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2) Bernardo Silva – Portugal
Club: AS Monaco
Position: Midfielder
Bernardo Silva rose through ranks of Benfica and made his senior team debut at the age of 19 in a League Cup match as a substitute. The talented Portuguese, who was named the Segunda Liga breakthrough player of the season for 2013/14, joined AS Monaco on a season-long loan for the 2014/15 season.
Silva impressed Monaco and Lenardo Jardim in the first half of his debut season in France and this prompted the club to sign him permanently midway through the campaign for a significant fee of £11.5m. He repaid the faith shown in him by the club handsomely as he went on to score 7 goals in the 17 games that followed. Eventually, he ended the season with 10 goals in 45 appearances which is an amazing return for a 20-year-old midfielder playing his first season at the highest level.
His good performance at club level was rewarded with a call-up to the senior side in March 2015 and he made his debut against Cape Verde. Silva has been an integral part of the U-21 side that qualified for the tournament and one of the best moments of his career so far came in a qualifying match against Israel back in November 2013.
With Portugal 2-1 down, Silva dribbled past several past before passing to Porto winger Ricardo Pereira who would score the equalizer. Silva would go on to score two more goals in the game of which the last one was the winning goal and it came late in the game.
1) Harry Kane – England
Club: Tottenham Hotspur
Position: Striker
Saving the best for last! The prolific Tottenham Hotspur needs no introduction as his endeavours this season have put the spotlight on him as he gears up for England’s U-21 side despite making his senior team debut earlier this year. Kane, who has been at Tottenham’s academy for quite a long time, came of age last season when he took the Premier League by storm with some breathtaking performances.
The Englishman was not the Spurs’ leading man early in the season and he only started for them in cup games, but his prolific goalscoring form coupled with poor performances from Emmanuel Adebayor and Roberto Soldado warranted him a chance to start in EPL games. His chance finally came as he came on as a substitute against Aston Villa and scored the winning goal and from thereon there was no looking back.
He started for Spurs regularly and finished the season with 21 league goals and 31 goals in all competitions. This made him the first Spurs player to score 30 plus goals in a season since Gary Lineker in 1991/92 and he also matched Gareth Bale’s best figures of 21 league goals in a league season.
Kane has been described by former Spurs manager David Pleat as a traditional English forward due to his hold up play, close control and ability to head the ball. He was also compared to former Spurs player Jurgen Klinsmann, a comparison which Kane called flattering.
The 21-year-old was a crucial member of the England side that qualified for the tournament and he has so far scored 8 goals in 11 appearances for the U-21 side. Kane also made his senior team debut against Lithuania in March this year as a substitute and scored after just 80 seconds on the pitch.
If Kane can inspire his team to glory, then he can cast off doubts some people have about him being a one-season wonder.
