Most footballers don’t hit their peak until their mid-late 20’s, and with a very many late bloomers out there, a great deal spend their teenage years and early 20’s in the footballing wilderness.
Although teenage superstars like Pele and Michael Owen tend to leave a lasting impression in our minds, giving the idea that world class talent should be evident from an early age, it’s actually very rare for someone to be a key player in a top side before their 20th birthday.
Today I wanted to give my views on the 7 best teenagers in world football, purely in terms of their current ability, not future potential. Before we start, I think it’s worth pointing out that Kylian Mbappe is 20, Gianluigi Donnarumma is 20 and Marcus Rashford is 21, since a lot of people would and probably still will complain about them not featuring.
So do please take to the comments with your suggestions at the end of the video, but make sure they’re still teenagers, otherwise you already have your answer as to why they weren’t included.
Here are my views on the 7 best teenagers in world football right now:
7. Nicolo Zaniolo
He may only be 19 years of age, but standing a 6’3” in the middle of the park, Nicolo Zaniolo looks more like a man than a boy. The old adage of ‘he’s got good feet for a big lad’ certainly applies to Zaniolo, whose strength in possession and quick feet make him difficult to knock off the ball.
He made his name in Serie B and in Italy’s youth teams primarily as an attacking midfielder, but he has featured on the left flank for Roma at times this season. On September 1st 2018 he became, as far as I can tell – but don’t quote me on this – the first player to receive a call-up to the Italian national team without having registered an appearance in a top flight division.
Recent reports have linked AC Milan, Real Madrid and Juventus with the 19-year-old, but we think he could do a lot worse than spending another season or two as a key man at the Stadio Olimpico before making a big move anywhere.
6. Phil Foden
Phil Foden of Manchester City and Benjamin Stambouli battle for the ball during the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 Second Leg match between Manchester City v FC Schalke 04 at Etihad…
Of all the players on our extensive shortlist, and we will look at some honourable mentions between first and second place, Phil Foden was probably the most difficult to properly assess. That is because there are a plethora of a teenagers who can exceed his number of just 15 league appearances registered, but then we are ordering players on talent, not experience.
It would be foolish to overlook the fact that no player has such ferocious competition in their position at club level as Foden does at Manchester City. Nevertheless, he’s still an important fringe player for Pep Guardiola, whose game time should only increase season upon season, and he’s still only 18.
Primarily an attacking midfielder, Foden has such class on the ball, excellent awareness and he plays with a composure beyond his years. All this should give Man City and England fans a great deal of optimism, and we think the 2017 U-17 World Cup Golden Ball winner is the sixth best teenager in world football.
5. Joao Felix
Long considered an exciting prospect in Portugal, Joao Felix began playing for Benfica’s B team in Portugal’s second tier at the age of 16, as well as representing his country at under-18, under-19 and under-21 level. He broke into Benfica’s first team, aged 18, at the start of this season, making an impact probably even his biggest admirers wouldn’t have predicted.
He has scored 10 goals in 18 games in the Primeira Liga, averaging a goal every 109 minutes, as well as chipping in with 4 assists. In his first 1,000 minutes of football, Felix had a more impressive attacking output than Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe over the same time frame.
Capable of playing out wide, in attacking midfield or as a withdrawn forward, Felix has wonderful flair, technique and invention. You can see the confidence coursing through his veins right now, as he pulls out little tricks and clever finishes many players wouldn’t even attempt on the training ground. Aged 19, Felix has been linked with the likes of Liverpool, Manchester United and Wolves, but his £100 million asking price would surely be too much for the last of those three.
4. Vinicius Junior
Vinicius Junior of Real Madrid in action during the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 Second Leg match between Real Madrid and Ajax at Santiago Bernabeu on March 05, 2019 in Madrid, Spain.
When Real Madrid agreed to pay €46 million to bring Vinicius Junior to the Bernabeu from Flamengo there were one or two raised eyebrows. Even in the post-Neymar era of hugely inflated transfer fees, it seemed like an extortionate amount for a player who wasn’t yet old enough to buy a bottle of champagne to celebrate the move.
It has to be said, however, that Vinicius Junior does look like an extremely promising young player. Typically deployed on the left flank, the 18-year-old is quick, tricky and very good on the ball. He’s no show-pony though, having scored 10 goals in 32 games from the left flank in his last season in Brazil, and he’s registered 28 appearances for Real Madrid this season.
It’s a very dangerous game trying to call the career of an 18-year-old, since there are still so many factors from injuries to sheer luck which can determine their ultimate career path, but Vinicius Junior has the chance to become one of the best players on the planet. He appears to be a really determined and level-headed character too, and that can only bode well.
3. Kai Havertz
Brazil and Germany are the two most successful national teams on the planet, and both seem to have a permanent conveyor-belt of talent, so it should come as no surprise that both nations are represented in this seven. Arguably the most promising young midfielder in world football, Kai Havertz has already played almost 100 games for Bayer Leverkusen.
