Euro 2012: 10 New Stars Who Can Shine in Poland & Ukraine

In a little over eight months' time, Poland will kick off the opening match of the 2012 European Championships at the national stadium in Warsaw.

With the qualification phase involving the rest of Europe—save for co-hosts Ukraine who also earn an automatic bid to the tournament—yet to be completed, at the moment Poland's opposition for the curtain-raiser in their own capital is currently designated simply as 'Team A2'.

However, with the group phase now drawing to a close in the coming week's international break (at most two games remain), we can take a fair stab at diagnosing most of the sides that will top their respective mini-leagues and who will contest the play-offs in order to complete the 16-team lineup for the tournament.

The championship will feature some of the world's top players who need no introduction, but what about the players who are set to make a major impact on a tournament for the first time?

Toni Kroos, Germany

A consistent inclusion in the young, thrilling side manager Joachim Loew has formed since taking over Germany after World Cup 2006, Kroos will be just 22 when Der Mannschaft make the short trip over to Poland and Ukraine next summer.

The Bayern Munich central midfielder was in the squad in South Africa last year, and came off the bench in four games, including Germany's final two knockout matches and the third-place match.

Since then, Kroos has become a regular for Germany, forming a formidable central partnership with Bastian Schweinsteiger, both of whose deeper-lying roles allow Mesut Ozil and Thomas Mueller to bomb forward at will. 

With exceptional technique, facility using both feet, and a good passing range, Kroos has so far largely resisted the incredible rise of Borussia Dortmund starlet Mario Goetze, whose scintillating form has seen him enter the argument to take Kroos's place.

That Kroos scored his first international goal in Poland on his 21st appearance with the national team certainly feels like an omen that he can hold on to his place.

Loew always said that he had this tournament in mind when he decided to bring through this generation of players, and Kroos is evidence that the strategy can maintain its course to its scheduled peak.

Sebastian Giovinco, Italy

Unlike the Germans, Italians tend to place far greater stock in age and experience than youthful exuberance.

It is a philosophy which has both helped and hindered Italian football in recent years. The team that led Italy to its fourth World Cup crown in 2006 had an average age of 28 years, 291 days (the oldest winning side in history) before dragging them down to a humiliating group stage exit four years later in 2010. The '08 European Championships weren't exactly a high point, either.

Now that Cesare Prandelli has come in and swept away so much of the old guard, a clutch of new players has been introduced into the fold.

One such player is Giovinco (pictured, right, with Andrea Pirlo). At 24 years old and with more than 100 Serie A appearances under his belt he is not exactly a spring chicken, but the little forward is finally making his mark on Italian football after years of promise.

A Torinesi product of the Juventus youth system, inevitable comparisons were drawn to Alessandro del Piero for his quick, skillful feet and eye for a threaded pass. The problem was that Del Piero was very much a key cog in Il Bianconeri at the time, and as such Giovinco never really got a fair crack at the whip, first being farmed out on loan to Empoli before being deployed in wide positions—unsuccessfully—for Juve.

A loan move to Parma at the start of last season initially saw him struggle, but the year 2011 began with him scoring twice in a 4-1 win over his parent club. He would score four more goals before season's end, including the only goal in the return fixture against Juve and another in a win over Inter Milan. 

His form this season has been even more impressive. He has bagged five of Parma's six league goals so far to see him top of the scoring charts, while he has also won the first of his four senior caps earlier this year.

At just 5-foot-4 Giovinco may be one of the shortest players at Euro 2012, but if selected he has the potential to make a big splash.  

Jack Wilshere, England

Last season saw the emergence of a star in the making at Arsenal. The latest promising youngster in a country that cherishes potential's wonderful allure, Wilshere took the Premier League by storm in 2010-11, when his performances earned him inclusion within the PFA Team of the Year.

He may have made his senior debut with the Gunners as a 16-year-old during the 2008-09 campaign—going on to make eight appearances with just one of those coming in the league—but it was the following term when he truly marked his arrival with an impressive loan deal at Bolton during the second half of 2009-10.

The midfielder made 49 appearances for Arsenal upon his return last term, and another five for his country as the England midfield had a new lease of life breathed into it.

The nippy little ball-player is rare breed in an England shirt, technically impressive and seemingly always in a position to ask for the ball and receive it.

