Counting down the best young players in the Premier League right now, with new entries from Liverpool, Arsenal and Brighton.
Another week of top flight action is in the books and with it, a fresh update to our weekly Wonderkid Power Rankings – in which we dig through the stats, watch the tape and add a dash of our writers’ opinions in order to rank the ten best young players in the Premier League right now based on their form at the very highest level.
Last time out, Adam Wharton established himself as our number one for the very first time, but things change quickly so early in the campaign when our sample size is small – and that’s something that three of our most recent Top 10 can attest to as they tumble out of the rankings this time around.
Sunderland’s Eliezer Mayenda and his then team-mate Marc Guiu both drop after failing to find the net or look especially threatening up front against Brentford, while Manchester United’s Patrick Dorgu is another victim after his indifferent display in the shocking defeat to Grimsby Town cost him his place for the win over Burnley. All of which leaves us with room for three new entries…
10. Rio Ngumoha – Liverpool (⬇️5)
We have a general rule of thumb in the Power Rankings which states that players in the top five shouldn’t be booted out altogether if they don’t play the next week – which is why Ngumoha gets a pass for watching the win over Arsenal from the bench. It’s not likely that the teenagers spends too much time in our Top 10 in the coming months anyway, given that he’s still far from being a starter under Arne Slot, so it only seems fair to let him enjoy under week in the sunshine after his superb winner against Newcastle United.
9. Noah Sadiki – Sunderland (⬇️2)
Sunderland have started their Premier League season in the same thrilling fashion in which they earned promotion through the play-offs, but amid all the last-gasp heroics it’s Sadiki who has perhaps been their most consistent performer. Few trees were pulled up against Brentford, admittedly, but there was still a couple of key passes, a pair of well-timed tackles and, crucially, he very rarely lost possession. If Sunderland are going to stay up, Sadiki looks set to be vital.
8. Rico Lewis – Manchester City (⬇️2)
While Lewis inevitably drops after seeing the field for just five minutes against Brighton & Hove Albion, it was still a good week for him in many ways as it showed Pep Guardiola just how little control his defence can have without the full-back, whose economical play and capacity to keep things tight at the back might have helped in a poor second half.
7. Estêvão Willian – Chelsea (⬇️2)
The Brazilian wonderkid showed off his flair again in the 2-0 win over Fulham with another barrage of tricky runs, but he was rather less effective this time around, too often stood up by more experience defenders – and he missed a very presentable chance at the end of a quick Chelsea break, to cap off a less impressive week for a plainly talented player.
6. Milos Kerkez – Liverpool (new entry)
The Hungarian full-back was a staple of last season’s rankings and our number one on a few occasions, but has taken a few weeks to get up to speed after signing for Liverpool – but he looked very much like a £50m player against Arsenal as he emerged victorious in an engaging battle with Noni Madueke, eventually winning every single one-on-one against the England winger. He’s capable of creating more going forward, certainly, but this was his best outing in a red shirt by a fair distance.
5. Cristhian Mosquera – Arsenal (NE)
Had everything gone to plan for Mikel Arteta on Sunday, the 21-year-old summer signing from Valencia probably wouldn’t even have been on the pitch, but after he was substituted on for William Saliba just a few minutes into the match due to an injury he put in an exceptional performance which may well earn him more starts going forward.
The Colombian was responsible for four tackles (and none missed), two blocked shots and was sturdy in one-on-one situations, and was largely responsible for keeping Liverpool’s expensive attack quiet until Dominik Szoboszlai’s stunning late winner. A very promising performance amid a damaging result.
4. Michael Kayode – Brentford (⬇️1)
The impressive Italian full-back didn’t have his very best game at the Stadium of Light, by any means, failing to offer the kind of attacking impetus he so often does and ultimately not managing to even complete a cross – but he was still solid enough at the back to ensure that he doesn’t tumble too far down our rankings.
Kayode put in an essentially error-free performance and wasn’t at fault for either of Sunderland’s goals, but just wasn’t able to support the attack as well as he so often has done since signing for Brentford back in January.
3. Leny Yoro – Manchester United (⬇️1)
Yoro can perhaps be grateful that he was given the night off when Manchester United travelled to Cleethorpes for what would turn out to be one of the most dismal evenings in the club’s recent history, and he was unsurprisingly recalled to the starting side for the 3-2 win over Burnley, where he put in a largely solid display.
Could he have reacted a shade more quickly to deal with the loose ball that was instead fired home for Burnley’s second equaliser? Perhaps, but it would be harsh to pin any of United’s defensive issues on the young Frenchman, who ultimately made all of his tackles and won most of his one-on-one duels in the air and on the ground.
2. Brajan Gruda – Brighton & Hove Albion (NE)
It normally takes something pretty spectacular to break into the top five as a new entry in our Top 10, but it’s early in the season and in any case, the German Under-21 international scored twice and set another up to propel Brighton to a 6-0 thrashing of Oxford United in the EFL Cup and a memorable win over Manchester City.
The composed finish against City is likely the one that Gruda will remember longest, but he looked equally cool when controlling a bouncing ball and smashing it home against Oxford and simply superb when dancing around their defence and beating three players on the dribble before setting Olivier Boscagli up for the opening goal of that game. A week in which the 21-year-old really showed us what he can do.
1. Adam Wharton – Crystal Palace (-)
Strangely enough, we didn’t really see Wharton at his very best this weekend – he was an unusually passive presence in the 3-0 win over Aston Villa, for instance, and failed to register a single defensive contribution of any kind – but he was typically excellent against Fredrikstad in Europa Conference League qualifying and did enough to keep top spot in a week when few of those immediately behind him made a real claim to the throne.
The bad news, of course, is that Wharton was taken off injured in the second half at Villa Park and has now pulled out of the England squad, suggesting that he may miss enough time to drop out of our Top 10 next time out. But another all-action showing in Europe, during which he was probably Palace’s best creative presence as well as defending doggedly, means that he can stay at number one this week.
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