The UEFA Champions League is back, and with it comes the return of the UEFA Youth League, Europe’s premier youth competition and one that in recent years that has spiked in popularity.
With UEFA making good strides to make the majority of matches available to watch for free, top youth football has never been easier to watch, and with this development comes more eyeballs on those who could one day become superstars in the sport.
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This season has already seen some huge wins for the likes of Manchester City, PSG and Real Madrid, and with some moments going viral already (as we will see later), UEFA Youth League fever is running riot across the continent this season.
With that in mind, here are five players to keep an eye on this campaign in what is set to be one of the competition’s biggest years as audience numbers increase and the quality of youngsters looks likely to reach an all-time high in the UEFA Youth League.
Ben Doak – Liverpool
An academy arrival for Liverpool this summer, 16-year-old Ben Doak has already caught many headlines in his incredibly short career, with the winger last season making his senior debut for Celtic as the teenager became one of the youngest players ever to play for the Hoops.
Already on the scoresheet for Liverpool this campaign in Europe, big things are expected for Doak in the years to come, and with the youngster able to play both out wide as well as at fullback, the Irvine-born’s versatility could make him a favourite with senior coaches at Melwood.
Carlos Alvarez – Sevilla
Labelled by Scouted Football as ‘mini Maradona’, there’s good reason to be excited by Sevilla’s U-19 captain Carlos Alvarez, who starred for the Andalusian side this week against Manchester City despite the 5-1 loss to the Premier League 2 champions.
https://twitter.com/scoutedftbl/status/1567114761921232898
Short-built but powerful on the ball and able to ride out challenges with the ball, Alvarez is nearing becoming a first-team player for Sevilla at age 19, and with an impressive performance in the UEFA Europa League already in the books this season, the midfielder could soon feature for the seniors in the coming months.
Carlos Borges – Manchester City
As mentioned, Manchester City ran out 5-1 winners against Sevilla this week, and the star of the show was one Carlos Borges, who bagged a hat-trick against the Spanish giants in what was a standout performance from the 18-year-old Portuguese youth international.
A member of City’s youth academy since the age of 10, Borges has earned his stripes to become an integral part of the club’s U-21s, and with six goals and three assists in all competitions already this season, expect to see more of the teenage attacker in the headlines in the weeks to come, much to the pleasure of Pep Guardiola and company.
Warren Zaire-Emery – PSG
Goals going viral in the UEFA Youth League are nothing new, yet PSG wonderkid Warren Zaire-Emery might have already won the award for Goal of the Season in the competition for his outrageous solo goal against Juventus in a 5-3 win for the French champions.
https://twitter.com/Alex14Martinez_/status/1567125051484389376
Hailed as a ‘generational talent’ by performance analyst and scout Alex Martinez, it’s easy to see why there is so much hype around Zaire-Emery, who at 16-years-old already looks primed to play senior football given his incredible frame and athleticism, with PSG on to another sensational player if they can manage his development correctly.
Jamie Donley – Tottenham
Another British talent who has opened his UEFA Youth League account in the opening game of the season, Northern Ireland-born Jamie Donley has burst onto the scene for Tottenham in the last 12 months, and the England U-17 international looks set to become the next exciting Spurs striker to come through the academy.
Dane Scarlett, Troy Parrott and of course Harry Kane have all come through Tottenham’s youth system over the last few years, and Donley looks set to to succeed this attacking trio based on his early performances in Europe for Spurs, with the 17-year-old already stealing headlines for all the right reasons this season.
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