4 European Talents Set for a Big 2016

1. Ruben Neves (18 years old, FC Porto, midfielder)

Fernando Santos’ spell as Portugal coach has been a peculiar one. His mix of experience and youth has gone from one extreme to the other, with Ricardo Carvalho recalled at the age of 36 and Benfica winger Goncalo Guedes enlisted for November’s friendlies with Russia and Luxembourg, three weeks before his 19th birthday.

One thing is clear—Santos simply has to take Ruben Neves to France. Rarely can there have been such a vivid personification of the cliche that "if you’re good enough, you’re old enough."

Granted his first-team debut for Porto in the 2014/15 season opener against Maritimo, he became the youngest player to score in the Liga’s history at 17. Before August was out, he had become the youngest Portuguese player to play and the youngest to score in the Champions League (eclipsing Cristiano Ronaldo’s record in the latter category).

The records have continued to tumble this season, as he became the youngest captain of a Champions League side in the match against Maccabi Tel Aviv, before becoming the youngest player to reach the mark of 50 games for Porto (per O Jogo, in Portuguese), leapfrogging the legendary likes of Paulo Futre and Fernando Gomes.

The bottom line, though, is Neves’ extraordinary poise. He’s a fine tackler, has an impeccably sense of positioning—usually at the back of the midfield—and an enviable range of passing. His strength, as well as his versatility, means Porto will have to fight hard to hold onto him should he impress at the Euros, as is expected.

2. Sofiane Boufal (22, Lille, midfielder/winger)

Lille have fallen a long way since their incarnation as Rudi Garcia’s 2011 double winners, the "mini-Barcelona" that dazzled Ligue 1 in the year or two before the Paris Saint-Germain behemoth began to take a grip. Fettered by wholesale player sales and money worries, they are far from being France’s entertainers as they once were.

PASCAL PAVANI/Getty Images

Sofiane Boufal is a notable exception to that. This zesty attacking midfielder only arrived at the Stade Pierre Mauroy in January 2015 from Angers—and how he might have made Stephane Moulin’s well-organised side fly if he had stayed to join them in the top flight. Yet he already feels indispensable to a team rebuilding under new coach Frederic Antonetti.

Boufal is a multi-purpose attacking player, with the pace to act as an outlet in a defensive formation and the vision and dribbling to unlock defences when the need to be more offensive arises.

His assist numbers (six last season, but only one so far this) would look a lot better if there was a centre-forward worthy of the name for him to play with, so he takes the bull by the horns himself, and he is Lille’s top scorer with five. He is adept shooting from range or—surprisingly for his size—arriving late in the penalty area to make headers.

Paris-born and eligible to play for either France or Morocco at full international level, Boufal will surely be LOSC’s next major sale, with the biggest clubs around the continent (including Roma, as reported by Football Italia) keen to get a piece of him.

Lille supporters will do best to simply enjoy him while they can, but everything he has shown since arriving in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region suggests he will adapt quickly wherever he goes.

3. Jose Gaya (20, Valencia, defender)

Many have asked in recent months what Valencia’s current purpose is. Is the club really on its way to recovering its Rafa Benitez-era challenger status, or is it just a vehicle for Jorge Mendes’ latest products of choice?

In such a period of uncertainty, successful youth products are something to cling to. Paco Alcacer will continue to be vitally important for Valencia and Spain this year, but Jose Gaya is arguably the cream of the crop. A quicksilver left-back who—fairly unusually in the modern game—is as polished a defender as he is participating in attacks. He looks set for the very top and has done for some time.

The contract renewal that he inked back in May, per the official Valencia website, may not in reality tie him down for the full term, with expiry in summer 2020, but at least it safeguards his services for the short to medium term, as well as protecting his value.

Manuel Queimadelos Alonso/Getty Images

The buyout amount, locally acknowledged as an ‘anti-Real Madrid clause’, stands at an imposing €50 million, per AS (via Dermot Corrigan of ESPN.com). Quite simply, it’s the best piece of business that the club have done this year.

Yet to be capped by Spain, he still has hope of breaking through for Euro 2016, despite a daunting level of competition in Jordi Alba and Juan Bernat.

Whatever your views on the merits of Gary Neville’s appointment as Valencia coach, one can only assume that Gaya could benefit hugely from working under one of the most accomplished full-backs in recent European football history.

4. Jonas Hector (25, FC Cologne, defender)

Perhaps Jogi Low’s most impressive trick in winning the 2014 World Cup was that he did it largely without employing specialist full-backs—at least, until Philipp Lahm was moved back to what many regard as his rightful place later in the competition.

One of the first things the Germany boss did in the qualification campaign for Euro 2016 was to attempt to rectify that. Jonas Hector was one of the immediate beneficiaries. It was the left-back’s top-level career in microcosm—a pleasant surprise at the time, but a move that has worked out in being entirely justified.

TOBIAS SCHWARZ/Getty Images

Comfortably the eldest of our quartet, Hector was a late developer, not turning professional until arriving at Cologne at the age of 20.

Perhaps accordingly, a sense of freedom and enjoyment runs through his game, and his adeptness in the final third is such that he has been used as a wing-back, as well as at full-back by Cologne coach Peter Stoger.

He is an excellent dribbler (see the below goal against Hoffenheim last season, via Bundesliga.com), and a canny passer, as evidenced by his pair of assists for Thomas Muller and Mario Gotze in Germany’s 3-1 over Poland in Frankfurt back in September.

Hector is no defensive slouch, however. He is sharp in the tackle and a major contributor to his team’s excellent defence. Only four Bundesliga sides conceded less than Effzee last season (it was their toughness to break that kept them in the top flight post-promotion), and their back line is again among the division’s best this time around.

One expects that Hector will savour every minute of Euro 2016, rather than thinking where it might take him next. Nevertheless, his talent means that he is unlikely to stay a relatively well-kept secret beyond this summer.