The Wonderkid Power Rankings: Chelsea, West Ham & Man City stars impress in latest Top 10placeholder image
The Wonderkid Power Rankings: Chelsea, West Ham & Man City stars impress in latest Top 10 | Getty Images
Ranking the 10 best young players in the Premier League right now as a Chelsea starlet becomes our latest new entry.
Another week of games is in the books, and that means it’s time for our journalists to gather round and rank the best young players in the Premier League right now based not on their talent, but on their performances at the very highest level.
Last week, Brentford’s all-action right-back and long throw specialist Michael Kayode earned a second successive week at the top of our Wonderkid Power Rankings, but can he cling on to the crown in a week in which many of our top-ranked prospects put in highly impressive performances?
Before we get into out latest Top 10, we must make a note of the one player dropping out this time around – Chelsea’s Jamie Gittens had a down week and makes way, creating space for one of his team-mates to enter the rankings for the first time this season. Let’s get cracking…
10. Eli Junior Kroupi – Bournemouth (⬇️2)
After a hot streak in front of goal, Kroupi finds himself back on the Bournemouth bench but was still given half an hour or so in which to make his mark against Aston Villa – sadly, it was a chance he passed up and he wasn’t able to get a shot away before the end of a pretty crushing defeat. That wasn’t really on the 19-year-old, whose side threw in the towel shortly after he came on, but it’s still a second game in succession without a goal and the credit he has in the bank for his recent form is starting to run out.
9. Lesley Ugochukwu – Burnley (-)
The Frenchman was back in the number ten role for the 3-2 defeat to West Ham and looked rather more comfortable than he had out on the right flank a week earlier, but wasn’t able to impact play in the attacking third as much as he might have wanted. He did get four shots away but three of them were blocked and none of them were much more than optimistic, and while he battled hard he didn’t create any genuine openings for his side. Not a bad performance, but not one he’ll write home about either.
8. Yankuba Minteh – Brighton & Hove Albion (⬇️3)
The consistently inconsistent Gambian forward had one of his off days against Crystal Palace – while he was heavily involved, he wasn’t able to fashion any clear-cut chances for himself or his colleagues, completed just one of his nine attempted crosses and cut a relatively ineffectual figure for all the huffing and puffing. In the final reckoning, he touched the ball 44 times only for exactly half of those touches to result in Palace gaining possession.
7. Adam Wharton – Crystal Palace (⬇️1)
On the other side of the field, Wharton wasn’t quite at his sparkling best either – his distribution wasn’t as crisp as it can be and he failed with over half of his attempts to complete a pass in the opposing third, ultimately failing to generate a single shooting opportunity. There was a decent amount of good work out of possession, at least, but this wasn’t Wharton’s most impactful outing.
6. Alejandro Garnacho – Chelsea (new entry)
It took a little while for Garnacho to settle in at Stamford Bridge but he’s certainly found his feet now – the Argentine scored a superb and very necessary equalising goal against Qarabag in the Champions League, lashing the ball across the goalkeeper and into the far corner, and created two of Chelsea’s three goals against Wolves. That takes the winger up to four goal contributions in his last four games, and he goes from teetering on the brink of the Top 10 right up to the middle of the table in one big bound as a result.
5. Estevão Willian – Chelsea (⬆️2)
The teenager may be in and out of Enzo Maresca’s starting side at the moment but he continues to make the best of his opportunities, and the past week brought another goal and could easily have brought another assist against Wolves.
The Brazilian opened the scoring against Qarabag in impressive fashion, darting in from the right flank, wriggling his way into some space and surprising the goalkeeper with a sharp shot inside the near post, and having created several presentable chances for his team-mates in that game he did the same after coming off the bench in the Premier League – Marc Guiu could easily have turned his fizzing cross home at the near post but was only able to glance it wide. Another exciting week for a supremely talented young player.
4. Mateus Fernandes – West Ham United (-)
It’s hard to find a single fault with Fernandes’ play against Burnley – the Portuguese midfield was in fine form right the way up and down the pitch, his passing and use of the ball was superb, his ability to retain possession under pressure highly impressive and his defensive work when tracking back was rock solid throughout.
The former Southampton man barely misplaced a pass all match, was responsible for three key passes, completed all three of his attempted tackles and forced three turnovers, too, a high-quality all-round statline that very fairly represented a game in which he was arguably the best player on the field. In most weeks, he’d be on the move up the table, but this was also a week in which everyone above him was in fine fettle as well…
3. Nico O’Reilly – Manchester City (-)
There have been times in the recent past when O’Reilly has looked vulnerable in one-on-one situations when defending, but you wouldn’t have known it after he handled Mohamed Salah in impressive fashion during City’s 3-0 win over Liverpool – never once was the youngster, who is back in Thomas Tuchel’s England squad, beaten in a significant moment.
He forced four turnovers, two interceptions and blocked a shot, and was just as imperious going forward with some fine work in the build-up which included the assist for Jérémy Doku’s third goal. A fine outing for the left-back and evidence that he’s growing into his defensive role having started his career as a midfielder.
2. Noah Sadiki – Sunderland (-)
While Granit Xhaka is getting most of the plaudits and media coverage during Sunderland’s exceptional run of early-season form, Congolese midfielder Sadiki has been just as important for the Black Cats, and he was at his all-action best yet again during the 2-2 draw with Arsenal.
Every time the Gunners tried to come forward through the middle or down their right wing, Sadiki seemed to be there, hassling ball carriers and forcing five turnovers – and he’s becoming very reliable on the ball as well, losing possession just six times as he helped to get Sunderland moving upfield time and again. Sadiki isn’t getting his name up in lights just yet, but he’s playing as well as any ball-winning midfielder in the top flight right now.
1. Michael Kayode – Brentford (-)
As brilliant as Sadiki, O’Reilly and Fernandes were this week, we couldn’t come up with any reason to take Kayode off of top spot – the Brentford right-back was brilliant once again during their deserved 3-1 win over Newcastle and had something close to a perfect game.
Kayode won all eight one-on-one duels both on and off the ball over the course of the 90 minutes, succeeded with every attempted dribble, produced two key passes and forced six turnovers as he simultaneously shut the Magpies’ left wing down and made himself the focal point of most of their attacks. As good defending against marauding wingers as he is flinging dangerous crosses (or throw-ins) into the box, Kayode gets his third straight week as our number one, his fourth overall this season, and deservedly gets to stay on the throne through the international break. On this form, it will take something pretty special for anyone to take his place.
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