Thought I would just write about some of the exciting young talent to look out for in the next few years!
Probably the best young player in Europe right now is Sergio Aguero of Athletico Madrid. Short but very skillful, this young forward has already won the U-19 World Cup twice, picking up the Top Scorer and Player of the Tournament last year as Argentina stormed to victory. Personally I think this kid is the real deal.
Another player I am hoping to see more of this year is Yoann Gourcuff, the young French midfielder currently at Milan. He is an intelligent, passing midfielder with a calm and mature air about him. A young Zidane in the making I'm hoping!
A couple of young goalkeepers who have caught my eye are Idriss Kameni from Cameroon and the young Russian, Igor Akinfeyev.
Kameni is a bouncy, energetic African goalkeeper with great reflexes, whilst Akinfeyev is the polar opposite with a coolness of character and that Russian menace that make him so hard to beat. Akinfeev collected four consecutive clean sheets in the Champions League, which, at the age of 21 is no mean feat!
Fred from Lyon looks to be improving all the time. Whilst everyone knows about Messi, but I think we all forget he is still only 20 years old!
There was a lot of fuss in recent years over the Dutch midfielder Raphael Van de Vaart, but surely his talent deserves better than to single handedly drag lowly Hamburg through yet another season.
After the furor over American teen-sensation Fredy Adu died down a few years ago, Freddy was allowed to quietly progress at D.C United and earned himself a contract at Benfica last year—not before Manchester United had him on trial, but turned him down.
I couldn't write a piece on exciting young footballers without mentioning a few South American prospects.
Kerlon is the one who springs to mind, what with his head juggling and general dribbling craziness. Fernando Gago (Real Madrid), Mattias Fernandez (Villareal), and Fernando Cavenaghi of Bordeaux all have bright futures ahead of them.
I'm sure I have missed plenty of good young players, but if anyone wants to add their own recommendations for the coming years then you're very welcome to. Thank you for reading.
12 comments Last one added 5 months ago — Leave a Comment
Andrew McNair about 1 year ago
Thanks for this piece Daniel.
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Dakota Rubin about 1 year ago
I love that you brought up these players. Dont forget how young Cesc Fabregas, Kaka and Ronaldo still are.
'Kun' Agüero is for real. He always had the talent but people questioned Atletico when they shelled out 20 million for him but it is well worth a talent like him. If Leo Messi is the next Maradona than Kun is the next Messi. All three Argentines have the same short, stocky, speedy build and like the other two, Kun is deadly around the goal. Case in point his 2 goals, assist and drawn penalty in the biggest game of the year for Atletico against Barca.
Watch out with your jab at Hamburg. They are in third place in the Bundesliga and just drew with Munich away and are also making an impressive run in the UEFA cup.
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Mark Syrett about 1 year ago
Kaka is 26 in April. Hardly a youngster. Robben, Robinho and podolski are younger than that.
There are lots of good youngsters though. Bojan, Dos Santos, the whole Aresnal team, Man utd have loads. Plus Mikel at Chelsea. Oh and Pato, Jo, Marcelo and Drenthe. I will not go on because It will be boring. Ooh and benzema.
Great list though, and I agree I think Aguero will be the next big thing. He is awsome. Anyone who can replace Torres must be good, and he has. He has everything. Not long before he moves on though, probably to Chelsea, when they realise David Villa only wants to go to Madrid.
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Anonymous about 1 year ago
Ben Arfa, Lyon. Micah Richards, Man. City, I know, we've all allready heard of him, but he's still very young, great future ahead of him. So is Diego, Werder Bremen. Just to mention a few I regard as excellent players for the future, which haven't been named yet.
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Clement Andreau about 1 year ago
Fred and Cavenaghi are both 25 so I would not qualify them as "young talents".
However, you could have mentioned about Karim Benzema,20 y.o, definitly one of the future big stars of the game (I actually wrote my first piece on him). Gael Clichy is also a very good young talent, Man U Nani and Anderson are excellent. For Keepers I think Hugo Lloris (Nice) and Steev Mandanda (Marseille) are some good prospects as well.
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Tony taylor about 1 year ago
One Of The Best Young Player In The World Is A Young 15 year old Boy Called Fatai JR. It is quite unbelivable how talented this young guy is!!!!
He has just lefty his old club and now All the top clubs in Europe want him and he has to make up his mind soon, for the start of next season!!!
His Father was a Nigerian Player too. I have actually had the honour of watching the boy play, its was something special. It will be interesting to she how he develops and what club he will decides to go to.
After Chating to him on the Internet, its seems he has his heart set on Going to Holland but he wouldnt tell me what club!!! Lol, Anyway remember the name 'FATAI JR'
You can Chat to Him at westsoulja@hotmail.com
P.S CLUBS,,, WOT U WAITIN FOR!!!!
Tony
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S B about 1 year ago
Fred?.....what do you think of Daniel Alves,Robinho and especially Pato?
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jermaine hughes about 1 year ago
every body is writing what he has seen,but there is a 15 year old talented ghanaian footballer that i saw during my visit to ghana this summer. the boy is amazing as talented micheal essien , he is currently playing a division 2 side in ghana.he is benjamin owusu his tea mates call him young essien.
Watch for this talented footballer in the years to come.
FROM:jermaine hughes .USA
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coach thousand about 1 year ago
yeah i v'e seen this guy benjamin owusu ,he is truely fantastic as mr.jermaine said
and i will like all clubs to start approaching him for his signature. the boy is fantastic.
am his coach ,i recomended for the senior side this season,and when he came he has proved to me he is the young essien as they say. all agents can write to me on
coach thousand
po box 114,mpraeso kwahu
Ghana.
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Justin Maj about 1 year ago
Fatai Jr is 18!!!!!!
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Jamie M 9 months ago
benjamin owusu from ghana?
i live by fulham training ground, and so a footballer called Daniel OWUSU stayed at my house while he was trialing there. He is about 18 by now, on temporary loan to Belgium league team GBA until 2010 when he can get an EU work permit. Relation? Daniel was from an academy in Accra, the capital.
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Ryan Hobby 5 months ago
i dont know how u guys have missed out the great talent in belgium at the moment;
1. Steven Defour, 20, standard liege
2. Axel Witsel, 19, standard liege
These are great young players defour only 20 captain of standard liege.
But other young talent such as,
3. Eyal Golasa, 17, Israel
4. James McCarthy, 18, Scottish
5. Jan Vertonghen, 21, Belguim
these are all great players especially the belgium two at top
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