Have you ever heard of the “Golden Boy” award? This is among the most prestigious prizes for young talented football players under 21 years old in Europe. In previous years, we saw Lionel Messi, Vinicius Junior and Joao Felix winning this trophy. What about now? Who are the best young talented footballers? Let’s find out in the article below.
Alphonso Davies-FC Bayern Munich/Canada
Alphonso Boyle Davies is a Canadian professional footballer who plays as a winger or a left-back for the Canadian national team and Bundesliga club Bayern Munich. According to the news shared from the live soccer bachtuoctv website, he is widely recognized as one of the most promising prospects in the football world, thanks to his great combination of acceleration, flair, explosive pace, feints, dribbling, passing, creativity, vision and agility.
Alphonso Davies was the youngest player to play in a Major League Soccer match. He has participated in Bayern since 2019. In the 2019-2020 season, he was named the Bundesliga Rookie because he played such an important part in the victory of the team with the continental treble: the DFB-Pokal, the UEFA Champions League and the Bundesliga.
In 2017, Alphonso was the youngest footballer who appeared for the men’s national team of Canada. He impressively scored 2 goals in the CONCACAF Gold Cup match and therefore became the youngest to score in such a professional international tournament.
Matthijs de Ligt-Juventus/Netherlands
Matthijs de Ligt is a Dutch professional soccer player who plays as a Centre-back for the Netherlands national team and the Serie A club Juventus. When first making debut in 2016 for Ajax’s senior team, Matthijs scored well from a corner only just after 25 minutes. Thus, he quickly became the second-youngest goalscorer after Clarence Seedorf.
In 2017, Matthijs won the “Golden Boy” Award and became the first defender in the soccer world to win this prize. In the next season, he helped his team to win the domestic double and get to the Champions League’s semi-finals. In 2019, he also won the Copa Trophy and the Serie A title when playing with the Turin side.
De Ligt is both technically and physically gifted with right-footed centre back. Besides, he is also very good at speed, anticipation, accurate passing, clean tackling and marking. His height lets him become a big threat to the rivals from set pieces and his strength allows him to push the ball easily, especially in aerial duels. He is described as a natural leader and an elegant 2-footed central defender, according to UEFA.com. Moreover, former Liverpool and England defender Jamie Carragher also praised De Ligt to be stronger and more mature than his real age.
Phil Foden-Manchester City/England
Philip Walter Foden is an English professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for the England national team and Premier League club Manchester City. People started knowing him since his breakthrough when he won the FIFA U-17 World Cup Golden Ball award in 2017. In this year, he also debuted for Manchester City and at the end of 2017, he became BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year.
Right after joining the club, Foden showed his ability by gaining 8 honours like the youngest recipient of Premier League winners’ medal. In 2019, he won the second Premier League and then was known as the youngest English footballer to start a match and score in the knockout stages of the tournament.
Foden is left-footed and can play as a winger on the right or a wing-back. He is described to be adhesive control, boasting tight and blessed with the talent of drifting past opponents, according to the Guardian. In 2018, veteran football writer Brian Glanville also complimented that Foden was a precocious and gifted teenager.
Gianluigi Donnarumma-AC Milan/Italy
Gianluigi “Gigio” Donnarumma is an Italian professional football player who plays as a goalkeeper for the Italy national team and Serie A club Milan. His football career began in 2015 when he made his debut for Serie A with the age of 16 years and therefore he became the second-youngest goalkeeper ever to debut for this club.
Since his debut, he immediately earned his reputation for being one of the highest promising young goalkeepers over the globe. He also broke the world record to be the youngest Italian footballer under 21 years old. In 2016, Fianluigi made his senior international debut and became the youngest goalkeeper to play for Italy at the age of 17.
Donnarumma has a great physical strength, good decision making, perfect mental composure and wonderful technical abilities. Despite being a goalkeeper at such a young age, Donnarumma is considered to be more mature than others to deal with all the pressures. Former Italy and Milan goalkeeper Giovanni Galli described Donnarumma as a potential goalkeeper of the world-class and applauded him for his intelligence, professionalism, concentration and discipline at such a young age.
Kai Havertz-Bayer Leverkusen/Germany
Kai Lukas Havertz is a German professional football player who plays as a winger or an attacking midfielder for the Germany national team and Premier League club Chelsea.
In 2016, when Kai Havertz first debuted for Bayer Leverkusen, he became the youngest debutant in the Bundesliga as well as the youngest goalscorer right in the following year. He is also the youngest footballer to reach 50 and 100 league appearances in the top flight of Germany.
Havertz is well known for his technically gifted ability. He is a two-footed midfielder and can play very comfortably with the ball either with his head or with his feet. The football experts said that Havertz was the combination of a lot of players such as Michael Ballack, Mesut Ozil and Toni Kroos.
In conclusion, they are top 5 rising stars in the world of football. They are just very young but their performances are undeniably impressive. Do you agree with us? Just tell us in the comment below! Don’t forget to update the football news every day, and follow the dramatic live football matches with Bach Tuoc TV.
