Top 50 Most Exciting Teen Footballers (2007)
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 | ||
 |
Anderson | Attacking Midfielder | Brazil | ||
 |
Giovani Dos Santos | Attacking Midfielder | Mexico | ||
 |
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
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- Top 20 Young Footballers for 2008
- No Conspiracy Against Liverpool in Robberies
Discussion - 49 Responses
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Bojan at #8 is ridiculous. He should be on a list of his own.
One name not on this list who may become a top prospect is Jozy Altidore (USA/New York Red Bull). He featured at the U-20 World Cup for the USA, and had a very good season with New York in MLS.
Last week, he received his first cap at the senior level during a friendly in South Africa.
Here is a video clip of him versus Brasil at the U-20:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EYFfq9tecHk
Freddy Adu (Benfica) has received most of the publicity and notoriety; however, in my opinion, Altidore is quite mature for his age (18), and has a combination of physical and technical capabilities rarely seen in North American players.
gareth bale #6 wtf no way hes better than bojan or aguero and walcotts been under rated
To those commenting on individuals’ positions…having read the magazine, from what I can see they aren’t rated in terms of who is better than the other. It’s not a countdown from 50 to number 1. It’s just a list of fifty, seemingly in no particular order.
This is not ranked in the magazine. There is no ranking, it simply the 50 best without in any kind of order so this article is rather misleading.
However, I’m a abit miffed that Giovinco is not included. Is he too old?
Kenny:
Sebastian Giovinco, who is owned by Juventus but currently on loan to Empoli, will be 21 in January.
how come nani is not in the list?
arsa, Nani is 21 or 22…
It is funny England blame the lack of youth talent on their failures when the two cauntries have the same number of players on that list + Richards is a national team regular.
Also funny how Argentina - who has the best national team - has the most number of players on that list. Most of them I know too and have to admit that they are bloody amazing.
Out of the whole list I’ve only seemed to notice one goalkeeper so another two worth looking out for who played important roles in this years under 17 world cup are Oladele Ajiboye (Nigeria) and David De Gea (Spain). Both have steady nerves and sharp reflexes
Just 1 goalkeeper in the whole list? It’s a shame to see that there are not many goalkeepers in the list…
To arsa:
Nani just turned 21. So obviously he cant be on the list.
Good all round list of players - as stated the order sucks! But as an unordered list I couldn’t fault it much. What about Michael Johnson at Citeh? He looks promising!
How old is Rossi?
Good list, although he plays for Spurs I really like Gareth Bale, he WILL be the next Ryan Giggs.
What about Denilson from Arsenal?
Nice to see one of my own (Rakitić) on the list. Why are there no ages for players 11-50?
Fábio Coentrão? Is a flop! That list was made thinking on the performances on the Under 20 World Cup. Portugal has a lot of players way better than Coentrão who didn´t went to the World Cup. Who como Inter’s Pelé is not here?
Benzema only 15th? They most be joking!
Rhys Murphy should be on there. Scored 17 goals in 21 games for the Arsenal Under 18s last season. Whilst we’re on Arsenal youth players worth mentioning Rui Fonte, Nacer Barazite, Havard Nordtveit, Henri Lansbury and Kieran Gibbs.
A player who will make it in the future is Dean Bouzanis, an Australian goalkeeper in Liverpool. Was rated at the start of the year by Benetiz and the Liverpool GK coach, as the best goalkeeper under 18 (and he only turned 17 in October).
He is the reason why Liverpool are going to sell Carson but another Liverpool keeper is actually on this list.
rabui ibrahims the one 4 me…….Super Eagles next JJ- Cant wait
No Fran Merida? Dont know about that.
gareth bale is one of the promising young talents. anderson fully representing dos santos and borjan also players to watch.
Reynold, Fran is in the list - number 35
I think Giles Barnes deserves a mention
[…] From World Soccer, via SoccerLens. […]
As Sean says I don’t think the list was meant to be in numerical order.
Good article tho, a few of these players may not fulfill their potential, but even if only half of them do, then the future’s bright.
Richards’ is going to be huge!
sotirios ninis from panathinaikos should be on this list.
he is truly a special player,just turned 17…
one english guy in the whole list!!
whats to follow the “golden” generation i wonder
[…] can also check out our World Soccer Magazine’s Top 50 Most Exciting Teen Footballers article here on Soccerlens. […]
Where is Modric? Is he too old? His 22. Rossi? His 20 like Benzema! I saw Anderson there so what about Nani? His 21..maybe thats a littl to old..and i saw fabio man uniteds future left back frm barzil but what about his twin brother which man united also signed who plays at right back?
