Familiar Manchester United, Chelsea and Aston Villa faces are among the ‘Barclays era’ Premier League cult heroes who have produced footballing offspring on the cusp of a breakthrough.
Enough time has passed since that golden age of top flight football whereby the shining stars are old enough to have fully-grown kids. It makes us feel weird too, don’t worry.
Here are eight sons of memorable Barclays-era Premier League footballers set to catch the eye in the coming months and years.
John Mellberg
Possessor of one of the Premier League’s all-time finest beards, former Sweden stalwart Olof Mellberg played over 200 games for Aston Villa in the Premier League.
He hung up his boots in 2014 before embarking on a coaching career in his native Sweden, with his last stint in the dugout of MLS outfit St. Louis City SC.
Son John was born in Birmingham in 2006, midway through Olof’s lengthy stint at Villa Park.
He developed his skills in the academy of Brommapojkarna, where his father twice served as head coach, and has since been snapped up by the Red Bull scouting network.
The 18-year-old defender has returned to his parent club Red Bull Salzburg ahead of the 2024-25 campaign, having got senior experience out on loan at lower-league partner club FC Liefering.
He’s in the right place to make it to the top. Erling Haaland, Sadio Mane, Karim Adeyemi and Dominik Szoboszlai are among Salzburg’s most high-profile success stories.
Keyrol Figueroa
Were ‘Barclaysman’ in a dictionary (sort it out, OED), it ought to be accompanied by a picture of Maynor Figueroa.
Honduras’ all-time most-capped player played over 200 times for Wigan Athletic in their top-flight heyday.
While he’s one of a select few Premier League players to have scored from his own half – his long-range lob against Stoke City was voted Match of the Day’s 2009-10 Goal of the season.
Cut him and he bleeds pure Barclays.
Eighteen-year-old forward Keyrol Figueroa was born in Tegucigalpa, Honduras a couple of years before his dad moved to the UK.
He’s been in Liverpool’s academy since 2018 and represents the United States at youth level.
He’s featured for the young Reds in the Premier League 2 and UEFA Youth League and will soon be eyeing a step-up to senior level, either with a loan away or promotion to Arne Slot’s first-team squad.
Watch this space.
Daniel Gudjohnsen
The Gudjohnsen dynasty continues.
Former Chelsea and Barcelona forward Eidur Gudjohnsen famously made his Iceland debut by coming on for his father, Arnor, a long-serving veteran.
Now he himself has three sons playing professionally in the game. Eldest Sveinn plays for Norwegian outfit Sarpsborg and middle child Andri plies his trade in Belgium for Gent.
Young Daniel, 18, may be the best of the lot. The teenager only has a handful of appearances under his belt for Malmo, but he boasts back-to-back Allsvenskan titles and scored a memorable hat-trick in his Swedish Cup debut last season.
Sol Sidibe
We haven’t included Liam Delap in this as he’s long since outgrown the novelty of being the son of long throw specialist Rory.
But Delap isn’t the late noughties Stoke City cult hero with offspring catching the eye.
Mamady Sidibe was among Tony Pulis’ most trusted lieutenants as the Potters made it up from the Championship and established themselves as a top-flight force nobody fancied playing.
2007-born Sol is following in his dad’s footsteps and dreaming of emulating his promotion achievement.
The midfielder has been bedded in slowly after making his debut as a 16-year-old, but Stoke evidently see a bright future there. He signed a three-year professional contract last summer.
Jack & Tyler Fletcher
You might be aware that Darren Fletcher’s twin sons have shown a lot of potential.
They made headlines back in the summer of 2023 by departing Manchester City’s academy for United’s for a combined fee of approximately £1million.
Both midfielders, Jack represents England at youth level, while Tyler has followed his dad – now a first-team coach at Carrington – in representing Scotland.
They turned 18 earlier this year and may soon be knocking on the door for first-team opportunities.
Soccer - Barclays Premier League - Everton v West Ham United - Goodison Park
QUIZ: Can you name the top 25 goalscorers of the Premier League’s ‘Barclays era’?
Stanley Mills
Gen Z might recognise Danny Mills more for his rent-an-opinion talkSPORT gobbiness than his playing career.
Mills was on the post-Charlton and Leeds downslope when the ‘Barclays era’ technically began in the summer of 2004.
During his latter years on Manchester City’s books, after getting royally wound up by peak Thierry Henry, the former right-back saw out his career with inauspicious loans to the Championship and that worst-ever Derby County team.
Eldest son George is a gold medal winner who specialises in the 1500 metres and 5000 metres, while his younger sibling Stanley is on the fringes at Championship outfit Oxford United.
Earlier this year he joined the U’s on a permanent deal after departing boyhood club Everton.
Kristian Shevchenko
Ukraine’s all-time greatest footballer, a Ballon d’Or and Champions League winner, Andriy Shevchenko’s legendary career transcends any kind of ‘Barclaysmen’ tag.
Still, the striker’s distinctly underwhelming stint at Chelsea landed slap bang in the middle of the prime Barclays era. That’s good enough for us.
Son Kristian was born in London a few months after his dad’s big-money transfer to the Blues.
He’s eligible to represent England, USA, Ukraine or Poland at international level but he’s taken on the family tradition and opted for Ukraine at under-19 level.
Currently developing his skills in Watford’s academy, the 18-year-old left winger featured in the young Hornets’ run to the FA Youth Cup semi-finals last season.
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