Ranking the 10 best young players in the Premier League right now - including young Arsenal, Aston Villa & Liverpool stars.
The international break is finally behind us, the Premier League is back, and that means that for the first time in three weeks our panel of journalists has gathered to debate who the best young players in the Premier League are right now, based not on hype but their performances at the very highest level.
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We don’t include international games in our judgements – we did in the past, but it ended up being very messy as we tried to compare senior international games with age group matches and the like – so reigning number one Jérémy Jacquet doesn’t get any credit for his first two France caps, but neither does, Josh King get punished for missing out on a Three Lions call-up, for example. This week’s Top 10 is based on domestic form alone.
We always start by noting the players dropping out of our rankings and there’s just one unfortunate soul sliding away on this occasion: Brentford centre-back Jannik Schuster, who got hooked at half-time after struggling slightly against Aston Villa. Anyway, admin out of the way, let’s find out who we think is the brightest starlet in English football right now…
10. Malick Yalcouyé – Brighton & Hove Albion (⬇️3)
We suspected that Yalcouyé might struggle to get as many minutes once Brighton’s many injured attacking players started to regain their fitness, and so it has already proven – the on-song Ivorian was restricted to a 20-odd minute sub appearances, and while he demonstrated plenty of energy and threw himself around in search of ways to get involved, he was ultimately unable to make much of an impact on proceedings. His early run in the first team was extremely fruitful nonetheless, and he’s certainly made a name for himself very swiftly.
9. Harrison Armstrong – Everton (⬆️1)
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The Everton midfielder had been clinging grimly on to his place in the Top 10 prior to the international break but put in his liveliest performance for at least a month after returning to domestic duties – he was excellent in his one-on-ones, forced six turnovers, defended well throughout and drove quick possession forward with his runs on several occasions.
The only noteworthy mistake was his failure to score when Hull City goalkeeper Konstantinos Tzolakis spilled the ball at his feet. Brennan Johnson scored the second effort but turned out to be offside – had Armstrong been slightly more composed, perhaps Everton would have found the extra goal they needed to win.
8. Myles Lewis-Skelly – Arsenal (re-entry)
Lewis-Skelly lost his place in the Top 10 just before the break due to a brief downturn in form but seems to have taken the momentum from a few improved performances for England with him back to the Emirates. Against Leeds, his passing was crisp and confident, his ball-carrying outstanding (14 carries for 93m gained is pretty impressive by any standards) and he scarcely put a foot wrong while doing his defensive duties. He has a tough job keeping his starting spot in the face of Bruno Guimarães’ arrival, but he did himself no harm this weekend.
7. Lewis Miley – Newcastle United (-)
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An awkward confession here – due to scheduling issues, we had to have our panel convene on Monday, before Newcastle’s match against Coventry City. Miley might shine and earn a better rank. He might struggle and deserve to lose his place entirely. As we simply don’t know right now, we’ll forebear judgement and leave him where he is. It’s only fair. Normal midweek Wonderkid Power Rankings service will resume next week, when we’ve stopped taking inconveniently-timed holidays.
6. Johan Manzambi – Aston Villa (⬆️3)
Having finally started stringing some minutes together after injury, the Swiss youngster is starting to look like he was worth every penny of what was a club-record transfer fee before Nicolas Jackson showed up – his assist for John McGinn’s goal means that he now has three goal contributions in two starts after scoring and setting one up against Spurs before the break. That thrilling run of form at the World Cup doesn’t look like a flash in the pan.
5. Kobbie Mainoo – Manchester United (-)
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Although Manchester United have been on faltering form since the summer, very little of the blame for their travails can be placed at the feet of Mainoo, who has been a beacon of consistency in midfield and continued to provide a steady presence in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with Tottenham.
Mainoo did, admittedly, lose quite a lot of one-on-ones but also recovered possession 10 times (double digits is outstanding), and while he didn’t create any chances his passing was economical, intelligent, and it’s hardly his fault that nobody built on the base he provided for possession.
4. Charalampos Kostoulas – Brighton & Hove Albion (⬇️2)
Given how good Kostoulas’ form was before the break, we were surprised to note that he started just one of Greece’s four Nations League games – and a quiet break might have killed his momentum a little bit, given that he struggled to get anything going against Sunderland’s typically disciplined defence.
The issue was less the fact that he didn’t score (his only effort on goal was blocked before it could trouble Robin Roefs) but that he found it difficult to work his way past either of Sunderland’s centre-backs, repeatedly trying and failing to dribble into dangerous positions. It was one bad day after a run of real form, however, so we haven’t punished him too harshly.
3. Josh King – Fulham (⬆️1)
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No goals or any real sniff of them for Fulham’s increasingly sought-after King, who spent the last few weeks with England’s Under-21s after Thomas Tuchel said that he only narrowly missed out on a call-up to the senior squad. But while he might not have troubled the Ipswich Town goal during the course of a worrying defeat, he was still arguably his side’s single best creative outlet.
King created two excellent chances, the best of which saw him slalom his way past a defender to get to the byline before cutting it back to Gonzalo García, who managed to smash his shot straight into a defender with the goal at his mercy. In short, Fulham may be off the boil, but King is doing just about everything he possibly can to get them bubbling again.
2. Luka Vušković – Brighton & Hove Albion (⬆️1)
Vušković is generally regarded as a technically-gifted, ball-playing defender who poses a threat from set pieces but against Sunderland, he struggled to pick a pass, his carries earned his team a grand total of minus 9m because he kept being forced backwards, and he missed two presentable chances from dead ball situations. And yet he still came very close indeed to taking the number one slot, because he was absolutely outstanding at all the more old-fashioned defending he was compelled to do.
The Croatian was utterly dominant in the air and put himself in the right place at the right time repeatedly, the result being a colossal 12 clearances, two blocked shots and four turnovers, as well as a clean sheet – for which Brighton owe Vušković a considerable amount. He was titanic in the most old-school style.
1. Jérémy Jacquet – Liverpool (-)
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While Vušković certainly put in this week’s best defensive display by an under-21 and ate into Jacquet’s lead at the top, we saw nothing which persuaded us to take the crown away from a player who has been absolutely outstanding since signing for Liverpool, and who played well despite his side’s 3-0 defeat.
If you were actively seeking out causes to criticise Jacquet, perhaps you could argue that he might have found a way not to get caught out by the smart backheel that created Rayan Cherki’s goal, but aside from that the scoreline had nothing to do with a player who was once again excellent in the air, rock solid on the ground, and extremely comfortable under pressure. The result wasn’t great, but Liverpool seem to have a special player in the 21-year-old.