Where is Denilson someone asks…LMAO i wonder why his NOT on da list haha..isnt it obvious =P Umm it says teen’s so maybe dats why rossi nd modric nd nani isnt on da list but what abt benzema? his 20 rite? so how is this a list of teens den? nd ppl merida is on da list at 35 i think!
ny1 kno zeefuik of psv he is 1 bull of a striker
it’s not ordinal… it’s alphabetical
how cn it be alphabetical when banega is the last one
SEBASTIAN GIOVINCO IS THE BEST YOUNG PLAYER IN THE WORLD.HE IS AMAZING
i think anderson of utd is better than any1 outhere (young players)
hendro kartiko from indonesia should be there. he’s only 37!
why isint, rizwan khan there.. a good player with lots of skill
he got a dodgy hair cut though
i no i m a bit late but really y ain’t dani parejo there??? or the callejon brothers.this list sucks
adams #1, i admit is a good player, but doesn’t deserve to be at the top of the ranking with players like aguero and bojan in the list. Lulinha and Ever Banega shouldn’t be where they are, they should be in and around the top 10 to 15. Can’t believe that Jozy Altidore is not in the list, e is absolutely awesome.
feyernoods wijnaldum should be on the list also fabio’s bro rafael silva, forestieri, remy, bradley johnson and where the hell is nasri?
Good young players are Ever Banega, Hernanes, Ochoa, Gareth Bale, Paloschi, Balotelli, Benzema, Sergio Aguero, Carlos Eduardo, Ben Arfa, Lulinha, Renato Augusto, breno, Toni Kroos, Christantus, Diego Buonanotte, Marek Suchy, Martin Fenin, Akinfeev, Diego Capel, Mihaylov, Ismael Aissati, Mauro Zarate, Yoann Gouffran, Gabriel Obertan, Daniel Opare, Sadick Adams, Thiago Neves, Lionel Messi, Carlos Alberto, Antunes, Cesc Fabregas, Leandro Lima, Andel Di Maria, Tulio De Melo, Dias Felipe, Tiago Luis, Theo Walcott, Franco Di Santo, Arturo Vidal, Alexandre Pato, Aquilani, Anderson, Pique, Carlos Vela, Albin Ekdal, Mezut Ozil, Rodrigo Possebon, Pablo Ledesma, Leandro Grimi, Abdou Traore, Miguel Veloso, Gerardo Bruna, Giovani Dos Santos, aaron niguez, Micah Richards, Juan Manuel Mata, Samir Nasri, Nathan Burns, Freddy Adu, Fabio Coentrao, Luka Modric, Denilson, Dumitru Copil, Fellaini, Fran Merida and of course the extreme talent of Bruno Gama (Vitoria SC, Portugal), Kerlon (Cruzeiro, Brazil), Ivan Rakitic (FC Shalke, Croatia), Alexis Sanchez (River Plate, Chile), Bojan Krkic (FC Barcelona, Spain) and Jeremy Menez )AS Monaco, France).
Aiden McGeady anyone??
CESC FABREGAS …CESC FABREGAS !!??where is he ? is he dead ? He’s definetly n*1 then i’d say bojan Krik and then LuKa modric n*3 Then karim Benzma For fourth place , Alex Pato as n*5 and then theo walcott as the n*6….Well that’s what I think anyway…
Dude, cesc fabregas is too old. Although he’s a great player:P
look what the title says: most exciting TEEN footballers
and about the order of the list. It’s almost alphabetical, but there are some exceptions….. quite odd…
he’s not too old . He’s 20 years old …..so why is Yoann Gouffran on he list then ? he’s 20 years old…
What about the Chelsea Striker Ben Sahar. He was capped for Israel at the age of 17. Also the midfielder on Barcelona, Assulin, who was capped by Israel at the age of 16! they are both future superstars!
Dumitru Copil is not good enough for top 16, I’m sorry but the kid has the worst mentality in the world, is a flop since the second he went to scotland and is returning to romania right now…
Nevermind they found this kid in liga 4 in Romania.
Gabriel Torje who is 18 years old should be in there, you’ll see him in the UEFA CUP next season. And also should be there is Gai from Barca.