Arsenal star Bukayo Saka tops prestigious wonderkid list

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Arsenal have two youngsters in the top 20 of the list, which assesses the best young players in Europe

Arsenal star Bukayo Saka
(Image credit: Getty)

Arsenal star Bukayo Saka has topped a poll of the best wonderkids in the world right now.

The 20-year-old has been in fantastic form for Arsenal this season, helping the Gunners on an unexpected top four charge and his standing within the game has been reflected by The CIES Football Observatory ranking him as the best young player in the sport right now.

Teammate Gabriel Martinelli was also on the list, while other Premier League stars Luke Thomas, Michael Olise and Armando Broja appear. 

Arsenal transfer news

(Image credit: Getty)

The top 20 wonderkids in world football right now, according to The CIES Football Observatory:

  1. Bukayo Saka (Arsenal)
  2. Mason Greenwood (Manchester United)
  3. Patrick Wimmer (Arminia Bielefeld)
  4. Josko Gvardiol (RB Leipzig)
  5. Michael Olise (Crystal Palace)
  6. Piero Hincapie (Bayer Leverkusen)
  7. Castello Lukeba (Olympique Lyonnais)
  8. Goncalo Ramos (Benfica)
  9. Nico Williams (Athletic Bilbao)
  10. Georginio Rutter (Hoffenheim)
  11. Kamaldeen Sulemana (Stade Rennais)
  12. Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkusen)
  13. Armando Broja (Southampton)
  14. Gabriel Martinelli (Arsenal)
  15. Jurrien Timber (Ajax)
  16. Yan Couto (Braga)
  17. Quentin Merlin (Nantes)
  18. Nuno Mendes (Paris Saint-Germain)
  19. Goncalo Inacio (Sporting)
  20. Chukwubuike Adamu (Red Bull Salzburg)
  21. Ilya Zabarnyi (Dynamo Kiev)
  22. Rayan Ait Nouri (Wolverhampton Wanderers)
  23. Joao Pedro (Watford)
  24. Jude Bellingham (Borussia Dortmund)
  25. Takefusa Kubo (RCD Mallorca)
  26. Mattia Viti (Empoli)
  27. Armel Bella-Kotchap (VfL Bochum)
  28. Jan Thielmann (Koln)
  29. Hugo Ekitike (Stade de Reims)
  30. Konstantin Tyukavin (Dinamo Moscow)
  31. Karim Adeyemi (Red Bull Salzburg)
  32. Kouadio Kone (Borussia Monchengladbach)
  33. Valentino Livramento (Southampton)
  34. Leo Greiml (Rapid Vienna)
  35. Gavi (Barcelona)
  36. Alexandre Penetra (Famalicao)
  37. Danila Prokhin (Sochi)
  38. Radu Dragusin (Salernitana)
  39. Malo Gusto (Olympique Lyonnais)
  40. Luke Thomas (Leicester City)
  41. Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich)
  42. Arsen Zakharyan (Dinamo Moscow)
  43. Yeremi Pino (Villarreal)
  44. Ameen Al-Dakhil (Sint-Trudin)
  45. Adrien Truffert (Stade Rennais)
  46. Joshua Zirkzee (Anderlecht)
  47. Nicolo Rovella (Genoa)
  48. Yunus Musah (Valencia)
  49. Billy Gilmour (Norwich City)
  50. Nathanael Mbuku (Stade de Reims)

Michael Olise

(Image credit: PA)

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Mark White
Mark White
Content Editor

Mark White is the Digital Content Editor at FourFourTwo. During his time on the brand, Mark has written three cover features on Mikel Arteta, Martin Odegaard and the Invincibles, and has written pieces on subjects ranging from Sir Bobby Robson’s time at Barcelona to the career of Robinho. An encyclopedia of football trivia and collector of shirts, he first joined the team back in 2020 as a staff writer.