Nex Gen 2023: Some of football’s greatest players, like Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, and Gianluigi Buffon are retiring or are nearing their time of retirement. Players, like Mbappe, Haaland, and Vinicius Jr. are taking the world by their feet nowadays. Clubs have continued to look and nurture for younger talents, the next big things who have the ability to take the world by storm. Here is our pick of the top 20 next-gen players who are getting ready to earn the title of the world’s greatest player. Follow Football News Updates on InsideSport.IN.
Gavi – Barcelona
Barcelona’s La Masia has produced some of the world’s greatest players including Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta, Xavi, Busquets, and more. They are nurturing more talents still and one such world-class youngster is Gavi. At the young age of 18, Gavi is a regular for Barcelona’s first team and has more than 80 club appearances to his name.
He was also included in Spain’s squad for the 2022 World Cup. As he scored in Spain’s clash against Costa Rica, he became the third-youngest player to ever score in the World Cup. However, watching his talent, it can be easily said that this is just the beginning of his record-breaking days.
Alejandro Garnacho – Manchester United
Garnacho joined Manchester United from Atletico Madrid back in 2020 and since then, he became the star player of United’s FA Youth Cup-winning team in 2022. He has since been introduced to the first team and has won the trust and hearts of the coach and the fans. The fans have even changed their ‘Viva Ronaldo’ chant to ‘Viva Garnacho’ chant.
He has played for Spain’s youth team, but now he has been called up for Argentina’s senior squad. It is now only a matter of time before he makes his debut for the team and joins the likes of Messi, Di Maria, and Dybala during Argentina’s matches.
Rico Lewis – Manchester City
Lewis is an 18-year-old youngster who has managed to earn the Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola’s trust and has become a team regular. He’s starting his career by becoming the youngest player ever to score in their Champions League debut match. Guardiola has been including him in the starting lineup and seems like, considering him to be a permanent replacement for Kyle Walker.
Youssoufa Moukoko – Borussia Dortmund
Borussia Dortmund called up Moukoko to their first team when he was only 26 and since then, he has more than 60 first-team appearances to his name. He has turned 18 only a few months ago and since his debut for Dortmund’s A team, he has become the Champions League’s youngest debutant and Bundesliga’s youngest goalscorer. He has also become the youngest player to appear in the 2022 World Cup.
Gavi Magic 🪄 pic.twitter.com/a4Ddmn3se1
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) March 24, 2023
Angelo Gabriel – Santos
When Angelo Gabriel made his debut for Santos in October 2020, as a 15-year-old, he broke Pele’s record of the club’s youngest-ever player to debut in the first team. Since then, he has played in more than 100 matches as a first-team player and even became the youngest player to score in Copa Libertadores history. He has been attracting clubs, like Barcelona and Newcastle United who are eager to sign him.
Valentin Barco – Boca Juniors
Barco is an 18-year-old Argentine who made his debut for Boca Junior by breaking records as the club’s youngest-ever debutant. The South American talent has been catching everyone’s eye as his on-the-ball moves even caught the scout’s attention who spotted Juan Roman Riquelme and Carlos Tevez.
He has a bright future ahead as Manchester City has been in contact with Boca Junior for quite some time now to bring the youngster ahead. Juventus has also joined the race to acquire the young talent for themselves.
El Chadaille Bitshiabu – PSG
With a 6.6 ft height, Bitshiabu doesn’t just have his physicality as an advantage, but his on-the-ball abilities have been predicting that he can become one of the best center-backs. When the youngster made his debut for PSG’s first team back in December, 2021, he became their youngest-ever debutant. He also played for France during the U17 European Championship in 2022. He played a significant role in helping them win the competition.
Iker Bravo – Real Madrid (on loan from Bayer Leverkusen)
Bravo is one of the very few players who has been a part of both Barcelona and Real Madrid youth teams before he turned 18. He was considered La Masia’s best prospect for the no. 9 position. However, he left to join Bayer Leverkusen back in the summer, 2021.
He became their youngest player, but then the club announced that they were ready to send him on loan. Real Madrid took the opportunity to bring in the young talent who now regularly plays in the Spanish third tier. They could sign the player permanently with a €6 million fee.
Ivan Fresneda – Real Vallladolid
Fresneda has been the talk of the town for quite some time now and clubs like Borussia Dortmund, Real Madrid, and Arsenal have been on Real Valladolid’s back to acquire the player. The caught the eye of the world when he manage to handle Vinicius Jr. during their clash against Real Madrid in December last year. As per reports, his price could rack up to €30 million.
