20. Lewis Hall
Age: 19 (September 8, 2004)
Club: Newcastle United
No more Trippier at left-back, guys. For club or country. That Chelsea let Lewis Hall and Tino Livramento both leave for Tyneside for £45 million may be the worst piece of business they've done in recent seasons.
It may be hyperbole to describe Hall as the golden example of a shift in English football but there has arguably never been a left-back from this country like him. Unbelievably press-resistant, a gifted passer, able to carry over long distances and exceptional when pressed, he’s in the Trent/Kimmich/Zinchenko category of full-backs good enough to be midfielders.
Real ambition is using his intelligence and versatility in the first phase, however. He can do it, and he probably will lead from the back.
19. Patrick Dorgu
Age: 19 (October 23, 2004)
Club: Lecce
Compared to Alejandro Balde as a rare overlapping left-back in an era of very different full-backs, it would be easy to categorise Patrick Dorgu as a bullet train in a china shop. A Danish Davies, all bluster, bombing to the touchline and back.
What separates the Lecce talent is his passing, however. It’s not that he has the range or incision: it’s that carrying the ball is his strong suit, and he still knows exactly when to stop and find a team-mate. Dorgu is extremely calm, on or off the ball, and despite his obvious physical supremacy and excellent final ball, he never looks to force the opportunity.
Such maturity is as promising as the obvious ability he has. Dorgu looks to be a complete full-back already – his ceiling could be extremely high indeed.
18. Jorrel Hato
Age: 18 (March 7, 2006)
Club: Ajax
From Dorgu to Hato. One complete left-back to another – for different reasons.
The recent ‘boring, anti-football’ trend of centre-backs moving out to flank a back four, after all, is nothing of the sort. It’s not an admission of needing defensive solidity but an evolution to having more rounded full-backs, utilising players like Josko Gvardiol and Ben White as attacking weapons as much as anything. And Hato is cut from this cloth: an extraordinary ball-playing centre-back, able to receive like a midfielder and charge forward with gusto.
He is unique. A left-footed centre-back with an exquisite pass and John Stones-like gallop, Hato may well end up as a full-back long-term – but he’s so good, that there may not be too many centre-backs better than him when he reaches peak performance, either. With Ajax producing some of the most interesting defensive prospects on Earth of late – from Jurrien Timber to Lisandro Martinez – Hato’s pathway could well be the most watched of anyone out of Amsterdam in the next couple of years.
17. Kendry Paez
Age: 17 (May 4, 2007)
Club: Independiente del Valle (joining Chelsea in 2025)
With the tumult and the turmoil of the last 24 months, Chelsea hope their house will be in order to welcome Kendry Paez next summer. While the Blues have burned bridges in the short-term, the long-term planning has at least left fans with plenty to look forward to.
The Ecuadorian is one of a handful of right-wingers on the Stamford Bridge books. Riyad Mahrez comparisons are apt: he can start wide, drift in-field and shoot or create with equal aplomb. The best part is that you don’t know what’s happening next: Paez has the unpredictability to turn on a sixpence, dig himself out of tight spots and provide the difference.
At 17, he’s been capped 12 times by Ecuador already. Whether he remains as a winger or moves centrally remains to be seen – but he already looks like he’s been playing at the top level for years.
16. Claudio Echeverri
Age: 18 (January 2, 2006)
Club: River Plate (on loan from Manchester City)
Claudio Echeverri picked up the ball outside the penalty area and carried it, beating three men before walloping it into the roof of the net – teasing one of them that he might come back inside (he was never going to) – for his first goal in senior football. Sergio Aguero posted it on X (formerly Twitter), with Echeverri’s name and the sunglasses emoji. He’d arrived.
Argentines have worked out well for City in recent years, after all. Echeverri follows the Julian Alvarez model of remaining at River Plate until ready but is already integral back home, changing games when he comes off the bench. The teenager has fantastic awareness of what’s around him, is able to find space or create it at will and his confidence is unshakeable.
When he’s in full flow, there’s no stopping him already. No wonder he’s moving King Kun.
15. Evan Ferguson
Age: 19 (October 19, 2004)
Club: Brighton & Hove Albion
That Evan Ferguson is on a barren run in the Premier League since last November is of little concern to Brighton. The Seagulls struggled as a unit in the second half of last season – their striking starlet is hardly an anomaly.
