In football, nothing is more valuable than the wonderkid. Managers spent much of their time scouring the ends of the world for these rare gems. And that’s not the end of it, like a rare gem, the wonderkid needs to be polished and nurtured before it is ready for the world stage. In a sense then, he is the human equivalent of the Golden Chocobo.
In this month’s World Soccer magazine, they have compiled the ultimate manager’s buying guide featuring 50 of football’s brightest teenage stars. To make the ranking, a player must be under the age of 20.
Personally, I think it’ll be more interesting to see which one of these so-called “wonderkids” will end up being a majestic flop, like Denilson. I mean, you do remember Denilson, right?
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| Rank | Position | Country | |||
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Sadick Adams | Striker | Ghana | ||
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Ismail Aissati | Attacking Midfielder | Holland | ||
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Alexandre Pato | Striker | Brazil | ||
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Anderson | Attacking Midfielder | Brazil | ||
 |
Giovani Dos Santos | Attacking Midfielder | Mexico | ||
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Gareth Bale | Left Back | Wales | ||
 |
Sergio Agüero | Striker | Argentina | ||
 |
Bojan Krkic | Striker | Spain | ||
 |
Breno | Defender | Brazil | ||
 |
Gerardo Bruna | Attacking Midfielder | Argentina | ||
| Angel Di Maria | Attacking Midfielder | Argentina | |||
| Diego Buonanotte | Attacking Midfielder | Argentina | |||
| Franco Di Santo | Striker | Argentina | |||
| Macauley Chrisantus | Striker | Nigeria | |||
| Karim Benzema | Striker | France | |||
| Dumitru Copil | Attacking Midfielder | Romania | |||
| Fabio | Left Back | Brazil | |||
| Kermit Erasmus | Striker | South Africa | |||
| Fabio Coentrao | Left Winger | Portugal | |||
| Marouane Fellaini | Midfielder | Belgium | |||
| Guilherme | Attacking Midfielder | Brazil | |||
| Damian Ismodes | Winger | Peru | |||
| Lorenzo De Silvestri | Right Back | Italy | |||
| Nour Hadhria | Midfielder | Tunisia | |||
| Rabul Ibrahim | Attacking Midfielder | Nigeria | |||
| Kerlon | Striker | Brazil | |||
| Toni Kroos | Attacking Midfielder | Germany | |||
| Juan Manuel Mata | Attacking Midfielder | Spain | |||
| Lulinha | Attacking Midfielder | Brazil | |||
| Sapol Mani | Midfielder | Togo | |||
| Cristian Nazarith | Striker | Colombia | |||
| Ransford Osei | Striker | Ghana | |||
| Aaron Niguez | Striker | Spain | |||
| Daniel Opare | Right Back | Ghana | |||
| Fran Merida | Midfielder | Spain | |||
| Nikolay Mihaylov | Goalkeeper | Bulgaria | |||
| Mesut Ozil | Attacking Midfielder | Germany | |||
| Andrea Russotto | Attacking Midfielder | Italy | |||
| Renato Augusto | Attacking Midfielder | Brazil | |||
| Henri Saivet | Striker | France | |||
| Micah Richards | Right Back | England | |||
| Alexis Sanchez | Winger | Chile | |||
| Sergio Tejera | Attacking Midfielder | Spain | |||
| Marek Suchy | Defender | Czech Republic | |||
| Ivan Rakitic | Midfielder | Croatia | |||
| Abdou Traore | Winger | Burkina Faso | |||
| Carlos Vela | Striker | Mexico | |||
| Theo Walcott | Striker | England | |||
| Gregory Van Der Wiel | Defender | Holland | |||
| Ever Banega | Midfielder | Argentina | |||
Kenny maintains a blog personal called “The Meditation Chamber“
“Top 50″ front image and player headshots by Marco Pantanella
Yoann Gourcuff is a flop. Bojan shud be first on the list hes only 18 and is already playing in the team regulary.
Sadik Adams shudn’t be #1 cus he plays in ghana were nobody’s ever seen him
lol. Do you people listen. 2 minutes I’ve been reading the comments, and I’ve already seen 3 different people who have stated that the list is in no particular order, so why are you guys still arguing about positions?
Anyways, that list is excellent. That Diego Buonanotte could be a real star. Understandably, England hardly have any stars, so if Theo Walcott is the only one that could make the list, the future isn’t bright. Some people don’t deserve to be there, Kerlon and Contreao are just showboaters.
The list could do with an update, but most is looking decent
Why not Sebastian Giovinco??He’s short,but quick and has good pass
John Fleck – Rangers .Will be a star player
Robbie Brady, man utd just turned 16 amazing already called the next george best, watch out for him
Also a mention to Conor Clifford at Chelsea
SOTIRIS NINIS? he is a great talent i’m sure he should be in the list.
good list. One change I’d make is Dentinho for kerlon.
not sure how old these comments are but in oct 2008 this list needs to be updates. Jack Wilshere form arsenal should be there. hes only 16 but has already played for the first team, and dont forget that Arsen Wenger is the coach.