Too often English midfielders are guilty of either labouring with the ball at their feet or being too eager to play the killer pass forward, whereas Wilshere has an instinct for making the right pass for the moment and the ability to carry it through with a technical guile and verve rarely seen during Three Lions' matches of late.

For the time being both Arsenal and England are deprived of Wilshere's services until the new year, as he recovers from ankle surgery.

After Arsene Wenger forbade him from playing in the European Under-21 Championship last summer in order to safeguard his fitness—Wilshere had picked up a knock on the ankle during a pre-tournament friendly—the French manager can't be too pleased at the prospect of seeing his prized youngster whisked away for a month's worth of grueling international football.

However, once he is back fit and playing again he is sure to resume his place in the squad, Wilshere is far too important to England to have a chance of being left out. He will bring his unique skill-set into the team from the outset in Poland and Ukraine.  

Danny, Portugal

By far the oldest player on this list, Daniel Miguel Alves Gomes will be knocking on for 29 by the time Euro 2012 is over, but he has finally established himself in the Portugal national set-up.

Born in Venezuela to Portuguese parents, Danny is now nearing the business end of his eighth season in Russia, beginning with Dynamo Moscow before moving to Zenit St Petersburg, where he has spent the past four seasons (the current one included).

Despite missing out on a place in the squad for Euro 2008, Zenit forked out €30 million for his services midway through that year. That hefty fee looked a snip when he scored the winner in the European Super Cup on his debut against Manchester United, but the attacking midfielder was reduced to just eight league appearances the following year through injury.

2010 saw him back to his best, though, and he scored 10 goals and was named Russian Player of the Year as Zenit won their second-ever domestic championship.

A bit-part player in Portugal's disappointing World Cup campaign last year, Danny has impressed whenever he has been called upon by head coach Paulo Bento.

A particularly strong showing in the recent 3-1 win over Porto in the Champions League and scoring his fourth international goal in the recent outing against Cyprus cannot do his prospects of adding to his 23 caps any harm at all.  

Ivan Perisic, Croatia

The 22-year-old was not particularly well known as soon as a month ago following his summer transfer to Borussia Dortmund for a rather low-key fee of €5 million.

Yet when he blasted in a wonderful swerving left-footed volley in the dying stages of Dortmund's taut Champions League group stage opener against Arsenal to secure a 1-1 draw, there was a clamour to find out more about the 22-year-old.

Sadly, it seems that there is only so much room for players pulling up trees in Belgium in the wider European consciousness, for while all the summer hype was around Anderlecht's teen striking sensation Romelu Lukaku, Perisic ended the season as the Jupiler League's top scorer—netting 16 goals in the regular season and a further six in the championship playoffs on the way to earning Player of the Season honors.

He recently opened his Bundesliga account for Dortmund, scoring both goals in their 2-1 win at Mainz, and has racked up four caps for Slaven Bilic's Croatia side since his debut at the start of the year. 

Europe's defenders beware: not all top Croatian midfielders play at Tottenham. 

Robert Lewandowski, Poland

Another Dortmund player who is getting his season off to a flying start is Polish striker Lewandowski, who will lead the line for the co-hosts as they embark on only their second-ever European Championship campaign.

Their first came three years ago when, after qualifying for Austria and Switzerland as winners of their group ahead of Portugal, they finished bottom of their group with just one point and as many goals scored.

Lewandowski signed for Lech Poznan that summer and made his full international debut just a few weeks later, coming off the bench to score against San Marino just weeks after his 20th birthday.

His 32 league goals in two years at Poznan earned him a move in 2010 to the Bundesliga, where he'd caught the eye of Dortmund scouts.

After initially failing to find the net with as much regularity, this season the 23-year-old has already scored five goals in eight Bundesliga games for the defending champions, and should do the co-hosts proud next summer.  

Andriy Yarmolenko, Ukraine

Just as Poland will be hoping at least one of their own can step up and do their nation proud in front of the rest of Europe, so co-hosts Ukraine need to find a star performer to emerge when the rest of the continent rocks up in their back yard.

They already have one bona fide superstar in Andriy Shevchenko, even if most of the aura surrounding the once world-beating, now-aging striker has since faded following his disastrous spell at Chelsea.

The responsibility for carrying on the goalscoring burden could well fall to a young man who shares his first name—Yarmolenko. The 21-year-old forward has got plenty of tongues wagging at Dynamo Kiev, a club whose favourite son is...well, you can probably guess. 

