Ranking the Top 10 best players in the Premier League right now - with Liverpool, Newcastle and Arsenal wonderkids among this week’s winners.
Every week, our journalists dig through the stats, watch the tape and have a brief but hopefully well-informed argument in the hopes of determining who the very best young players in the Premier League are right now – and the result is our Wonderkid Power Rankings, counting down the Top 10 Under-21s in the top flight based not on potential but on performances at the very highest level.
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After the first weekend of the season, Brighton & Hove Albion’s Jack Hinshelwood claimed top spot for the first time thanks to his two goals against Aston Villa, but a badly-timed injury means that he drops straight back out of our rankings – which, as one might expect given the tiny sample size, are in a state of early-season flux.
Alongside Hinshelwood, two more talented youngsters drop out as their form is surpassed by their rivals – Tottenham Hotspur’s Archie Gray and Chelsea’s Josh Acheampong both tumble out of a much-changed Power Rankings. Let’s find out who’s in, and who’s up and who’s down…
10. Nico O’Reilly – Manchester City (⬇️3)
O’Reilly enjoyed a tidy game in Manchester City’s convincing win over Crystal Palace, but not an especially impactful one – he was neither especially forceful in defence nor did he create any meaningful chances going forward. This was a busy but largely forgettable performance from a player whose position could be under threat from new signings.
9. Jorrel Hato – Chelsea (new entry)
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The Dutchman took a while to settle in at Stamford Bridge but the departure of Marc Cucurella has given him the opportunity to earn some proper first-team minutes, and he’s taken some strides towards taking his chance – he was energetic and largely impressive in defence against Brighton this weekend, and provided a superb assist for João Pedro with a lung-busting forward run and a fine pass.
8. Joshua King – Fulham (⬇️5)
King scored against Chelsea on the opening weekend of the season but couldn’t repeat the feat against Sunderland – although he had every chance to do so, passing up a superb opportunity from close range with his unfavoured left foot. That miss aside, King worked hard but largely ran into brick walls, unable to work his way past a defence which seemed to have his number throughout.
7. Luka Vušković – Brighton & Hove Albion (⬇️1)
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The young Croatian centre-back was outstanding in the Europa Conference League win over Tromsø and has proven to be utterly dominant in the air so far for the Seagulls – but he did struggle on the ground against the pace and guile of Chelsea’s attack during Brighton’s 4-3 defeat at Stamford Bridge, and was beaten perhaps a little too easily by Morgan Rogers in the build-up to their second goal. Vušković plainly has all of the tools required to become an outstanding centre-back, but there’s still a learning curve to be followed.
6. Malick Yalcouyé – Brighton & Hove Albion (NE)
The 20-year-old Ivorian is among a handful of Brighton players poised for a potential breakout season and celebrated his first Premier League start with his first goal – a brilliantly-taken half-volley belted in on the rebound from a chance he himself had created. Yalcouyé looked raw but extremely dynamic against Chelsea, getting into a number of dangerous positions. A promising start.
5. Harrison Armstrong – Everton (⬇️3)
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Everton fans spent a portion of their 1-1 draw with Bournemouth singing Armstrong’s name in protest at the decision to sell him to Nottingham Forest for a reported £40m – a successful protest, given that the Toffees promptly cancelled the deal.
In truth, Armstrong actually had a fairly poor game against Bournemouth and was beaten in most of his one-on-ones. He was better against Preston North End (with whom he spent part of last season on loan) in the EFL Cup, at least, racking up a highly impressive nine turnovers, although there were one or two hairy moments mixed in with the good defensive work. He’s still on track to be worth keeping hold of, however.
4. Lewis Hall – Newcastle United (NE)
Hall has been a staple of the Wonderkid Power Rankings for the past two years, but won’t be hanging around for that long this season – he turns 22 next week and ages out. At least he made sure that he got one last run in the Top 10 with an absolutely outstanding performance against Spurs on Saturday evening.
Hall seemed to be everywhere. In defence, he made six ball recoveries, six clearances, won six one-on-ones and blocked a ridiculous four goalbound shots. Going forward he created two shooting chances with some lethal crosses and gave World Cup winner Pedro Porro conniptions on several occasions. A brilliant performance after a couple of slightly indifferent outings.
3. Myles Lewis-Skelly – Arsenal (⬆️1)
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Lewis-Skelly’s position in midfield is under undeniable threat from the man who replaced him during the 1-0 win over Aston Villa on Monday night, Bruno Guimarães – but for now, the 19-year-old is still the starter and still looks extremely comfortable in the role, in spite of stories which suggest that Arsenal were trying to sell him just a few weeks ago.
This wasn’t his most influential performance for the Gunners, but that wasn’t any fault of his own – he won every one-on-one, dealt with every question asked of him defensively, and completely almost every pass he was called upon to make. This was a faultless performance, just one in a game which didn’t put him at the centre of events. We won’t mark him down for that.
2. Lewis Miley – Newcastle United (⬆️3)
Injury wrecked the second half of Miley’s season during the 2025/26 campaign, but he’s taken no time at all to get back up to speed judging by the way that he’s played so far – the 20-year-old put in another solid shift against Spurs and looks to be in fine fettle already.
A stat which seems to highlight the way that Miley is playing is that of his 63 touches in Saturday’s win, 62 were deemed to be ‘successful’ by the statisticians. He drove Newcastle forward on the ball and won it back repeatedly when they were out of possession. Who needs Sandro Tonali and Bruno Guimarães anyway?
1. Jérémy Jacquet – Liverpool (⬆️7)
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We don’t often catapult a player from the bottom half of our Top 10 all the way up to top spot, but then again not many young players will be as good as Jacquet was against Nottingham Forest – the result may not have gone as Andoni Iraola’s side would have wanted, but the young Frenchman was immaculate.
The 21-year-old, who has only just returned from serious injury, won nine of his 10 one-on-one duels (including all six on the ground), forced four turnovers and made three interceptions, a stats sheet that Virgil van Dijk would have been proud of at his peak – and his crisp, precise passing and propensity for carrying the ball out of from the back stood out too. This was a complete defensive performance from a young player who’s starting to look like a seriously good signing.
On that note, we wanted to let you know that next week’s Power Rankings will arrive slightly later in the week than usual, as the chief curator is off on a well-earned post-transfer deadline holiday. Expect our next Top 10 to show up next Thursday, when we’ll find out whether Jacquet can hold on or not.