The Irishman still has all the ingredients to hit the top. Poise and calmness in front of goal is key for a No.9 of course – and Ferguson is equally comfortable holding up play or toiling the channels, showing his considerable all-round game.
Centre-forwards don’t often present themselves so fully-formed so young. Most begin life as wingers before moving into the middle or blossom later, free from the shackles of expectation. It’s important not to see Ferguson’s progress as linear: he’s set for a great career, however long it takes him to fully realise his potential.
14. Pau Cubarsi
Age: 17 (January 21, 2007)
Club: Barcelona
When Gerard Pique retired midseason, it was the abrupt end of a distinguished era of Barcelona’s history. Pau Cubarsi wasn’t too far behind to pick up the baton and assume control of the next.
Ball-playing is pre-requisite of defenders from this academy. Even by La Masia standards, however, the composure of Cubarsi is something else, Cules pinching themselves that really, he’s half the age that Pique was when he left them. Unfazed by the drama around him during this uncertain time at the club, the youngster has been a bastion of calm and reads the game like someone who’s been carrying Barça for years.
He seems destined too to lead from the back in the Spanish national side, which may be set for another sustained dominance in European football. From the left-sided centre-back role, Cubarsi can see the whole pitch, has exemplary reading of the game and can stretch it with his raking balls. He’s the very future of club and country.
13. Gabriel Moscardo
Age: 18 (January 12, 2005)
Club: Paris Saint-Germain
The lone No.6 has taken somewhat of a hit in recent years: it’s just too hard to be across quite so much of the pitch at once. Midfield pairings – either from the start of a match or with inverted players – have platformed the likes of Joao Palhinha and Declan Rice to bigger statuses, as even the proto-pivot himself, Pep Guardiola, has looked to minimise space as much as maximise it.
So now, it seems South America is the place to find the best defensive midfielders on Earth: after all, Fabinho and Fernandinho may have been the finest lone DMs before Rodri reinvented things. Argentina have Federico Redondo, Brazil have Gabriel Moscardo, who’s signed for PSG among interest from the elite. He has the go-go-gadget legs to cover an extraordinary amount of pitch, a solid passing range and the engine to keep driving all day.
He’s a duel-winning machine, a cheat code against the tide of a transition, but his ball-carrying is far better than a pure destroyer suggests. He could be the Makelele of PSG’s next Galactico project – or he could become an all-round midfielder. We can’t wait to find out.
12. Ethan Nwaneri
Age: 17 (March 21, 2007)
Club: Arsenal
Those who talk about Bukayo Saka’s ‘pace’ have plainly never watched him. He has the brain of a midfielder, with his ability to beat a man unrelated. It’s that simple: he’s the finest example of an academy founded in Arsene Wenger’s ambition to create a team full of midfield brains.
Cesc Fabregas and Jack Wilshere paved the way; Emile Smith Rowe followed. Ethan Nwaneri was dangled a debut at a record-breaking 15 years old – and two years later, he’s ready for senior football. His maturity is stark: he can create openings from nowhere with both his movement and his passing. He can play across midfield or wide. He elevates those around him with his play, rather than looking for the Hollywood pass or shot. Nwaneri is a facilitator for those around him.
It was claimed by a minority that Mikel Arteta handed him his first Premier League minutes against Brentford as a gimmick: a carrot to sign a contract amid interest from others. But he didn’t look physically out of his depth then – and he looks even more polished now. Nwaneri is a top player at the top level already, and a superstar of the future. But most importantly, he’s the very embodiment of everything Arsenal stand for – and that’s why Arteta gave him that eye-catching debut.
11. Marc Bernal
Age: 17 (June 13, 2007)
Club: Barcelona
Famously, the greatest midfield of all time was built on an education. Iniesta, Busquets and Xavi knew the existing framework on which to apply their specific roles – before the latter implemented Pedri and Gavi in Barcelona’s next midfield.
Finding the future Busquets was always going to be the hardest part, given the complexities of his role, but Marc Bernal is Barça’s long-term No.6. The role is as much about the mind of the player as the ability, and the signs are superb with Bernal, who can receive at any angle, find space off the ball and minimise it when the opposition have it. He has the calmness, he has the build and he has the know-how of when to intercept and when to tackle.
As a bonus, he can strike the ball well, too. In 722 games, Busquets scored just 18 times. It’s a target for Bernal to beat, for sure.
