Ranking the best young players in the Premier League - as Chelsea, Manchester City and Brighton players move up.
Another week of Premier League and European action has drawn to a close, and with it comes our latest countdown of the very best young players in England right now based on their form at the very highest level.
Last time out, we declared Crystal Palace’s Adam Wharton to be the best Under-21 in the top flight but he’s under plenty of pressure from the chasing pack – so can he keep his place on the throne?
We’ve got three new entries this week, one of which is taking a place in our Top 10 for the very first time, which means three players dropping out as their form and playing time diminish: Manchester United’s Leny Yoro, Tottenham Hotspur’s Lucas Bergvall and Manchester City’s injured Abukodir Khusanov. Anyway, that’s enough pre-amble, on with the countdown…
10. Lamare Bogarde – Aston Villa (new entry)
Injuries have compelled Unai Emery to convert Bogarde from a full-back to a midfielder, but the results have been quite impressive and the young Dutchman gets a first ever Power Rankings berth after proving to be an extremely strong base of possession for his team as well as a player who seldom loses or misuses the ball. Surprisingly, for a former defender, his weakness is perhaps in the lack of turnovers he forces (there were none against Burnley this week) but he hardly ever gives the ball away and is surprisingly dynamic both as a runner and as a playmaker. A player heading in an interesting new direction to good effect.
9. Cristhian Mosquera – Arsenal (⬇️7)
It hasn’t been the best couple of weeks for Mosquera. Having impressed initially, the centre-back was substituted at half-time against Newcastle by William Saliba and hasn’t made much of a case to get his place back since. A 15-minute cameo in the Champions League against Olympiacos included a blocked shot and an interception but also two lost aerial duels, highlighting a weakness that became somewhat apparent at St. James’ Park as well.
8. Mateus Fernandes – West Ham United (new entry)
A staple of last season’s Top 10 when he was just about the only palatable thing about a dire Southampton side, Fernandes took a little while to get up to speed at West Ham but is starting to look like he might just be the best player on another poor team – he was brilliant against Arsenal at times and always involved, winning seven one-on-ones, making a massive seven tackles and completing every single pass he tried. Fernandes has the potential to be a first-rate box-to-box midfielder, and showed it for the first time in claret and blue despite the 2-0 defeat over the weekend.
7. Estevão Willian – Chelsea (re-entry)
Having been in and out of the side after a promising start, Estevão served up a timely reminder of just how threatening he can be in the final third with the winning goal against Liverpool, drifting away from Andrew Robertson to slot home at the far post deep into injury time. He had already shown some flashes of his creative qualities on the wing, too, with a couple of dangerous crosses. A sublime talent growing into his role with increasing aplomb.
6. Michael Kayode – Brentford (⬇️3)
Having been consistently impressive enough to briefly find himself installed as our number one a few weeks ago, Kayode’s form has dipped a bit since and he wasn’t at his best against Manchester City, losing possession and one-on-one battles too often and struggling to make a dent moving forward, succeeding with just one of his four attempted dribbles. His defensive work, at least, was ultimately solid enough, but he’s just falling off a little after an excellent start to the campaign.
5. Yasin Ayari – Brighton & Hove Albion (⬆️4)
This will be the Swedish midfielder’s last appearances in our rankings, as he turns 22 this week – but he goes out with a bit of a bang, following up his recent goal-scoring exploits with an all-action outing against Wolves.
Not only was his passing as accurate, incisive and varied as ever – he completed four out of four long balls and 92% of all passes across the course of a 1-1 draw – but he was excellent off the ball as well, with three tackles made to go with an interception as he blunted several promising moves for the home side. A fine all-round midfielder who promises much for the future down at the Amex.
4. Yankuba Minteh – Brighton & Hove Albion (⬆️1)
Minteh didn’t score or set a goal up against Wolves – the first time in four matches that he hasn’t registered a goal involvement – but he was still lively and threatening despite starting in a relatively unfamiliar position out on the left wing.
There were five completed crosses, a few lethal-looking dribbles and four key passes despite the fact that the Gambian winger only tried 19 passes in the entire game. Minteh can be frustratingly hit-or-miss but it’s mostly been hits of late and his failure to find the back of the net on this occasion belied another impressive performance.
3. Noah Sadiki – Sunderland (-)
Sadiki wasn’t at his best in the loss to Manchester United this weekend, losing a few too many ground duels, failing to complete enough direct passes and committing a few too many fouls (he’s now gone into the book for three games on the bounce) but there was still plenty to appreciate and the 20-year-old has become a crucial part of Sunderland’s midfield.
While there were mistakes, there were also three tackles and four interceptions to go with all the usual high-energy defensive work and even when the Congolese international misses his man or gets things wrong, he’s usually only a few minutes away from making up for it and his lung-busting capacity to hassle opposing ball-carriers prevented the game from getting out of control.
2. Nico O’Reilly – Manchester City (⬆️5)
A first senior England call-up is a just reward for a superb spell of form which has seen O’Reilly build rapidly on his impressive second half of the 2024/25 season and establish himself as a first-team regular under Pep Guardiola – and as a player with a polished game with very few flaws.
Against Brentford it was his defensive work which stood out, but against AS Monaco in the Champions League he was quite brilliant, whether it was shutting down ball carriers or showing off his excellent passing range. He racked up 10 tackles across the course of the week, 149 passes and an assist for Erling Haaland, all while scarcely putting a foot wrong. Quite a prospect and more than worthy of a cap for the Three Lions over the coming week.
1. Adam Wharton – Crystal Palace (-)
Speaking of the England squad, we’d pay good money to know why the continuously excellent Wharton wasn’t recalled despite his recent form, which included two more displays of both creativity and defensive excellence against Dynamo Kyiv and Everton over the past week.
Over those two games, Wharton won seven of his nine one-on-one duels, racked up three tackles and three interceptions, set up a slew of presentable chances and drew four fouls with the ball at his feet. A brilliant all-round player, the driving force behind an impressive Palace team, and surely a player who should be in the conversation for the World Cup squad. Next international break, perhaps.
Continue Reading