Evan Ferguson – Brighton
Ferguson has been representing the Republic of Ireland in all of their youth teams. When he moved to England, he rejected an offer from Liverpool and agreed to sign with Brighton. This was a lucky haul for the struggling English team as his finishing abilities and strength has shown him to be one of the best recent young talents. He even became the youngest player in 11 years to get goals in back-to-back matches in the Premier League.
Endrick – Palmeiras
Endrick is being hailed as the best young talent to have come out of Brazil after Neymar Jr. The youngster gained fame when a video of the player giving an extraordinary performance during Brazil’s coveted Copinha went viral. As the race to sign the 16-year-old began, Real Madrid won beating off PSG, Chelsea, and Barcelona as they offered to pay a whopping €60 million for him.
Lamine Yamal – Barcelona
Yamal got the highest praise as his performance has been compared to Lionel Messi when he was Yamal’s age. Many have been singing his praises for a long time and seems it paid off as Xavi has called him up to train with the first-team squad quite some times. Hence, it is only a matter of time before the 15-year-old makes his debut with the first team.
Today's #OneToWatch is 18yr old German prodigy #YoussoufaMoukoko! So far this season he ahs already gained 127.29 #PassIT rating points @BlackYellow! #WhatAProspect! @BVB #BVB #BorussiaDortmund @Bundesliga_DE #Bundesliga pic.twitter.com/4qUjhOD0a8
— PassIT (@Pass_IT_Ranking) March 20, 2023
Jorrel Hato – Ajax
Ajax is known to grow and nurture some of the best talents in the world. Hato is being hailed as the next big thing coming out of their academy after Matthijs de Ligt. He turned 17 only a few days ago and he has captained the Ajax U19 team. He has become the club’s third-youngest player ever to have debuted for their first team. The young talent is sure to generate another high amount of money for the club as top clubs start their races to get him signed.
Gabriel Slonina – Chelsea
Slonia is the sole goalkeeper on the list and he has been on the radar as one of the most talented young players for 2 years straight. He even became a regular and gave brilliant performances for the MLS team Chicago Fire. Many teams were trying to sign the youngster but Chelsea managed to bring on the player paying £12 million. Slonina has also appeared for the USA national team while Poland tried to bring him on their side in 2022.
Garang Kuol – Newcastle United
Kuol garnered popularity as he was giving many shining performances at Central Coast Mariners in Australia. He contributed goal + assist every 57.5 minutes for the team and since then teams like Borussia Dortmund, Chelsea, and Barcelona began their race to sign the player. However, Newcastle managed to sign him with pay of £300,000. Kuol has already represented Australia in two matches in the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Romeo Lavia – Southampton
Southampton may not be having the best season, but Lavia has given tremendous performances throughout the competition. He came to England from Anderlecht in 2020 as he joined Manchester City and he also became the youth team’s star player. However, as it seemed that he would not be able to start with the first team, he was let go in summer, 2022 when he joined Southampton with a £10 million fee. Now Chelsea have offered a whopping £50 million for the youngster as more clubs are still knocking on his door.
Mathys Tel – Bayern Munich
Tel has felt like a long-term solution for Bayern Munich’s Robert Lewandowski-shaped hole. When he debuted for his previous team, Rennes, he became their youngest-ever player to do so. Bayern has since brought him on in summer, 2022 and the youngster has not disappointed the fans. He did not take much time to become Bundesliga’s youngest-ever goalscorer. He has also helped France’s youth team to a U17 European Championship title.
Andrey Santos – Vasco de Gama (on loan from Chelsea)
Santos has earned the nickname ‘the Brazilian Busquets’ and rightfully so given his outstanding performances in the Brazilian second division with Vasco de Gama. Other than his club achievements, the 18-year-old young talent has also recently captained Brazil’s youth team to a U20 South American Championship title. He caught the eyes of both Barcelona and Chelsea where Chelsea managed to sign the player with a £13 million pay this January. As he’s now acquiring his work permit, he is still playing at Vasco de Gama as a loanee.
Antonio Nusa – Club Brugge
Nusa has become popular in his country as ‘the Norwegian Neymar’ as he scored some stunners for Stabaek back in 2021. He also became the second-youngest player only behind Martin Odegaard to score in Norwegian top-flight competitions. He joined Club Brugge in 2021 and again broke a record with them as he became the second-youngest goalscorer in the Champions League only behind Ansu Fati.
Ethan Nwaneri – Arsenal
Nwaneri has been rated high at the Arsenal academy for quite some time now and as a reward, he got his debut with the first team in September, 2022. As he debuted, he became the youngest player in the history of the English Premier League at just 15 years of age. Even though he hasn’t gotten another chance with the first team, rival clubs still believe he is an asset. Both Chelsea and Manchester City have been in a race to sign him.
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