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The 2018/19 season will be one of the seasons in which certain youngsters will enter the crucial stage of their career. Many exciting young players break through to the first teams every season but maintaining their developments especially in the bigger European clubs is a great challenge for them.
Young players need to have game time to gain playing experience and this is something that is not guaranteed especially in the big clubs. The pressure to perform brought about by too many expectations from the fans might also have a negative impact on their development. Perhaps this might be the reasons why young English players are moving away from their parent clubs in the premier league to try and establish their careers in the Bundesliga or the Championship. Jadon Sancho, Reiss Nelson and Mason Mount are just a few of them.
I have created a squad of 11 Under-23 players who have hit the ground running this season and managed to be the best in their positions at that age. I have created the squad based on their statistics from whoscored.com since the beginning of the 2018/19 season (all competitions included).
Goalkeeper; Alban Lafont (Fiorentina)
Lafont is one of the notable academy graduates to break through the Toulouse first team following the likes of Moussa Sissoko and Wissam Ben Yedder.
The 19 years old became the youngest ever goalkeeper in Ligue 1 after making his first-team debut at the age of 16. Lafont then went on to break a 30-year-old record by becoming the youngest goalkeeper to reach 50 Ligue 1 appearances. Signed by Fiorentina at a bargain price in the summer transfer window, Lafont has already proved to be one of the best young goalkeepers in Europe.
The 19-year-old France International has already kept 3 clean sheets in 7 games in the Serie A and conceding 5 goals. Lafont is a great shot stopper and he has the ability to pull out top draw reflexes on a consistent basis. He is also quick enough to close down attackers in 1 v 1 situation something that makes him such an exciting future prospect.
This season in the Serie A, he has already made over 15 saves continuing with his form from last season at Toulouse where he averaged 2.41 saves per game after playing more than 30 games. The 19-year-old is an all rounded goalkeeper with great shot-stopping technique and ball playing ability.
His passing accuracy of 69.2% this season shows that he is capable of building from the back and this can improve even further once he moved to a team which keeps possession more than his current team.
Left Back; Lucas Hernandez (Atletico Madrid)
After starring with the France national team at the world cup in Russia, It looks like Lucas Hernandez has carried on with his impressive form to club football. The 22-year-old has started the season well at the Spanish capital giving Diego Simeone a hard time in choosing the first choice left back, a tussle which is between him and the experienced Brazilian left-back Filipe Luis.
Hernandez is a solid defender who will also contribute a lot going forward due to his great dribbling and good passing ability. He is a great tackler as well as physical enough to win a lot of aerial duels.
He has averaged 3 tackles per game so far this season while his 3.2 clearances and 1.6 aerial duels won in 23 outings for club and country further highlights his defensive contributions.
His offensive contributions should also not be underestimated. While being solid defensively, Hernandez also contributes a lot going forward. He averages 2 long balls per game this season with a pass success rate of 80.9% after attempting an average of 45 passes per game.
Center Back; Joseph Gomez (Liverpool)
Since making his Liverpool debut as a left back under Brendan Rodgers in 2015, Joe Gomez's Liverpool career has been hampered by injuries with the most horrific of them being the damage on his anterior cruciate ligament that he sustained on October 2015.
However, the 21-year-old has shown in more than once that he has the attitude and mentality to come back after the injury in strong and good shape.
This season Gomez has established himself as a consistent performer for the Liverpool side in his favored center back position, grasping the chance following an injury to Dejan Lovren. Gomez is a ball-playing central defender whose strength lies on his brilliant passing ability and dribbling.
His athleticism and strength make him a very hard player to dispossess. In his 8 appearances for Liverpool so far this season, he has only been dispossessed 0.1 times per game.
Furthermore, he averages 1.7 tackles, 2. 7 clearances and 1.3 interceptions per game this season. Liverpool style of keeping possession and building from the back suits him well as he averages 62.8 passes per game with a success rate of 87.3%.
Center Back; Mathijs de Ligt (Ajax)
At 19, De Ligt has already established himself as one of the key players for Ajax and the Dutch national team.
The 19-year-old has started the 2018/19 season so well that he has managed to draw interest from top European clubs including Barcelona.
De Ligt is an intelligent defender whose strength lies on his passing and composure with the ball. His ability to read the game brilliantly and anticipates the next play isolates him from other defenders who likes diving into tackles most of the time.
The young Dutch averages 67.1 passes per game with an accuracy of 91.4% in the Eredivisie this season. His 2.9 long balls per 90 minutes show that he is someone who always tries to create something from deep.
His small physical statue should not be a matter of concern as he averages a total of 3 successful aerial duels every game.
Right Back; Trent Alexander Arnold (Liverpool)
At just 20 years old, Trent had nearly made 60 senior appearances for Liverpool while he has also got the opportunity to feature in a champions league final, World Cup and many more intense fixtures.
It is clear that he can mature into one of the best right backs at some point in his career if he continues with the tremendous progress he has made over the past years.
Trent's biggest attribute is his passing. The young England International has the ability to execute well-weighted long balls and create goalscoring opportunities with incisive key passes either in between the lines or down the right channel to find the runs of attacking players.
