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‘Fast; powerful’: Wonder-kid who left Arsenal justifies Mbappe comparisons

Photo by Catherine Steenkeste/Getty Images
Photo by Catherine Steenkeste/Getty Images
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It is not often you will find a player who, at the age of 17, has already been compared to both Paul Pogba and Kylian Mbappe.

Not least because a pair of fearsome Frenchmen ply their trade in completely different areas of the field.

But this should tell you a lot about not just the potential but also the adaptability of Valencia record-breaker Yunus Musah.

A year after the New York-born England U18 star walked away from the Emirates after rejecting a new contract at Arsenal, he has written his name into the history books of one of Spain’s biggest footballing institutions.

Driving through the midfield with the sort of explosive burst before finishing in style, Musah became the youngest Englishman to score in La Liga during Valencia’s 2-2 draw with Getafe.

Did we mention he is also Los Che’s youngest goalscorer this century? Suddenly, those comparisons with two future superstars, Mbappe and Barcelona wonderkid Ansu Fati, make perfect sense.

 “He is young, he is fast, he is powerful and he does not panic,” Valencia legend Fernando Gomez, who was also blown away by Musah’s work-rate off the ball, told Plaza Deportivo.

Photo by Jose Miguel Fernandez/NurPhoto via Getty Images

“He still has a lot to learn to become a better player, such as participating more in the game, learning to come inside (from the wing).

“If he limits himself only to playing glued to the touchline, he will touch fewer balls and appear more sporadically.”

Of course, not even Fati nor Mbappe were the finished article at the age of just 17. How good Musah will become is anyone’s guess, although it seems a certainty already that this is a player who will have Arsenal fans kicking themselves with alarming regularity over the years to come.

Forget Mbappe, Fati and Pogba. Is this Serge Gnabry 2.0?

Photo by MIGUEL A. LOPES/POOL/AFP via Getty Images