Ranking the best young players in the Premier League right now as Arsenal, Sunderland and Manchester City talents move up the Top 10.
With the international break finally out of the way, we can once again celebrate the return of the Wonderkid Power Rankings – our weekly effort to order the 10 best young players in the Premier League right now based on their performances at the very highest level.
Last time out, Adam Wharton took top spot for a second consecutive week, but with injury preventing him from playing for Crystal Palace he’ll inevitably tumble down the ladder and give another of the top flight’s most talented Under-21s their chances to claim the crown.
Three players drop out of this week’s Top 10 – Liverpool’s Milos Kerkez had a stinker against Burnley and had to be substituted in the first half, while Rico Lewis got a rest from Manchester City and Chelsea’s Estevão was out with illness. In their place, we have three new entries including one defender who appears in our countdown for the very first time in his career. Let’s get into it…
10. Rio Ngumoha – Liverpool (-)
To be perfectly honest, we didn’t expect Ngumoha to get a third week in the rankings if only because we don’t really expect him to get much time on the pitch just yet – but in his 10-minute cameo against Burnley he created a fine chance for Jeremie Frimpong with a smart carry and cross-box pass, and in a week in which several players were either uninvolved or simply failed to make a case for inclusion, we’ve chosen to give the teenager enough grace to get one more week. Regular starters will likely overtake him soon enough.
9. Yanukba Minteh – Brighton & Hove Albion (new entry)
The former Newcastle United winger hasn’t been the most consistent performer since arriving at the Amex Stadium and has had ups and downs already this season, but he breaks into the Top 10 for the first time in 2025/26 after superbly setting up a Kaoru Mitoma goal against Bournemouth. Minteh showed skill and patience to work his way past Adrien Truffert and the cross to the back post was pretty much perfect. A fine way to cap a lively outing, not long after inspiring Gambia to a win over Kenya during the international break.
8. Brajan Gruda – Brighton & Hove Albion (⬇️6)
The Wild West of the early season, when sample sizes are small and one good game gets you much further, pushed Gruda all the way up to second place in our most recent rankings, but the sequel to a brilliant week before the international break was somewhat disappointing. Given a second-half sub appearance against Bournemouth, the German did precious little of anything and simply couldn’t find ways to get involved or make a significant difference to the flow of the game.
7. Abdukodir Khusanov – Manchester City (new entry)
A first ever Wonderkid Power Rankings nod now for the 21-year-old Uzbek defender, who has been in and out of Pep Guardiola’s line-up since signing for Manchester City last January but who is starting to show us what he can do – deployed out of position on the right of the defence, Khusanov looked surprisingly dynamic and made a total of six tackles and interceptions. It wasn’t a completely clean performance, but there’s been far more good than bad for the youngster this season and it’s no surprise that he’s getting more starts and more chances to impress.
6. Adam Wharton – Crystal Palace (⬇️5)
Our rule of thumb is that players in the top five don’t get dropped straight out of the rankings for missing a match unless it’s likely to be a long-term injury, and there are already whispers suggesting that Wharton could be back in action this coming weekend after the better part of three weeks off. As a result, our recent number one gets to cling on in the bottom half of the rankings.
5. Lucas Bergvall – Tottenham Hotspur (re-entry)
Bergvall almost always impresses to some degree when he gets the chance to start for Spurs, but we saw something new from him in the 3-0 win over West Ham United, peeling off the back shoulder of the last man to head a long ball brilliantly over Mads Hermansen to make it 2-0.
He’ll get the credit for an assist for Micky van de Ven’s goal, too, even if he wasn’t in complete control of his semi-accidental pass. Still, it was a fair reward for a fluent all-round performance in which the young Swede again showcased his impressive movement, incisive passing and combative pressing off the ball.
4. Leny Yoro – Manchester United (⬇️1)
The young Frenchman can count himself a little lucky to lose only one place after a rather ropey performance at the back in the Manchester derby. Beaten for pace and guile by Jérémy Doku on a couple of occasions, including in the build-up to the second goal, Yoro didn’t win a single one-on-one duel before he was hooked in the second half or make a successful tackle.
Even when he did something right, for instance rushing back to hook Erling Haaland’s shot off the line after it rebounded off the post, it fell straight to a City player to create a scoring chance. Sometimes it just isn’t your day. To give Yoro credit where it was due, his passing was excellent again and he was very good in possession. It’s the defending that was the problem.
3. Noah Sadiki – Sunderland (⬆️6)
The combative Sunderland midfielder is the beneficiary of a week in which most of last week’s top performers either struggled or sat out, and gets rewarded not only for a hard-working outing against Palace but also for consistency – Sadiki is now one of only three players to have been in all four of our early-season Power Rankings alongside Yoro and Wharton, and the only one to play every match and play well every time.
Sadiki did plenty of his usual solid work protecting his defenders and chasing down possession but perhaps had his best game for Sunderland on the ball, completing every attempted dribble and drawing three fouls without committing any of his own. An increasingly important player both with and without the ball and quietly among the key driving forces behind the Premier League new boys’ impressive start to the season.
2. Cristhian Mosquera – Arsenal (⬆️3)
Two Arsenal appearances, now, and two very impressive outings in lieu of the injured William Saliba, who might find that he isn’t simply handed his starting spot straight back given how well the Colombian defender has played in his stead.
Having been among the best players on the pitch against Liverpool before the break, Mosquera was pretty much faultless once more in the comfortable win over Nottingham Forest, winning every single ground duel, moving the ball effortlessly and completing every tackles he was called upon to make. The 21-year-old looks like an extremely astute signing as it stands.
1. Michael Kayode – Brentford (⬆️3)
Speaking of astute signings, Brentford seldom miss – and right-back Kayode continues to look like one of the shrewdest acquisitions of the past year after another fine all-round performance in the 2-2 draw against Chelsea, which is enough to push him up to number one for the first time, a reward for both his rock solid early-season form and his consistency over the last eight months since arriving in the Premier League.
Kayode didn’t manage to find a telling final ball when he came forward this time but he was excellent when bursting forward, finding space and probing away at Chelsea’s left flank, while remaining as steady as always at the back, never once putting himself in a position where he had to lunge in but still making plenty of important interventions, including a hefty six clearances. There are very few gaps in the young Italian’s game, and he’s rarely anything less than one of the most impressive players on the pitch.
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