Denilson should also be there (also from Arsnel) he is a first team regular for arsenal and is paired with Fabregas so that should count for something
where’s michael woods? he’s gonna be a top star
John Fleck – Rangers.
Acquafresca – Inter Milan.
Adam Pepper – Liverpool.
Paul Caddis – Celtic.
Firstly, has any of you guys watched Kerlon play before? He is unbelivable!! I can’t believe some people have been slating him!! Everytime i watched him play for Cruzeiro he was their best player by miles!! By the way, Abdou Razack Traore of Rosenborg, is fantastic and will be huge. But he’s from The IVORY COAST (Not Burkina Faso, like this list says!!). My team Newcastle United, has many great young players, like: Kazenga LuaLua (Lomana LuaLua’s younger Brother, he is going to be class!!), Wesley Ngo Baheng, Nile Ranger, Sammy Ameobi (Shola’s Brother), Fabio Zamblera, Tim Krul, Sebastian Bassong (Good player!) and also Tamas Kadar. Charles N’Zogbia is class and will play regular for France in the near future.
how could they forget Bruno Gama of Portugal and on-loan from FC Porto he is massively talented also alberto paloschi and mario balotelli will be huge in a couple of years
Fabio is there but his twin brother Rafael isnt, also Fernando Forestieri…Where is he?
ADEM LJAJIC(PARTIZAN) AND DANIJEL ALEKSIC(VOJVODINA) U-19 SERBIA, REMEMBER THOSE NAMES! Ljajic is linked with Man Utd and Real Madrid and Aleksic is 16-17 but allready plays for u-21 serbia!
d.costa-gremio
bojan kikic-barclona
lulinha
adem ljajic-man.united
g.dos santos-tottenham
I’m glad that aissati is there, he’s a great player! Benzema should be on the list, walcott is outstanding. Right now the best is Messi, although he’s 21. But it’s a good list.
Anybody seen Denilson play this season for Arsenal ? that’s why he is not on the list
He’s been awfull
ninis-panathinaikos……the best
how can you have Fabio (brazil left back) and not his twin brother Rafael who play exactly the same
Every player from Sporting CP under-21 team should be on this list!!!
douglas costa new ronaldinho gremio why he not on it hes 16
sotisris ninis atter mid rigth center. age 17 greece panathanikos
2oscar trejo striker . age 19 mallorca argintina / italy
3Marvin Angulo defender/wing bk/midfield right.age 20 club herediano costa rica
4toni kroos amc germany.age 17 fc bayern munchen
5ryndell poepon 19 ducth ajax amc / st
6georginio wijnaldum amrlc ducth 16 feyenoord
7steven jovetic 17 amc / st partizan montengro
8johnny evans 19 dc n ireland man united
9breno dc 17 fc bayern munchen brazil might need a work permit
10mario balotelli 16 inter milan italy
11 karmin benzema st age 19 lyon france
12 guilherme amc/st age 18 cruzeiro fc brazil work permit neeeded
13 kerlon amc/st 19 cruzeiro fc brazil work permit needed
14bernando mc 17 cruzeiro fc brazil work permit needed
15adrien mc 18 sporting cp portugall
16joao moutinho 20 amc sporting cp portugall
17krisztian nemeth 18 st liverpool hungary
18anderson 19 amc man united brazil work permit might need 1
19zdravko kuzmanovic mrc serbia fiorentina my need work permit
20genero zeefuik 17 st ducth psv
21 micheal johnson 19 mc england man city
22rhys murphy 16 st england arsenal
23james dunne 17 england arsenal
24necar barazite 17 ducth arsenal
25ched evans 19 st wales man city
26pavel komolov 18 russia amc zenit peterburg
27lubos kalouda 20 czech republic amrc fc kobenhavn
28Nickola 1Matek 7 serbia ofk beogard goal keeper
29dioniso 19 dmc brazil santos wp needed
30 bruno neves 18 dmc brazil bahia wp my neeeded
31Jean Paul Pineda Age: 17 at start Club: Palestino my need wp chilli
32 john joe o toole 18 english club watford mybe next carrick
the player should be on the list:
1.Fabian Delph(England)(Aston Villa)
2.Alex Kacaniklic(sweden)(Liverpool)
3.Davide Santon(italy)(internazionale Milan)
4.Steven Defour(belgium)(Standard Liege)
5.Lewis Holtby(Germany)(fc Schalke 04)
6.Marc Muniesa(spain)(barcelona)
7.Nicolas Lodeiro(uruguay)(nacional)
8.Nikola Saric(denmark)(Liverpool)
9.Daniel Aquino(spain)(real murcia)
10.Vurnon Anita(dutch)(Ajax Amsterdam)