Who are Europe’s most prolific youngsters this season?
Europe’s top-flight leagues have consistently produced some astonishing youngsters. Many of these young guns wait for long before attaining regular playing time, while others manage to cement their spot in the teams and display their potential at the highest possible level.
Every season, there’s always a plethora of youngsters across Europe that tend to enter our consciousness, with managers often willing to give them minutes to showcase their talents, goalscoring skills, and flair to the footballing world, with football enthusiasts clamoring to witness the game’s “Next Superstar”.
Mbappe, Vinicius, Sancho, and lots might still be making waves, but there has also been an emergence of a new set of youngsters who have had an outstanding season goal-wise and assists.
Here Are 10 Of Europe’s Youngsters Who Had An Outstanding 2020/21 Season
- Giovanni Reyna – (Borussia Dortmund)
Reyna is the son of former America legend Claudio Reyna who also had stints with Bayer Leverkusen and Wolfsburg. Following Reyna’s remarkable campaign in 2019-20 it was evident that the 18-year-old American is one of the brightest youngsters in football.
This season the Sunderland-born light up the Bundesliga with incredible performances with his goal and assists.
More so his excellent style of play has seen him won a lot of appreciators across Europe who admire him for what he does despite being only 18 years old.
All through the Bundesliga season, Reyna scored four goals with six assists to his name in 32 matches which gives credence to how much he’s developed since he made his debut for “Die Schwarzgelben” in January 2020.
Considering his excellent Bundesliga campaign, the teenage midfielder has no doubt built a likable profile for himself as he grows with his Dortmund and national team career.
- Florian Wirtz – (Bayer Leverkusen)
Since the days of Michael Ballack, Bayer has become the home for flourishing youngsters. No wonder the BayArena side is considered across Europe as one of the continent’s homes of talented youngsters.
The rise of Wirtz, the young German sensation has triggered a whole lot of buzz in Germany with his recent exploits with Germany’s U21 and Bayer Leverkusen impressing for both sides in the European Championship in Hungary/Slovenia and Bundesliga for “Die Werkself”.
In the 2020-21 Bundesliga campaign, Wirtz establishes himself as one of the key cogs in the team with stunning performances scoring 8 goals and 8 assists in all competitions for the BayArena side.
Defensively, the youngster also did quite well, with 9 aerial duels and 55 tackles won. The 18-year-old is one fast-rising talented youngster football enthusiasts should keep a tab on.
- Bukayo Saka – (Arsenal)
If there’s one thing Freddie Ljungberg did well at Arsenal when he was appointed as the assistant manager of the London club, was making a recommendation for the promotion of the youngster Bukayo Saka.
It’s been a meteoric rise for Saka since he made his debut for the Gunners after scoring his first senior goal against Eintracht Frankfurt in September 2019. As such he’s being the go-to man for Mikel Arteta’s side this season despite their woeful Premier League campaign.
As expected, he began the 2020-21 season with a phenomenon performance registering 5 goals and 3 assists in 38 matches for the London side. Naturally, the youngster is an attacking midfielder, but his versatility for the team makes him a rare gem for Arteta’s side playing almost all positions on the pitch.
His consistency and hard work all through the Premier League season were rewarded with his inclusion for the England squad that would prosecute the European Championship matches and his nomination for the PFA Young Player of the year.
- Matthew Hoppe – (Schalke 04)
A number of excellent players have come through the talent academy of “Die Konigsblauen“, with many who has gone to achieved success elsewhere. Schalke 04 may not be as successful or financially buoyant as Bayern Munich or Borussia Dortmund, but their records of producing youngsters are second to none.
Although Schalke 04 and Hoppe would be playing their football next season in Bundesliga 2. However, he did show he’s one player the Veltins Arena side could rely on for the future.
Hoppe scored 6 goals and produced one assist all through the campaign, he also showed how brilliant he could be defensively, with a total of 25 aerial duels won and 26 successful tackles for Die Konigsblauen.
With him and the likes of Pulisic and Dest in the American national team brimming with qualities and age on their side, they could always go into a big tournament with a positive mindset.
- Arnaud Kalimuendo – (Lens)
Breaking into a star-studded team like Paris Saint Germain has been a daunting task for the youngster, as such he was loaned to RC Lens for regular playing time. The 19-year-old has been incredible for the “Sang et Or” since he made the decision to play for Lens.