Yarmolenko has been dubbed 'the new Sheva', but it may not be completely without justification.

The 6-foot-1-inch forward has already scored more than 30 times in 103 professional appearances, and has netted four goals in 13 games for his country. 

The most recent of those strikes came in the very first minute against World Cup semi-finalists and newly-crowned South American champions Uruguay last month.

The kid clearly has something—it remains to be seen how much of it he can show in front of his home crowd when it matters.

Marvin Martin, France

Like Yarmolenko, Sochaux playmaker Marvin Martin is set to go into Euro 2012 with comparisons to another giant of the modern era ringing in his ears.

The 23-year-old has been compared in many quarters to Zinedine Zidane, the unparalleled star of the French team the last time they won the European Championship in 2000 (their first and only other victory came in 1984, with another talented playmaker, Michel Platini, leading the charge).

The link stems from Martin emulating the great Zizou were only strengthened when the Sochaux man marked his full international debut for France this past summer by scoring two goals against Ukraine.

The native Parisien's brace came via a stunning long-range chance he made for himself and a clinical finish from closer in into the roof of the net.

Those goals came either side of a pinpoint cross from a corner for defender Younes Kaboul, who could only head past the keeper with such a delightful delivery. This was all within his 15 minutes of work as an international. Not too shabby.

Martin won many admirers last season thanks to him helping unfashionable Sochaux to fifth place in Ligue 1, and many hope he can help Les Bleus banish their 2010 World Cup blues next summer.

Doubts have surfaced as to whether Martin can integrate the 4-2-3-1 system employed by international boss Laurent Blanc, which is different than the one he plays in with Sochaux. Class does have a way of shining through these trifles, however. Look for Martin to make a mark on 2012.

Alvaro Negredo, Spain

The reigning World and European champions would appear to have not a care in the world heading into next summer's competition.

La Furia Roja have already booked their place after winning all six of their eight scheduled Group I qualifying matches thus far. Like Germany, they are looking to go through the entire qualification stage with a 100 percent record—a feat that has never been accomplished before.

Their squad is largely made up of key players from the two best club sides in the world (Barcelona and Real Madrid), and there has been relatively little roster turnover during the last glorious three years. No point tinkering with something that works, after all.

And yet the nagging doubt persists that Fernando Torres, the striker whose lone goal sealed Spanish victory in the Euro 2008 final (its first trophy in 44 years), may be finished at international level.

Nando's recent upturn in form for Chelsea (miss of the season against Manchester United and red card for violent conduct against Swansea City aside) may yet see a corresponding uptick in confidence, but there is a queue of talented strikers waiting in the wings should the unthinkable happen, and Torres be reduced to watching Euro 2012 from home.

Chief among them is Negredo, the 26-year-old graduate of the Real Madrid academy who has gone on to enjoy great success in the south of Spain, firstly at Almeria and then at Sevilla. For the latter side, Negredo has scored three goals in six league games this season to add to the 20 he bagged last term, and his strike rate of five goals in seven senior caps is worthy of more than a side note.

David Villa will surely be the focal point of the Spanish attack next summer, but as understudy roles go, it doesn't much better than being second-choice striker for the best team in the world.

Luuk De Jong, Netherlands

Like Spain, the Dutch have a side which requires little in the way of change-up at the moment after reaching the World Cup final in 2010. Yet that was with healthy attacking options.

When that forward-thinking group includes Robin van Persie, Arjen Robben and Wesley Sneijder, possessors of other-worldly talent but brittle as dried bones, there is continual need for replacements should something go wrong.

There is no shortage of young talent coming through the ranks of Eredivisie clubs who are knocking on manager Bert van Marwijk's door, demanding to be given a chance at the senior national level.

After all, the possibility of at least one of the aforementioned trio being struck down by a serious injury is far from remote.

One of those pushing for a more thorough hearing is De Jong. At only 21 years of age, he has already scored seven goals in eight Eredivisie games this season, with the late equaliser to seal a 1-1 draw at Ajax chief among them. 

After being fast-tracked through the Dutch youth ranks, where he score three times in just two games for the Under-21s, the tall striker made his full international debut in February of this year, proceeding to score his first goal on his third appearance last month during a European qualifier away to Finland.

The long-established reputation held by the Dutch for producing a dazzling array of young talent looks in no way ready to stop.