Premier League Talent Scout: Best Performing Prospects of the Week

Every year, football fans from all over the world tune in to the English Premier League in hopes of watching the birth of the new stars of world football. Every fan is always hoping that the young, unknown talents on their team's squad may one day be the next Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Cesc Fabregas or John Terry.

Thus, for each week in the English Premier League season, we at Bleacher Report will be giving you the "inside scoop" on the five most impressive players from the previous weekend, including how they contributed to their team's success, how likely they are to develop, what exactly their football background is and more.

Here are the five most impressive youngsters from Week 1 of the EPL season.

Note: Only players under the age of 21 will be considered. 

Jack Colback

Team: Sunderland

Age: 21

Position: Central Midfielder

Exit Jordan Henderson, enter Jack Colback.

Sunderland must really be applauded here; I thought they would be hard-pressed to find someone in their squad who could fill Jordan Henderson's spot in the starting lineup and perform at his standard, but it appears I was wrong. In Jack Colback, Sunderland have a ready-made replacement for Henderson.

Although the 21-year-old appeared to be a bit out of his depth in the first half of his team's matchup with Liverpool, he grew in confidence by the second half and was able to string together some very clever passes alongside Lee Cattermole as he settled the game's tempo down and helped his team fight back to a 1-1 draw.

Jack Colback is a product of the Sunderland Academy. He joined the club at the age of 11 and was promoted to the first team in 2008. He made his Premier League debut for the club after a season on loan with Ipswich Town in 2009-10, but was sent off just nine minutes after coming on.

After another loan spell in 2010-11 from October 15th to January 6th, Colback rejoined Sunderland and finally began to make more appearances in the Premier League with the team, even picking up a number of starts at the tail end of the season.

With Henderson gone, it appears that the central midfielder spot alongside Cattermole is Colback's for the taking. If he keeps up his form, it's likely that he'll establish himself as the starting partner for Cattermole, and depending on Sunderland's success and his maturation, England call-ups may not be too far over the horizon.

Victor Moses

Team: Wigan Athletic

Age: 20

Position: Left Winger

I'm sorry, Charles who?

If Victor Moses can keep playing at the level he played at against Norwich City, that's what Wigan fans will be saying about Charles N'Zogbia, who left earlier in the transfer window to join Aston Villa.

After a man-of-the-match performance in Wigan's draw with Norwich, in which the Nigerian winger went on multiple dangerous runs throughout the game, Wigan manager Roberto Martinez had this to say about Moses:

"

He’s a real joy. It’s like rolling back the years, when players used to get on the ball and go past people. Those are the kind of players you want to watch, and you would pay good money to watch Victor Moses. 

Everyone will tell you how well he gets away from people, but he has a real team ethic. We need to give him time and patience, but he’s a special, special talent.

"

Big words of praise, but Victor Moses deserves it. Coming over from Nigeria on asylum at the age of 11, Moses attended Stanley Technical High School before being scouted by Crystal Palace and invited to join the team's academy. Once in the club's academy, Moses was a hit, scoring over 50 goals for the club's under-14 side.

At only the age of 16, Moses was promoted to the first team and recorded three goals and three assists in 13 league appearances for the club. He would struggle the following season, but excellent form in 2009-10 prompted Wigan to make a bid for the player. Due to Crystal Palace's financial situation, Moses was sold and became a Wigan player.

Up until now, injuries and competition from N'Zogbia, Rodallega and others have hindered the development of Moses, but this season the stage is set for him to become Wigan's creative outlet and star player.

It's hard to say that he'll be the "next big thing" after a solid performance vs. Norwich City, but the signs are promising and if he can stay fit and injury-free, there's a lot that Moses can accomplish this season for himself and Wigan. 

Wojciech Szczesny

Team: Arsenal

Age: 21

Position: Goalkeeper

It's probably safe to say that there will likely be an Arsenal player on this list week-in and week-out. That's just how it goes when four of your starters are under 21 and your academy is constantly producing some of the best talents in the world (second only to Barcelona's talents, although even that's debatable).

