The Wonderkid Power Rankings: Man Utd & West Ham starlets among this week’s top performersplaceholder image
The Wonderkid Power Rankings: Man Utd & West Ham starlets among this week’s top performers | Getty Images
Ranking the best young players in the Premier League right now - with Manchester United, West Ham and Chelsea starlets among this week’s best.
Every week, 3 Added Minutes’ reporters watch the tape, comb through the stats and have a lively debate in order to put together our Wonderkid Power Rankings – a Top 10 of the best young players in the Premier League right now based on their form at the very highest level of the game.
Last week, West Ham’s Mateus Fernandes took top spot away from Newcastle’s Lewis Miley – but can the Portuguese midfielder cling on during a week in which we saw several stunning goals scored by some of the finest Under-21s in England?
We always start proceedings by making a note of the players falling out of the rankings this week, but one deserves a special mention: Adam Wharton has, understandably, been a mainstay of these lists over the past couple of years and our number one on several occasions – but after his red card against Chelsea we have little choice but to remove him, and he won’t be back. That’s because by the time he returns from suspension he will have turned 22, and thus have aged out of consideration. Watching his progress over the past few years has been a joy.
Bournemouth’s Eli Junior Kroupi and Brighton & Hove Albion’s Charalampos Kostoulas also slide out of the Top 10 this week, all making room for three returning players, each of whom found the net in suitably spectacular fashion this weekend. On with the countdown…
10. Estêvão Willian – Chelsea (re-entry)
Fitness and illness issues contributed to a rather quiet winter for the Brazilian wonderkid, but he returned to the starting line-up in some style against Crystal Palace, brilliantly racing on to a loose pass and dribbling for almost half the length of the field before drilling home the opening goal before teeing up João Pedro’s second with a fine pass. The 18-year-old hadn’t scored or created a goal in exactly two months, since his virtuoso performance against Barcelona back in November.
9. Álex Jiménez – AFC Bournemouth (re-entry)
The Spaniard had only fallen out of our rankings a couple of weeks ago and has ensured a rapid return with a fine performance against Liverpool in which he operated out of position as a right winger and scored an absolutely superb goal, racing on to James Hill’s superbly-placed through-ball and drilling the ball past Alisson with aplomb. He’ll likely be back to right wing-back once Bournemouth replace Antoine Semenyo, but Jiménez proved that he looks just as dynamic further up the field as he does when he’s employed as a defender.
8. Mateus Mané – Wolverhampton Wanderers (⬆️1)
The surprise breakthrough act of the season so far, Mané showed off his skill with dead ball situations this week – it was his wicked free-kicks and precise corners which led to Wolves’ two big chances against Manchester City, both headers from Yerson Mosquera which resulted in one rattled crossbar and one rather bizarre and perhaps fortuitous save from Gianluigi Donnarumma. The England Under-18 international continues to look destined for big things.
7. Patrick Dorgu – Manchester United (re-entry)
Dorgu’s career at Old Trafford started in promising fashion, fell off alarmingly for a little while, and now seems to be heading rapidly back in the right direction. The Dane only narrowly missed out on reclaiming his Top 10 spot last week after scoring against Manchester City but certain deserves it now after another lively performance as a winger which saw him curl a quite brilliant effort into the top corner of David Raya’s goal. Michael Carrick’s arrival seems to have been a tonic for Dorgu, although there had been clear signs of improvement in the last days of Ruben Amorim’s regime as well. Sadly, it seems that Dorgu’s stay in our rankings will be very brief - The Athletic report that he suffered a hamstring injury in the win over Arsenal and will be out for around 10 weeks.
6. Michael Kayode – Brentford (⬇️2)
Brentford didn’t put their best foot forward this weekend in their slight surprising home defeat to Nottingham Forest, and neither did Kayode, who was reliable enough at the back but struggled to get anything going in the final third, failing to find a team-mate with his crosses and struggling to make anything happen with the ball at his feet. He did at least deal with the majority of the problems thrown at him in defence.
