The Wonderkid Power Rankings: Man Utd, Newcastle & Bournemouth starlets among this week's bestplaceholder image
The Wonderkid Power Rankings: Man Utd, Newcastle & Bournemouth starlets among this week's best | Getty Images/Iconic Media Group
Ranking the best young players in the Premier League right now as Manchester United, Newcastle and Bournemouth starlets impress us this week.
Another weekend of Premier League action has been and gone, and that means that it’s time for our journalists to sit down, watch the tape and comb through the stats in order to produce their latest countdown of the most in-form young players in the Premier League right now: The Wonderkid Power Rankings.
Last week, West Ham’s Mateus Fernandes made it three straight weeks at the top of the back of a remarkably consistent run of form, but can he maintain his grip on the throne - or will one of the top flight’s other extraordinarily talented Under-21s make the crown their own?
We’ve got one player sliding out of our Top 10 this week, with Manchester City’s Abdukodir Khusanov capping a pretty rough run of form over the past two weeks with an injury in the dramatic win over Liverpool at Anfield – but the Uzbek defender’s departure makes room for an explosive new entry who’s made a startlingly strong impression since arriving in the Premier League just a couple of short weeks ago…
10. Álex Jiménez – AFC Bournemouth (-)
The Spaniard, whose loan deal at Dean Court became permanent over the weekend, was back in his preferred right-back position against Aston Villa and looked a little more comfortable for it, even if his performance wasn’t flawless – he was beaten a couple of times on the outside, but made the majority of his tackles and generally kept things tight. He may have picked up an injury at the end of the match, unfortunately, but we don’t know the extent of it just yet.
9. Eli Junior Kroupi – AFC Bournemouth (⬇️2)
We picked a pair of Cherries to kick us off this week – Kroupi was lively and hard-working up front against Villa and got into four shooting positions, but couldn’t get on the scoresheet this time around. He probably should have been among the goals, with one chance from just inside the area particularly presentable, but this was an energetic display on and off the ball even if it was ultimately fruitless.
8. Lewis Miley – Newcastle United (⬇️4)
Wonderkid Power Rankings tradition dictates that we don’t knock players in the top five out of our Top 10 entirely if they suffer a short-term injury, so Miley remains in our countdown despite missing Newcastle’s last couple of matches. The increasingly impressive midfielder will, all going well, be back over the course of the next week.
7. Mateus Mané – Wolverhampton Wanderers (⬆️1)
Wolves may have lost fairly handily to Chelsea over the weekend, but England Under-19 international Mané impressed us once more. His work rate off the ball was through the roof, he created two shooting chances thanks to his surging runs, and smashed a shot against the post from the edge of the area. So much of Wolves’ best work came through the teenager, and this wasn’t a defeat which did his stock any harm at all.
6. Nico O’Reilly – Manchester City (⬇️3)
This was not the young full-back’s best week, even if his team did win both of their games – he struggled mightily against Newcastle, in particular, when he lost every single ground duel he got involved in, failed to make a single tackle and even missed a decent chance at the other end of the pitch. He was better against Liverpool, at least, when he played in a more advanced role ahead of Rayan Aït-Nouri, but still didn’t make many significant contributions to the cause.
5. Rayan – AFC Bournemouth (new entry)
The 19-year-old has enjoyed a startlingly good introduction to English football, and becomes the third Bournemouth player to make our Top 10 this week – a team record for the Cherries, who we believe become just the second team to triple up in the Wonderkid Power Rankings after Brighton & Hove Albion.
Scything in from the right, Aston Villa’s defenders almost looked scared to try and tackle Rayan before he lashed into the near corner with the outside of his boot for the equaliser, a goal which follows hot on the heels of a debut assist against Wolves. Quite the start for the £25m man.
4. Michael Kayode – Brentford (⬇️2)
Kayode has had an up-and-down time lately, with excellent performances interspersed with rather uncharacteristic mistakes – and there was another in the 3-2 win over Newcastle when he clumsily clipped the heels of Bruno Guimarães and conceded a penalty as a result.
The Italian didn’t have the easiest time of it for much of that match, finding himself beaten a couple of times by the surging runs of Lewis Hall and losing more of his one-on-ones that he won, all while failing with all five of his attempted dribbles. A bad week at the office for a very fine player.
3. Kobbie Mainoo – Manchester United (⬆️6)
What a difference a new manager can make. A few weeks ago, Mainoo wasn’t even a consideration for our Top 10 – now, he might just be the single most in-form Under-21 player in the Premier League.
Mainoo picked up the assist for Bryan Mbeumo’s opening goal as part of a well-worked corner routine and that was one of just four shooting chances he created – and his work off the ball earned him the same number of turnovers, while his darting runs and carries and quick passing interchanges only served to underline the absurdity of Ruben Amorim’s misuse of a tremendously talented midfielder.
2. Lewis Hall – Newcastle United (⬆️3)
Not only did Hall torment Kayode at times with his surging overlapping runs and late charges into the penalty area, he also did a lot of good work in his own third of the field – filling up the stat sheet with six turnovers, four clearances, a blocked shot and an interception. That’s a good day’s work by any defender’s standards.
He wasn’t perfect, by any means, and was beaten on the run himself a couple of times (an occasional defensive weakness of Hall’s) while also committing three fouls and picking up a yellow card, but he mostly kept things tight at the back while driving Newcastle forward, and it was sudden dash inside Kayode and his ball across the box which provided one of his side’s best chances for Yoane Wissa. That chance was spurned and Newcastle were defeated, but Hall was impressive once more.
1. Mateus Fernandes – West Ham United (-)
Fernandes has been streets ahead of just about every one of his youthful peers over the past month or so, and his consistency continues to be absolutely remarkable – looking back over our notes, the last time we had the Portuguese midfielder down as having a bad game was against Brentford all the way back in October. Week after week after week, Fernandes has kept his standards extraordinarily high.
This week, he provided the assist for Crysencio Summerville’s opener with a slide-rule pass into the Dutchman’s path, won every tackle he attempted and forced an amazing 10 turnovers out of possession. The gap between Fernandes and the chasing pack is only growing.
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