Ranking the best young players (21 or under) in the world right now

Best = Subjectively measured, taking into account performance and potential.
Young = 21 or younger.

Forwards, Wingers & Attacking Mids
1. Eden Hazard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eden_Hazard
2. Neymar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neymar
3. Mario Götze http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_G%C3%B6tze
4. Lucas Moura http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucas_Moura
5. Stephan El Shaarawy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephan_El_Shaarawy
6. James Rodriguez http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Rodr%C3%ADguez_(footballer)
7. Isco http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isco
8. Oscar http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_(footballer_born_1991)
9. André Schürrle http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andr%C3%A9_Sch%C3%BCrrle
10. Iker Muniain http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iker_Muniain
11. Xherdan Shaqiri http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xherdan_Shaqiri
12. Danny Welbeck http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danny_Welbeck
13. Lorenzo Insigne http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lorenzo_Insigne
14. Mattia Destro http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mattia_Destro
15. Philipe Coutinho http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_Coutinho
16. Gaston Ramirez http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaston_Ramirez
17. Antoine Griezmann http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoine_Griezmann
18. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Oxlade-Chamberlain
19. Christian Eriksen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Eriksen
20. Victor Moses http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Moses
21. Giorgino Wijnaldum http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giorgino_Wijnaldum
22. John Guidetti http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Guidetti
23. Rodrigo Moreno Machado http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rodrigo_Moreno_Machado
24. M'Baye Niang http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%27Baye_Niang
25. Romelu Lukaku http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romelu_Lukaku
26. Lucas Piazon http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucas_Piazon
27. Ola John http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ola_John
28. Mateo Kovacic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mateo_Kova%C4%8Di%C4%87
29. Raheem Sterling http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raheem_Sterling

Other Mids
1. Thiago Alcantara http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiago_Alcantara
2. David Alaba http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Alaba (very difficult to categorise)
3. Julain Draxler http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Draxler
4. Jack Wilshere http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Wilshere
5. Marco Verratti http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_Verratti
6. Patrick Hermann http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Herrmann
7. Jack Rodwell http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Rodwell
8. Lucas Ocampos http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucas_Ocampos
9. Aaron Ramsey http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Ramsey

Centre-backs
1. Kyriakos Papadopoulos http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyriakos_Papadopoulos
2. Sebastian Coates http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sebasti%C3%A1n_Coates
3. Raphael Varane http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapha%C3%ABl_Varane
4. Phil Jones http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Jones_(footballer)
5. Joel Matip http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel_Matip
6. Juan Jesus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Jesus

Goalkeepers
1. Marc-André Ter Stegen http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marc-Andr%C3%A9_ter_Stegen
2. Thibaut Courtois http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thibaut_Courtois
3. David De Gea http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_De_Gea
4. Bernd Leno http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernd_Leno

DISCLAIMER: I haven't got every one exactly where I want them in this list (but they are in some kind of general order), and I may have missed out some players (if so, comment below)

Make your own list. It's harder than it looks...

Let's say you prefer player A over player B...
1. A
2. B
...you also prefer player C over player A...
1. C
2. A
3. B
... but you prefer player B over player C...
B>C>A>B
...!!!

Not sure if you forgot about him or just didn't deem him good enough, but Lamela is better than half the guys you listed for forwards. Either way it's subjective and it must have been tough to rank them so no big.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:Not sure if you forgot about him or just didn't deem him good enough, but Lamela is better than half the guys you listed for forwards. Either way it's subjective and it must have been tough to rank them so no big.

Completely forgot Lamela, Borini too.

Alen Halilovic, Jese Rodriguez and Deflower boy

Who is "deflower boy"? And where would you put those players in my list?

Also, I've just realised that not 1 wing-back (apart from maybe Alaba) made my list.

De Sciglio (WB) of Milan should be added. I'm sure there are others out there too.

Also, Alessandro Florenzi (mid) of Roma, and Paul Pogba (mid) of Juve.

Gotze is better than Neymar. Schurrle should be lower and Eriksen should be way higher. Alaba, Verratti, Holtby, Wilshere, and Pogba should all be in the top 20.