Kalimuendo has been with the Parisian since the age of 10, developing his football skill with the belief to get an opportunity to play for the senior squad one day having scored over 60 goals for the youth teams. He did get the opportunity to play for Paris Saint Germain but he couldn’t break into the team, which led to his loan to RC Lens.
Scoring 7 goals and 3 assists for RC Lens ranks him among the list of youngsters with the most goals and assists in Europe in 2020-21. With the incredible campaign he had with Lens, the Parisians might decide to revoke his loan deal in other to keep him at Paris Saint Germain.
Irrespective of where he plays next season, Kalimuendo is certainly one of the youngsters one needs to watch out for come next season.
READ ALSO: 5 Of The Best Chelsea Youngster To Look Out For
- Adil Aouchiche – (Saint-Etienne)
Aouchiche was born in France but he’s of Algerian descent who plays for Saint-Etienne in the Ligue 1. The youngster is considered one of the most exciting players within the Paris Saint Germain youth team before he moved to the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Etienne in July 2020.
Before he left the youth team he featured in the 2018-19 UEFA Youth League campaign producing a five-star performance against Napoli for “Les Verts”. Since that time Aouchiche’s stock has risen with the tag of one of the promising youngsters in football.
15 aerial duels and 56 tackles won isn’t poor stats for a youngster whom the club sees as one of the important players in the Saint-Etienne team. His conversion rate for shots to goals stands at 8 which in the end got him 2 goals and 5 assists.
Aouchiche also impressed with his skill set in creating chances for his teammates to get the goals, creating a total of 26 chances, an impressive stats many of the established midfielders in top clubs would be proud of.
- Ansu Fati – (Barcelona)
Next on our list is Barcelona’s new sensation Fati. The Guinea-Bissau-born was supposed to be at the Euro 2020 Championship dishing out performances for La Furia Roja, but unfortunately, injury ruled him out.
Displaying excellent performances for the Blaugrana on his debut has since made him the fan’s darling. He took his performance level a notch higher in the 2020-21 season against Villarreal scoring a brace and forcing a penalty for the Blaugrana.
Messi, being the biggest player in the history of the club is nearing the twilight of his career, and Barcelona fans are already considering Fati as the future of the club.
Before the knee injury he picked up against Real Betis that cut short his season, Fati has registered four goals in seven LaLiga matches with two assists in the UEFA Champions League.
- Jan Thielmann – (FC Koln)
To say German club sides are best known for producing talented youngsters that later in the future took the football world by storm it’s an understatement.
In that sense, great players like Real Madrid’s midfield maestro and Bayern Munich’s Manuel Neuer easily come to mind when mentioning the plethora of talents that have emerged from the German club’s youth teams.
Thielmann’s rise to the first team of Koln came as no surprise to those who follow his youth team performances with Die Geibbocke’s U17. Scoring 24 goals in 34 matches, same with the U19 where he helped them win the title with six goals cumulated into his promotion to the senior team.
In the 2020-21 season, he played 24 games scored 2 goals, and assisted 3. He also contributed immensely in helping the team defensively with 98 tackles won and 28 aerial duels.
- Adrien Truffert – (Rennes)
If you think of any youngsters who are presently holding their own in the Rennes team, two names readily come to mind with Truffert and Camavinga. Truffert joined Rennes’ first team in 2020 when he signed his first professional contract with “Les Rennais”.
The Liege-born is a central defender but often time his coach prefers to use him as a left-back for a possession-based formation, and he never fails to deliver with great aerial duels and impeccable interceptions won.
Truffert scored just one goal and assisted four times for Les Rennais this season from his defensive position. While the above stats is true about his performances this season, many have opined that his ability to bump forward with his impeccable crossing and stamina makes him rank as one of the best left-back in Ligue 1.
- Pedro Gonzalez Lopez – (Barcelona)
Pedri is another Barcelona’s youngster who is from the same league as Ansu Fati.
He’s been creating headlines this season despite being a youngster in a team that houses the likes of Pjanic, De Jong, and Busquet.
As one of Barcelona’s players who has had an impressive season despite the Blaugrana below-par outing in LaLiga, Pedri notched four-goal and created six assist with the Copa Del Rey the only trophy won by Ronald Koeman’s men.
As a team, Barcelona may have a poor season by their standard, but as for Pedri he did display an excellent performance and impressed the Camp Nou fans with talent and style of play.