A classy attacking midfielder with a wonderful left foot that can pass and strike a ball accurately and cleanly, Havertz has been capped twice by Germany at the age of 19, and is widely considered to be the country’s finest prospect.
Havertz has all the slickness and style of Mesut Ozil, but twinned, perhaps, with a little more steel, strength and work rate. The signs are very good, and Havertz is a worthy inclusion in our top three.
2. Jadon Sancho
Jadon Sancho of England during the 2020 UEFA European Championships Group A qualifying match between England and Czech Republic at Wembley Stadium on March 22, 2019 in London, United…
Staying in the Bundesliga but with an Englishman this time, the second Englishman in this seven no less, Jadon Sancho is a former teammate of Phil Foden’s at both club and international level. Whilst Foden picked up all the plaudits at the 2017 U-17 World Cup, Sancho had to be withdrawn from that squad due to his club commitments having just joined Borussia Dortmund from Manchester City.
Sancho supposedly signed for Dortmund in the hope of fast-tracking his route to first team football, and it would appear to have worked. Sancho has played 35 games so far this season, he leads the Bundesliga assist charts with 12, he’s scored 8 goals and he has by far the most dribbles per game of any player in the division.
Capable of operating on either flank, Sancho is brilliant on the ball, a real box tricks and he has a burst of acceleration which would give any full-back nightmares. Sancho already has a level of end product which most senior pros can only dream of, and having just turned 19, we think he’s the best attack-minded teenage footballer in the world right now.
0. Honourable Mentions
There are lots of teenagers with extraordinary potential, so it was crucial that we had some honourable mentions for this seven, but I must stress that it would be impossible for us to acknowledge every talented 19-year-old or younger.
As such, we’re just going to focus on the players who came closest to featuring in our seven, starting with Chelsea wide man Callum Hudson-Odoi. Recently called up to the England first team squad by Gareth Southgate for the first time, Hudson-Odoi has never actually started a league game for Chelsea, but he has made 29 appearances in all competitions. There’s a good reason why Bayern Munich have expressed such a strong interest in the 18-year-old though, and that’s because he has the potential to be one of the most devastating wide men on the planet.
From a potentially Bundesliga-bound English teenager to one who is already there, another player who made our shortlist is Hoffenheim loanee Reiss Nelson, a close friend of Jadon Sancho’s who has scored 6 goals in 15 Bundesliga games on-loan from Arsenal. The last of our trio of English honourable mentions goes to Ryan Sessegnon, who has fantastic experience for an 18-year-old with over 100 first team appearances to his name. This season probably hasn’t been all Sessegnon dreamt of, but he’ll have no problems finding a Premier League suitor in the summer should he wish to leave Fulham.
Two players who came mightily close to beating Nicolo Zaniolo into seventh place were Brazilian duo Rodrygo and Paulinho. Both members of Brazil’s under-20 national team, Paulinho joined Bayer Leverkusen for €20 million in the summer, meanwhile Rodrygo has a pre-contract agreement to join Real Madrid for €35 million in July.
Rodrygo is possibly the most exciting young player in the world, and between him and Vinicius Junior, the glory days of Brazil’s front three could make a return, but this seven is based on the here and now rather than potential. Like the other two, Paulinho is first and foremost a left winger, but he’s yet to really explode into life at Leverkusen.
Lastly, we should give an honourable mention to Matteo Guendouzi, given the fact that the young Frenchman has already made 88 appearances in the senior game, and most notably 34 in his debut season with Arsenal in the Premier League. The young holding or central midfielder obviously still has plenty of room to improve, but he plays with an energy and a sense of awareness that has impressed us this season.
Right, that’s it for our honourable mentions. Like I said, there’s no way we could mention every impressive teenager in world football, but do let us know your views in the comments on which players would feature in your top 7, and feel free to check out our video on the 7 greatest teenage footballers of all time after we’re done here. Now for the small matter of top spot…
1. Matthijs De Ligt
Matthijs de Ligt of Holland celebrates 1-2 with Daley Blind of Holland during the EURO Qualifier match between Holland v Germany at the Johan Cruijff Arena on March 24, 2019 in…
There was a point where I was umming and ahhing between Jadon Sancho and Matthijs De Ligt for top spot in this seven. Ultimately I drew a little ‘1’ next to De Ligt’s name in my notebook, and nothing since then has convinced me that I was wrong to do so, if anything I’m more certain now than ever.
I always say it’s much easier to spot greatness in an attacking player than a defensive one, so it’s a mark of Matthijs De Ligt’s talents at such a young age that his ability as a 19-year-old centre-back has been pretty universally acknowledged. He’s about to hit a century of appearances in an Ajax team which he has helped to reach a Champions League quarter-final and he has racked up 13 caps in a Netherlands team which he helped to reach the UEFA Nations League Finals in the summer.
De Ligt is a strong and assertive centre-back, and he’s already Ajax’s captain. That should give some indication of the youngsters mentality, and so often that is the difference between which young players reach the very apex of the game. It will be a travesty if De Ligt isn’t one day among the top three centre-backs in the world, and really he ought to be the top one.
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