1. Neymar
2. Götze
3. Hazard
4. Isco
5. Coutinho
6. El Sharaawy
7. Lucas
8. Oscar
9. Eriksen
10. Muniain
11. Shaqiri
12. Welbeck
13. Rodriguez
14. Moses
15. Sterling
16. Schürrle
17. Oxlade-Chamberlain
18. Guidetti
19. Destro
20. Ramirez
21. Lukaku
22. Griezmann
23. Insigne
24. Niang
25. Piazon

Didn't include the ones I never saw play. Will do the midfielders and defenders another day.

1. Götze
2. Hazard
...
...
~10. Neymar (on the way to be a headless chicken)
...
...
~20. Schürrle (almost a headless chicken)
...

juventus101 wrote:Alaba, Verratti, Holtby, Wilshere, and Pogba should all be in the top 20.

I separated players by position, because I don't think comparing Pogba to Isco (for example) is a particularly valid comparison. They have different roles and different skill sets.

urbaNRoots wrote:
5. Coutinho
6. El Sharaawy

Coutinho wishes he was as good as SES

briarfish wrote:1. Götze
2. Hazard
...
...
~10. Neymar (on the way to be a headless chicken)
...
...
~20. Schürrle (almost a headless chicken)
...

I'd be interested to see who fills the gaps between 2-10 and 10-20 for you.

Thanks for the contributions guys.

Make it 22 or under..players like Holtby and Gundogan just turned 22 and some of the players in your list will soon turn 22 so its kinda makes up for an unfair list you know.Ramsey for example,i think he doesnt deserve to be in the list anyway.

91+

Forwards, Wingers & Attacking Mids
1. Gotze
2. Neymar
3. Hazard
4. Oscar
5. Isco
6. SES
7. Lucas
8. James Rodriguez
9. Eriksen
10. Muniain

Midfielders
1. Verratti
2. Thiago
3. Wilshere
4. Pogba
5. Leitner

Centre-backs
1. Varane
2. Papadopoulos
3. Masi
4. Nastasic
5. Jones

Full-backs
1. Danilo
2. Alaba
3. Santon
4. De Sciglio
5. Carjaval

Goalkeepers
1. Ter Stegen
2. Courtois
3. Leali
4. De Gea
5. Leno

Surag wrote:Make it 22 or under..players like Holtby and Gundogan just turned 22 and some of the players in your list will soon turn 22 so its kinda makes up for an unfair list you know.Ramsey for example,i think he doesnt deserve to be in the list anyway.

All valid points.

There are a few reasons I didn't expand to 22...

- people turning 23. Every year is going to have players who are just about to move outside of the zone.

- 21 is what I was aiming at because it would include players that are pre-breakout as well as those who are breaking out right now + the early bloomers. It is unfortunate that Holtby and Gundogan missed out, but can you imagine how long the list would be with another year's worth of players?

- Ramsey is still a very young player, playing regularly at a high level in a top league. He's not the most prodigious of talents, that's true. But he is within the scope of my list and makes it at the bottom of the list by default.

Kizu wrote:91+

Forwards, Wingers & Attacking Mids
1. Gotze
2. Neymar
3. Hazard
4. Oscar
5. Isco
6. SES
7. Lucas
8. James Rodriguez
9. Eriksen
10. Muniain

Midfielders
1. Verratti
2. Thiago
3. Wilshere
4. Pogba
5. Leitner

Centre-backs
1. Varane
2. Papadopoulos
3. Masi
4. Nastasic
5. Jones

Full-backs
1. Danilo
2. Alaba
3. Santon
4. De Sciglio
5. Carjaval

Goalkeepers
1. Ter Stegen
2. Courtois
3. Leali
4. De Gea
5. Leno

Some good additions here.

How about having a list comprising players of '90 class and over('91,'92'93 etc),some of them born in '90 are real gems and are still young(its not like they're experienced campaigners you know)..

Surag wrote:How about having a list comprising players of '90 class and over('91,'92'93 etc),some of them born in '90 are real gems and are still young(its not like they're experienced campaigners you know)..

