List of best under 21 players in the world- ESPN

Thoughts?

Can’t argue with the top 3, but Vinicius and Donnarumma are entirely too high, lol.

Saka, Martinelli, and Guendouzi made the list.

  1. Mbappe
  2. Sancho
  3. TAA
  4. Rodrygo
  5. Fati
  6. Haaland
  7. Odegaard
  8. Valverde
  9. Felix
  10. Martinelli
  11. Havertz
  12. Camavinga
  13. Vinicius
  14. Isak
  15. Davies
  16. Tonali
  17. Aouar
  18. Hudson-Odoi
  19. Pedri
  20. Malen
  21. Soumare
  22. Achraf

Lists :heart_eyes: :heart_eyes: :heart_eyes: :heart_eyes: :giroud2: :giroud2: :giroud2: :henry2: :henry2: :giroud3: :giroud3: :raul: :raul:

This shit happens, but I still feel quite bitter seeing Malen in these lists.

2 Likes

It hadn’t even occurred to me that he might be Alfe Inge Haaland’s son :facepalm:

1 Like

No doubt, you could make a good case for including Jeff on the list too if it were up to 22.

Watch out for Yunus Musah on future lists too :sunglasses: :pepe2: :bellerin:

Donnarumma is an immensely gifted goalkeeper. He’s been really good this season so your criticism of his placing is slightly bizarre.

Also bizarre is your placing of Martinelli in the top 10 lol. And lol at having Hakimi at the bottom of your list like he’s not tearing it up at Dortmund

1 Like

Must be a reflection of the current talent pool that Guendouzi makes this list. The description of him in the piece barely says anything positive about him.

Although on the other hand, the article said Martinelli needs to work on his heading. He’s actually got a great feel for heading the ball - scored some terrific directed / deft headers already. Dumb cunts.

1 Like

It isn’t tbh. One of his criteria was top level appearances. Guendouzi has 80 for Arsenal already. With only players from the five big League’s selected and Gent and PSV (Malen). But of course a player like Jonathan David (from Genk) is on the radar of a North-American outlet.

I might be overreacting, plus I may have only been lucky to catch games where he absolutely tore it up - but an I overreacting to say he’s already one of the best RBs in the current day?

Just feels that way to me as he’s performing pretty seamlessly in the top competitions.

1 Like

I think the biggest surprise here is that he’s still young enough to qualify for this list. Seems to have been around years now :grin:

Okay so if you were making a list, would Guendouzi be on it?

Guys got nearly 200 appearances for AC Milan and 16 caps for Italy at the age of 21. He’s not hype, he’s genuinely immensely talented. He does make mistakes but even seasoned pros do.

With the right coaching, if he continues on his current trajectory, he’s a shoe in to be the best (or among the best 3) in the world.

@CliftonGeraldi

It’s a no brainer. His versatility of being able to play on both flanks; as a full back, a midfielder and a wide forward plus the actual quality of his performances.

1 Like

No. His best quality seems to be his energy. That doesn’t put players on these kind of lists imo.

Lol glad that’s settled then

You implied that him being on the list is reflective for the current talent pool and that it isn’t great because he is on it. This list isn’t really representative for the current talent pool… Lol.

@AbouCuellar since you have soumare in your list I assume you’ve seen Lille play? Should we go after Osimhen or is he not going to be anything special you think?

Guendouzi easily makes the top 10. Wtf have players like Felix done except move for 120m.

1 Like

This is one of those opinions I don’t think you’re gonna find much outside of the Arsenal fanbase, whereas it’s not mostly just Dortmund fans who would say Haaland/Sancho deserve a place, or Liverpool fans who think TAA deserves a place. I like Guendouzi but I think we overrate him a lot.

1 Like

Guendouzi is just a passion merchant that runs a lot tbh

Fair point.

But every article I’ve seen titled along the lines of ‘‘Best X number of young players in football’’ always include Guen somewhere. So he must be getting some sort of recognition outside of our fanbase.

AC plumps anyone who’s got a name on the list there is absolutely no way he’s so in tune with all these leagues lol.

He’s a stat merchant. He reads about what players do in a game but he rarely sees it and I can say that with a tremendous degree of confidence.