5. Abdukodir Khusanov – Manchester City (⬆️1)
Perhaps one could wonder if a more experienced defender would have found ways to deal with a couple of the goals Manchester City shipped in their shocking midweek defeat to Bodø/Glimt, but ultimately that loss can’t be laid at Khusanov’s feet and in fact he won every one-on-one ground duel he got involved in as well as forcing seven turnovers and making three interceptions. His positional game still needs work, but little gets by him when he’s in the right area.
His use of the ball is also getting better and better. He barely misplaced a pass all week – just four of his 164 passes failed to find a team-mate – and his distribution was mightily impressive at times, with a raking long pass over the top of the Wolves defence for Omar Marmoush, who struck the post as a result, certainly a highlight. Khusanov still has much to learn, but we’re impressed.
4. Lewis Hall – Newcastle United (⬇️1)
Our notes for Hall’s performance in a disappointing 2-0 home defeat are much the same as they are for Kayode following an identical result – impressive at the back, but less dangerous going forward than is so often the case. Hall maintains a higher rank, however, partly due to better overall form over recent weeks and partly because it’s very hard to be too harsh after a game in which the left-back turned possession over no fewer than 10 times.
That’s only two more than he managed in midweek against PSV, as well, and while he may have missed the mark with all six of his attempted crosses since our last Top 10 and failed to make quite as large of a dent in the final third as he so often does with those well-timed overlapping runs, it’s hard to say that Hall was below par. Not his best week, but still a week which most full-backs would be thrilled with.
3. Nico O’Reilly – Manchester City (⬆️2)
In our view, O’Reilly ended this week as the top performer among the many young full-backs making their mark in the top flight right now, and while there were some moments in which his one genuine weakness – his defending against genuinely quick ball-carriers – was noticeable, he was generally rock solid at the back against both Bodø/Glimt and Wolves, and was again very impressive supporting his side’s work in the final third.
The only tangible result of all that tidy passing and smart movement behind the attacking line was an assist in the Champions League after some fine footwork helped him to shield the ball and then knock it into the path of Rayan Cherki for City’s consolation goal, although he was also involved in the build-up to multiple chances against Wolves. O’Reilly isn’t quite a complete player as yet, but he’s got perhaps the best all-round game of any of the young wing-backs in our Top 10 right now.
2. Lewis Miley – Newcastle United (-)
Miley’s week was, for the most part, more respectable than outstanding, although there were some flashes of the quality we’ve seen over the past two or three months – the looping header which forced Emiliano Martínez into a fine, stretching save on Sunday, for instance, or the wicked cross from wide right which could so easily have been diverted into the Aston Villa net by either Harvey Barnes or Yoane Wissa.
Those glimpses of excellence aside, however, this was mostly a week in which Miley was solid, reliable, sensible on the ball and determined in defence, but in which he didn’t grab games by the scruff of his neck quite as firmly as he has shown himself capable of. A good week, but not a great week, and while he remains number two in our list, we’d say he ends it closer to the chasing pack than to our repeat number one…
1. Mateus Fernandes – West Ham United (-)
Fernandes didn’t get off to a flyer at the London Stadium after signing from Southampton this summer, but it’s almost impossible to remember the last time he had a bad game by this stage – and it certainly wasn’t on Saturday against Sunderland, when he scored one magnificent goal from over 25 yards and shuddered the crossbar from the same range with another attempt. You know you’ve done something pretty impressive when your club’s social media team uploads a seven-minute long video of your goal to YouTube featuring every angle of it that they could find.
Even leaving his wonderful goal to one side, he was excellent throughout. In possession, he continues to be intelligent and economical with his passing and almost never seems to take an option which doesn’t improve West Ham’s platform – and out of possession, he’s simply outstanding in one-on-one situations (he won all seven of his ground duels this weekend), lets precious little past him and routinely wins the ball back for his side. An outstanding all-round box-to-box midfielder who seems to continue getting steadily better every week, and who finally had a highlight reel moment to match his persistent excellence. A worthy number one whose lead over the rest is only growing as it stands.
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