4 young midfielders who have the potential to become the best in the world

2. Dele Alli

Dele Alli is one of the most exciting youngsters in the world

Alli is already quite famous; with his goalscoring exploits as an attacking midfielder, he has earned a lot of acclaim from football pundits.

Alli’s instincts are to go forward as often as possible, and his skillset has helped justify his instincts for the Spurs. His stamina is impressive, since he brings a lot of energy into the team, constantly making forwards runs and being annoying to deal with.

Alli isn't a traditional attacking midfielder or a traditional playmaker. He contributes most as an additional target in the opponent box, looking for spaces to get into and knock the ball in. The constant unorthodox vertical runs are one of the strongest assets he possesses.

In 36 matches last season, Alli scored 9 goals. That's a goal every four matches - insane for a midfielder. He also created 16 big chances and made 10 assists. He has bolstered the defensive part of his game too; he has a surprising tackle rate of 65%, which is quite hard to achieve.

Unlike the other players featured in the list, Alli doesn’t possess extraordinary tactical intelligence; instead, he is more about raw talent. And a 22-year-old with an insane amount of raw talent isn’t a bad thing.

Alli can continue to improve in England, but that way he’ll just be another great midfielder who can score. If Alli wants to improve tactically, Spain or Italy would be an ideal choice.

"He is probably the best young midfielder I have seen in many years, probably going back as far as Gascoigne," said Sir Alex Ferguson. That is certainly a tremendous validation of Alli's potential.