Watch more of our videos on ShotsTV.com
and on Freeview 262 or Freely 565
Visit Shots! now
Ranking the best young players in the Premier League, with Arsenal, Spurs & Bournemouth stars impressing for their countries.
Domestic football may have taken a back seat to the international game over the past week, but that doesn’t stop the Wonderkid Power Rankings from tracking the performances of the best young players in the Premier League – and we’ve been keeping tabs on all of the brightest starlets in the top flight as they don the colours of their countries at senior and Under-21 levels.
Last week’s rankings saw Bournemouth’s Milos Kerkez take top spot after a fine run of form, but can he keep his place with his performances for Hungary? Or can one of England’s Young Lions do enough to earn top spot?
Before we find out, we always make note of players who slide out of the rankings – in this case Chelsea’s Tyrique George, who made a limited impact for England’s Under-19s, and Southampton’s Mateus Fernandes, whose 45 tidy minutes against England in the age groups weren’t enough to hold on under pressure from new entries. Let’s crack on…
10. Ethan Nwaneri – Arsenal & England Under-21 (re-entry)
After a couple of quiet weeks, Nwaneri got his name back up in lights on his first start for England Under-21s, curling home a beautiful left-footed strike from 20 yards out in a 4-2 win over Portugal. In truth, his contribution was a little limited beyond his wonderful goal and we didn’t see any of the sizzling runs he’s proven himself capable of, but he kept it tidy and pounced when it counted after a cameo appearance against France a few days prior.
9. Adam Wharton – Crystal Palace & England Under-21 (⬇️1)
Quite a few pundits wanted to see Wharton in the senior England side this week, but Thomas Tuchel may feel somewhat justified in not selecting the Palace man after he failed to get to grips with France’s midfield in convincing fashion during a thrilling, end-to-end 5-3 defeat for Lee Carsley’s England. Wharton did some good work on and off the ball but was bypassed a little too easily out of possession at times and wasn’t able to get the ball down and play very often. Not an awful performance, but not one that will make Tuchel feel any pangs of regret.
8. Wilson Odobert – Tottenham Hotspur & France Under-21 (new entry)
A brand new entry now – injury has limited Odobert’s opportunities since his £30m move to Spurs in the summer, but he bagged a brace against AZ Alkmaar to get onto our radar and has now followed that up with two superb assists for Hugo Ekitike against England. Turning Power Rankings alumnus Rico Lewis inside out to tee up an inch-perfect ball across the six-yard box in the first half, the 20-year-old repeated the trick from the other wing in the second half, leaving England’s defence helpless. Promising.
7. Lucas Bergvall – Tottenham Hotspur & Sweden (⬇️4)
Bergvall has been rock solid for his club of late but his steady progress up our rankings has been halted by a nasty cold which stopped him from getting onto the pitch for Sweden’s two matches this weekend. Bergvall would likely have played if the virus hadn’t struck, but it’s to be hoped that he’ll be healthy by the time Spurs play again in a week’s time.
6. Patrick Dorgu – Manchester United & Denmark (⬇️2)
Talk about a mixed bag for the young wing-back. Having only come on for a brief cameo in the first leg of Denmark’s Nations League tie with Portugal, we saw the best and worst of Dorgu in the second leg. It took the United man just a few minutes to clumsily challenge Cristiano Ronaldo in the area and concede a penalty – a slightly soft one, admittedly, but he gave Ronaldo the excuse to go down – but he made up for it later on by seizing on a loose ball to cross for Cristian Eriksen to make it 2-2 in what proved to be a thrilling tie. More consistency in his one-on-ones, which he lost too many of, might have saved his spot in the top five.
5. Jack Hinshelwood – Brighton & Hove Albion & England Under-21 (-)
Hinshelwood stands pat after a pair of games on the right wing for England which can essentially be described as tidy, hard-working, but little more – he scored six out of ten twice, and it would have been nice to see more of an impact being made in the final third.
But across a total of 78 minutes against France and Portugal he was tidy, economical, kept possession well and did some excellent work one-on-one both on and off the ball, helping to blunt the impact of opposing wingers and keep attacks rolling forward, even if he wasn’t the one playing the final pass. A mid-table position seems appropriate for a week in which Hinshelwood didn’t appear on the highlight reels but didn’t do much wrong, either.
4. Yankuba Minteh – Brighton & Hove Albion & Gambia (⬆️2)
Hinshelwood’s team-mate, however, did get in the highlights during a ding-dong 3-3 draw with Benni McCarthy’s Kenya, scoring one and playing a key role in another as Gambia saw their World Cup qualification hopes take a hit thanks to a late, late equaliser.
His goal, to make it 2-1, was well taken, dummying inside a Kenyan defender before lashing the ball into the roof of the net at the near post, and his cross also served as a ‘pre-assist’ for Musa Barrow to score the third. All for nothing, in the end, sadly, and the disappointment of the draw was compounded with a 1-0 defeat to the Ivory Coast in which Minteh worked hard without having a major impact.
3. Milos Kerkez – Bournemouth & Hungary (⬇️2)
It’s hard to hold on to top spot if you’re a defender and your team ships six goals in two games – and that’s what happened to Kerkez, with Turkey stuffing Hungary over the course of their two-legged Nations League encounter. Not, to be fair, that Kerkez was to blame.
In the first leg in Budapest, Kerkez was even pretty good despite a 3-0 defeat, doing some promising work going forward, making four tackles and racking up wins in ground duels, and it’s perhaps a complement to his work that Turkey seemed to skip attacks down their right wing for the return leg, which ended 3-1. Kerkez made few mistakes, but ultimately couldn’t stem the tide, either.
2. Myles Lewis-Skelly – Arsenal & England (⬆️5)
A fairytale week for the supremely talented left-back, who scored on his England debut with a composed finish through the Albanian goalkeeper’s legs after Jude Bellingham’s lavish pass and followed that up with two full matches of mature play as he picked up his first two caps.
Based on what we saw, they’ll be the first of many. Playing on the outside against Albania, he demonstrated good movement, fine technique and constant calmness on the ball, and coming in to midfield more against Latvia he gave England a rock-solid base of possession for their waves of attacks at Wembley. Lewis-Skelly scarcely put a foot wrong, and repaid every ounce of Tuchel’s faith in him.
1. Dean Huijsen – Bournemouth & Spain (⬆️1)
Ranking the best young players in the Premier League, with Arsenal, Spurs & Bournemouth stars impressing for their countries.
Lewis-Skelly’s dream week still wasn’t quite enough to keep Huijsen from returning to top spot, however, with the Spaniard picking up his own first caps for his country – against the Netherlands, the country of his birth – and putting in a pair of mightily impressive performances.
Coming on for the injured Pau Cubarsí in the first leg of their Nations League game and keeping his place for the second, he was dominant in the air, cool in possession and played some killer balls forward, not least a stunning lofted pass from his own half right into the feet of Lamine Yamal for Spain’s third goal. An absolutely glorious pass, every inch the equal of Bellingham’s for England, and a fine way to cap the full debut of a breathtaking talent.
Before we leave, a quick bit of admin – the Power Rankings usually come out on a Tuesday or Wednesday depending on the fixture list, but with so many teams not playing until the middle of next week, the next edition will be released next Friday instead. See you then…
Related topics:EnglandArsenalCrystal PalaceBrighton
Comment Guidelines
National World encourages reader discussion on our stories. User feedback, insights and back-and-forth exchanges add a rich layer of context to reporting. Please review our Community Guidelines before commenting.