In his first 7 appearances for Liverpool this season, he has managed to execute an average of 3.6 long balls per game while his defensive contributions can be highlighted by the 1.7 and 1.6 tackles and interceptions respectively.
Defensive Midfielder; Rodrigo Hernández (Atletico Madrid)
Rodri returned to his boyhood club Atletico Madrid in May this year and since the season began he has been a revelation in the Spanish capital.
Rodri is a key piece in the Atletico Madrid team as he provides the required balance in midfield. The 22-year-old is a smart defensive midfielder who possesses great positional awareness, the ability to break up play as well as an excellent passing ability, a reminiscent of Barcelona's Sergio Busquets.
He had managed an average of 3.5 tackles and 1.2 clearances per game so far this season. Rodri also averages a total of 48.2 passes per game with a success rate of 93.4%. The Spaniard has also managed to execute an average of 2.8 long balls per game.
This might be his first season at Madrid but his stats show that he is one of the best and most promising defensive midfielders of the game.
Center Midfielder; Arthur Melo (Barcelona)
Arthur has gelled well with the Barcelona style of play just a few months into his time with the Blaugrana.
The 22-year-old likes to express himself more on the ball and Barcelona have provided him with the perfect platform to do so. Arthur was an integral part of Gremio's Copa Libertadores crown in 2017 and it might not be long till he replicates that in Catalonia.
The Brazilian might be the type of player that Barcelona has been missing in the middle of the park since the departure of Xavi, the link between Busquets and Lionel Messi.
Stats might not show you the real picture but the Brazilian has all the skills to perform the 'Xavi role' even though he is not on Xavi's level just yet.
Arthur is very good at keeping the ball, resisting the press and quick recycling of possession. He is a player capable of moving the whole team at his will.
This season, he has an average of 88 passes per game with a success rate of 94.8%. He has also completed 4.3 long balls and 1.4 key passes per game.
To read more about Arthur's style of play, click here
Attacking Midfielder; Houssem Aouar (Lyon)
The 20-year-old had been an integral part of the Lyon side this season, playing a total of 17 games for the French club.
Aouar boosts a lot of creativity as well as defensive abilities something that makes him a good playmaker in a midfield trio. He also has an eye for goal, the final pass and the ability to glide past markers with ease something that makes him one of the stand-out creative players in Ligue 1 this season.
Houssem has completed an average of 1.5 tackles per game in all the matches he has played for Lyon this season. Furthermore, he has scored 2 and assisted 2 goals so far this season in all competition for his club. He had attempted 2.5 shots per game and created an average of 1.1 goalscoring opportunities per 90 minutes.
Left Wing; Christian Pulisic (Borussia Dortmund)
At just 20 years of age, Christian Pulisic has already played more than 100 games for Borussia Dortmund and made 21 appearances for the US men's national team.
Pulisic was thought and rightly so as the biggest football talent to have emerged from the USA. In 2017, he was honored with the U.S Soccer Male Athlete of the year.
He is a modern-day playmaker who is capable of creating goalscoring opportunities from wide as well as providing a direct goal threat from any side of the pitch.
Even though this might not be his best start to a season, he had already contributed 3 goals and created an average of 1.6 goalscoring chances after 4 Bundesliga starts.
Pulisic's greatest strength is his dribbling. He is a swift dribbler capable of using both feet to progress play and draw opposing players. He averages 2 dribbles per game while also managing to earn his team an average of 2.8 fouls per game.
Center Forward; Maxi Gomez (Celta Vigo)
The 22-year-old Uruguayan striker has made a stellar start in this season La Liga Santander scoring 4 goals and assisting further 4 in 8 Liga matches.
Maxi draws some comparisons to Uruguayan teammate Luis Suarez when it comes to strength, aggressiveness, and determination although their style of play is slightly apart.
While Suarez likes to be involved in the build-up play more often, Maxi is the static striker who usually positions himself in and around the opposition box.
His biggest strength is his ability to win aerial duels. The 22-year-old is very lethal in the air and has won an impressive 5.1 aerial duels so far this season. He is also capable of using both of his feet. The ability of a striker to protect the ball and retain possession high up the field is one of the most important things and this is something that the Uruguayan is good at.
Right Wing; Kylian Mbappe (PSG)
At only 19 years old, Mbappe's football career has already been nothing short of outstanding. The teenager had already won 2 Ligue 1 titles, a Coupe de la Ligue, Coupe de France, and the Fifa World Cup as well as many other individual accolades.
Mbappe is a generational talent considered by many as the heir to the Messi-Ronaldo throne. The French International possess many skillsets rolled into one much similar to the Brazillian Ronaldo 'O Phenomenon'.
Explosive acceleration, agility, close control, pace and intelligent movement coupled with his great dribbling abilities are just some of the attributes making Mbappe a special talent.
After starring in the 2018 FIFA world cup in Russia, Mbappe has carried that form to club football this season scoring 9 and assisting a further 3 goals in just 6 appearances for PSG. He had been involved in 28 goals in just 29 appearances for club and country since the beginning of the world cup in Russia.
Mbappe is a special talent and the fact that he is only 19 is astounding.