Yeah, that's true. E.g. Strootman is 90'. What about the late bloomers though? How do you justify their inclusion/exclusion? Someone like Michu? He's 26, but didn't achieve notoriety until last year.

Ok i'll break it down to individual positions like Kizu did..

Forwards,Wingers,AM's(Top 10)
1.Neymar
2.Goetze
3.James Rodriguez
4.Iker Muniain
5.Eden Hazard
6.Oscar
7.Lucas Moura
8.Isco
9.Stephan El Sharaawy
10.Christian Eriksen

Mids:
1.Thiago Alcantara
2.Marco Veratti
3.Jack Wilshere
4.Granit Xhaka
5.Paul Pogba

Central Defenders:
1.Kyrgiakos Papadopoulos
2.Raphael Varane
3.Nicolas N'Koulou
4.Matija Nastasic
5.Mamadou Sakho/Juan Jesus(dint know that he was so young)
(this list was extremely tough for me so decided to include '90 class players in N'Koulou and Sakho)

Fullbacks:
1.David Alaba
2.Davide Santon
3.Mattia Di Sciglio
4.Marco Capuano
5.Nathaniel Clyne

Goalkeepers:
1.Marc Andre Ter Stegen
2.David De Gea
3.Cortouis
4.Bernd Leno

Forwards,Wingers,AM's(Top 10)
1.Neymar
2. Hazard
3. Goetze
4. Isco
5. Oscar
6. Eriksen
7. Muniain
8. James Rodriguez
9. Lucas
10. El Sharaawy

Mids:
1.Thiago Alcantara
2.Marco Veratti
3.Jack Wilshere
4.Granit Xhaka
5.Paul Pogba

Central Defenders:
1.Varane
2. N'Koulou
3. Papadopoulos
4. Jones
5. Nastasic

Fullbacks:
1. Alaba
2. Danilo
3. De Sciglio
4. Montoya
5. Santon

Goalkeepers:
1.Marc Andre Ter Stegen
2. Cortouis
3. David De Gea
4.Bernd Leno
5. Matt Ryan [/quote]

Forwards, Wingers & Attacking Mids
1. Neymar
2. Gotze
3. Hazard
4. Oscar
5. SES
6. Lucas
7. Isco
8. Muniain
9. James Rodriguez
10. Ox

Midfielders
1. Wilshere
2. Verati
3. Thiago
4. Xhaka
5. Leitner

Centre-backs
Tough one, Jones,Juan (inter) and Varane are the best for me in no specific order

Full-backs
1. Alex Sandro
2. Alaba
3. Danilo
4. De Sciglio
5. Santon
Goalkeepers
1. Courtois
2. Ter Stegen
3. Leno
4. de Gea

How did I miss Alex Sandro

Juan as well, another good call.

Great list and effort Rossoneri

I don't like many fullbacks out there so won't bother doing a list for that


Top 10 AM's

1) Gotze
2) Hazard
3) Isco
4) James
5) Oscar
6) Muniain
7) Oxlade
8 ) Insigne
9) Coutinho
10) Moura

Top 10 Forwards

1) Neymar
2) SES
3) Lukaku
4) Jordan Ayew
5) Schurrle
6) Guidetti
7) Destro
8 ) Rodrigo
9) Welbeck
10) Niang

Top 10 Midfielders

1) Wilshere
2) Thiago
3) Leitner
4) Draxler
5) Ananidze
6) Verratti
7) Grenier
8 ) Ramsey
9) Cabella
10) Pogba

Im surprised how highly people rate James Rodriguez,I dont think he is THAT good...pretty inconsistent

James is a phenomenal player..Its a shame he doesnt play in a Top 3 league as his hype would've blown out of the roof by now tbh.He is destined for PL or Liga anyway.

I stopped following Porto week and week out after Falcao,Guarin and Hulk left, maybe he got better this season.

If were including players that have just turned 22, then in my opinion Kroos is a close second place to Gotze. Neymar wouldnt even make Top 3. Gotze, Kroos, and Hazard hold down those spots.