In any case, the Arsenal talent that shined brightest this past weekend was Arsenal's keeper, Wojciech Szczesny.

On a day when Kieran Gibbs didn't look particularly confident and Aaron Ramsey couldn't provide the killer balls Gervinho and Robin Van Persie needed to score goals, Szczesny ensured that Arsenal at least got a point out of the game with a confident display in goal. The Polish international was an assured presence between the goal sticks, dealing confidently with whatever crosses or high balls came his way.

Wojciech Szczesny joined Arsenal in 2006 at the age of 16, after training with Agrykola Warszawa as a kid and Legia Warszawa at the age of 15. On September 22nd, 2009, Szczesny made his first-team debut in the League Cup against West Bromwich Albion, keeping a clean sheet.

In the 2010-11 season, a string of excellent performances confirmed his status as Arsenal's first-choice keeper.

A well-earned clean sheet in the League Cup against Newcastle was followed by an impressive Premier League debut against Manchester United. A series of solid Premier League performances led Wenger to announce him as Arsenal's first-choice keeper for the rest of the season.

His performance against Barcelona in the first leg of their Champions League tie confirmed that Szczesny was an excellent goalkeeper for Arsenal to rely on going forward.

Already the undisputed starter in goal for Arsenal and the Polish national team, there is no doubt that Szczesny is off to an excellent start with his career. If Arsenal can start winning again, Szczesny could easily become the club's next David Seaman or better.

Chris Smalling

Team: Manchester United

Age: 21

Position: Right-Back (Normally a Centre-Back)

Arsenal's biggest rivals in the youth department in the EPL this season will likely be Manchester United. With Smalling, Jones, the Da Silva twins, De Gea, Macheda and plenty more young prospects likely to be actively involved with the first team this season, it's likely that at least one prospect will shine for Manchester United on a weekly basis.

This week's prospect is Chris Smalling.

Following an excellent performance in the Community Shield at right-back, Chris Smalling started Manchester United's first league game at right-back once again, putting in another confident performance. Though still a little shy going forward, Chris Smalling was rock solid and tidy when playing defense; he made no noticeable errors. 

The rise of Chris Smalling has been rather meteoric. Playing for non-League side Maidstone until 2008, Chris Smalling then moved to Fulham for two seasons before being snapped up by Manchester United. In his first season, he made 33 appearances for the team; in his second season, he now looks set to equal that tally or even surpass it and pick up many more starts on the way.

Should Smalling put in another assured performance at right-back in Manchester United's upcoming league fixture with Tottenham, I would expect Sir Alex Ferguson to start seriously considering him as the team's first-choice right-back, even when Rafael da Silva returns from injury. 

Phil Jones

Team: Manchester United

Age: 19

Position: Centre-Back

Phil Jones makes the cut as a "best of the rest" inclusion—he did well, but his inclusion is more due to the lack of other great-performing youngsters over the weekend than his own performance.

Make no mistake though, Phil Jones did do a very good job subbing in for Rio Ferdinand when the injury-prone centre-back had to be subbed out with a hamstring injury. He guided Manchester United's defense through the last 15 minutes of the game without much trouble.

Phil Jones came through the Blackburn academy, which he joined in 2002, and made his first-team debut in a League Cup game on September 22nd, 2009. He started the 2010-11 season in midfield for Blackburn, before a knee injury in December 2010 ruled him out for five months.

Sufficiently impressed by his performances for Blackburn, Manchester United decided to purchase the English centre-back from Blackburn. Initially it was expected that Phil Jones wouldn't get many games in this season, but with Ferdinand and Vidic already injured after the first game of the season, it seems Phil Jones will indeed get a decent amount of game time to show just how good he is. 

Thoughts?

What do you think of this week's selections? Any players you think should've made the top five cut that didn't? How about the players on the list, do you believe any of them should've been excluded?

Make your opinion known in the comment box below. I look forward to reading your comments and discussing them with you.