics, rider reputations and future leadership. His reporting covers pivotal race moments, jersey contests and British riders and teams, linking daily outcomes to wider stories about WorldTour talent and development pathways. He also writes on cycling culture, technology and group-ride etiquette from a rider’s perspective, connecting elite competition with everyday riding. Becket previously wrote for Procycling, reported on ecclesiastical matters for an Anglican newspaper and covered politics at Business Insider, bringing institutional and governance insight to his coverage of teams, ethics and power at the top of the sport.
Adnan Riaz
Adnan Riaz is a senior football journalist whose distinct focus is forward-looking, tactical coverage of Manchester United, treating season outlooks and European campaigns as analytical projects in their own right. He works at United In Focus, centring on the club’s domestic and European runs, squad dynamics and supporter response. His beat is Manchester United under Ruben Amorim and Michael Carrick, with detailed work on season previews, prediction-led pieces, Europa League and Champions League campaigns, match analysis and transfer stories. He reports through tactical systems, specific scorelines, stages and scenarios, and player-centric storytelling built around figures such as Bruno Fernandes, Rasmus Hojlund, Matthijs de Ligt and Raphael Varane. His wider background spans fan-facing sports brands, gaming outlets, social-first content and syndicated sports and entertainment coverage.
Aidan Macdonald
Aidan Macdonald stands out for covering how football clubs are run and how supporters shape their future. He works on the sports desk at Clydebank Post, where he reports on club-level football, matches, signings, managers, academies, league campaigns and grassroots achievements. His work also covers governance, supporters’ trusts, ownership debates and the effect of club decisions on fans and communities. He has reported on Dumbarton Football Club’s supporters’ trust raising concerns about a takeover deal. Macdonald also contributes local leisure and business stories to Renfrewshire Gazette, including coverage of a restaurant reopening at a former popular eatery. His background includes work for specialist football outlets and wider news organisations. He writes short, timely reports in a direct, factual style, linking sport to governance, business and everyday community life.