Our weekly Top 10 ranks the best young players in the Premier League - with Liverpool, Brighton and Man United starlets among those who impressed us.
Every week, our journalists watch the tape and comb through the stats in an attempt to answer a seemingly simple question: Who is the best young player in the Premier League right now? The result is our weekly Wonderkid Power Rankings, our Top 10 of the most in-form Under-21s in the country based on their recent performances at the very highest level.
Last week, Kobbie Mainoo took top spot for the first time this season, reward for a fine run of form in a much-improved Manchester United side – but can he hang on under pressure from an impressive chasing pack?
Two players drop out this week – Ayden Heaven, last week’s number 10, falls away after being benched against Sunderland, while Brentford’s Michael Kayode tumbles out from number nine after getting a working over at the hands of Jérémy Doku. That leaves room for two returning starlets…
10. Rio Ngumoha – Liverpool (re-entry)
The evidently-talented teenager has spent most of the season hanging around the fringes of our rankings, usually because he simply doesn’t get enough game time – but he gets the nod this week after picking up the assist for Ryan Gravenberch’s excellent opening goal. That was just reward for an impressive outing, during which his lightning fast feet and willingness to take defenders on created quite a few headaches for the Chelsea defence, while his hard work out of possession, which resulted in five turnovers, also drew our eye. Once he starts getting regular minutes, he looks like a player who will practically live in our Top 10.
9. Abudkodir Khusanov – Manchester City (⬇️3)
The Uzbek centre-back was left out of the line-up for the routine win over Brentford on Saturday after picking up a knock in training, and takes a bit of a tumble down our rankings as a result. He’s kept enough credit in the bank from recent weeks to stay in the Top 10, however.
8. Jaydee Canvot – Crystal Palace (-)
Canvot holds his position after two respectable but not necessarily first-rate performances against Shakhtar Donetsk and Everton. He kept things tight enough in both games but did struggle in the air on occasion against Shakhtar and made one or two slip-ups in the 2-2 draw against the Toffees, not least when he passed up a fine chance to equalise (and perhaps win the game) from close range in the second half. Not a bad week, but we’ve seen better from the young Frenchman.
7. Yankuba Minteh – Brighton & Hove Albion (re-entry)
The Gambian winger hadn’t been out of our rankings for very long before he forced his way back in – not only did he lash home Brighton’s third and final goal against Wolves with a ferocious strike inside the near post, but he posed plenty of questions throughout the piece and created two shooting opportunities. His best game in a little while after a relatively lean run of form.
6. Nico O’Reilly – Manchester City (⬇️3)
It was only a couple of weeks ago that O’Reilly felt like a dominant force at the top of our leaderboard, but he’s slipped down the rankings a little bit after a quieter run of games. He was pretty innocuous for most of the game against Brentford, neither especially effective out of possession nor able to make his presence felt in the opposing penalty area as he often has since the turn of the year. Not necessarily a bad game, just a forgettable one.
5. Jack Hinshelwood – Brighton & Hove Albion (⬆️2)
Moving the other way is Hinshelwood, who has hit a strong run of form to end the season after a largely frustrating year – and found the back of the net for the third game in a row when he stole in with a clever late run to head Brighton’s opener home on Saturday. That moment aside he was, in truth, not especially impactful, keeping things tidy rather than making a string of spectacular plays, but his hot streak is fuelling the Seagulls’ surge into the European places.
4. Mateus Fernandes – West Ham United (-)
Fernandes could so easily have been the hero on Sunday, and probably should have scored when he was put through one-on-one with David Raya after doing the hard part and picking his way through the Arsenal defence with a clever one-two move. Outside of that chance, the Portuguese midfielder wasn’t as impactful as he can be off the ball (although he still won possession back five times) but did create two more shooting chances as he again proved to be the Hammers’ best creative outlet.
3. Eli Junior Kroupi – AFC Bournemouth (⬇️1)
We can’t punish Kroupi too harshly for going without a goal against Fulham given that he’d scored four in his previous five matches, but he did struggle to get involved at Craven Cottage, touching the ball just 18 times before he was substituted with 10 minutes left to play. A quiet game for a young man on seriously impressive form.
2. Rayan – AFC Bournemouth (⬆️3)
It’s Kroupi’s team-mate who takes his place as our number two this week. Rayan has, like Hinshelwood, now scored in three consecutive matches, this time finding the net with a sudden left-footed strike which caught Bernd Leno flat-footed. His quick, darting runs and tireless pressing means that he’s always finding ways to get involved and the Brazilian always seems to have one moment of magic up his sleeve. Few 19-year-olds have such a consistent impact in the Premier League, but Rayan looks like one of the best buys of the January window and keeps getting himself on the scoresheet.
1. Kobbie Mainoo – Manchester United (-)
After much discussion, we decided to give Mainoo a second week at the top of our little table after a solid but not necessarily decisive display in the 0-0 draw with Sunderland – forced to sit deeper and do more defensive work in the absence of Casemiro, Mainoo proved to be an effective shield for the defence but couldn’t get forward to support the attack as easily as he might have liked while stationed alongside Mason Mount. Nevertheless, this was a solid, largely faultless outing and with the closest contenders in the Power Rankings failing to make their case, Mainoo keeps hold of the crown.
Continue Reading