Every season football fans are used to witness a number of emerging young players across different countries. There are many young sensational footballers come to the light every year, and become a target of the top clubs in Transfer Market. A few of them later become a star in world football. With the 2019/20 football season coming to an end, we tried to look into the profile of the best young footballers of this season.
Among many top talented footballers, here is a detailed list of most
promising fifteen best young footballers of 2020 who emerged in the 2019/20 season and have the potential to become a global sensation in coming days.
(Not in any order)
1. Erling Braut Haaland – RB Salzburg/ Borussia Dortmund/ Norway
Erling Braut Haaland is one of the most discussed players among the football fans this season. He is currently 20 years old and already proven himself in the world of football. The centre forward was an RB Salzburg player at the beginning of the season. He scored 28 goals in 22 appearances for RB Salzburg, more than 1 goal per match. Being impressed by his magnificent performance a number of top clubs were after him in the winter transfer window but Borussia Dortmund finally managed to secure his signature. After joining Dortmund he continued his brilliant form and scored 16 goals in 18 matches. Haaland finished the season with 44 goals and 10 assists in just 40 appearances , quite a feat to achieve for a 20-year-old. Haaland has all the attributes to become a top striker and identifying that many top clubs including Real Madrid and Manchester United are trying to sign him although he just joined Borussia Dortmund a few months ago.
2. Mason Greenwood – Manchester United/ England
Mason Greenwood is currently 18 years old and already have become an important player for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s Manchester United . The English forward has raised from the Manchester United academy to register as a Manchester United senior team player. He scored 10 goals in 31 appearances in English Premier League and 5 goals in 7 matches in UEFA Europa League. Although he was not a starter at the beginning of the season for the Red Devils, his consistent performance helped him to manage a place in the starting XI later in this season. The United fans are already having high hopes for this academy graduate and experts say he has all the right qualities to become one of the greatest.
3. Dejan Kulusevski – Parma/ Sweden
Dejan Kulusevski has been another sensation of this season whose performance was well appreciated by football pundits as well as fans. The 20 years old was on loan to Parma from his parent club Atalanta this season, but being impressed by his performance Juventus signed him in January 2020. He continued the rest of the season at Parma and will be joining the Serie A champions in August. Kulusevski naturally plays as a right-winger but has also played on the left side. He managed to score 10 goals as well as provided 9 assists in 36 matches in Serie A this season. Nonetheless, he has also won Best Young Player of the Season in Serie A . With him joining Juventus , he will get an opportunity to play alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and Paulo Dybala which will help him to improve even more.
4. Mason Mount – Chelsea/ England
Mason Mount made his debut for Chelsea senior team only in 2019/20 and right from the beginning of the season he became a regular starter for Frank Lampard’s side. Mount is another academy graduate who emerged through Chelsea youth system and was sent to loan a couple of times to gain experienced. Last season he was in loan at Derby County where he played under Frank Lampard as manager. Mount returned from loan to his home club after the end of the season 2018/19 and Lampard was appointed as Chelsea manager in July, 2019. Already being familiar with Mount, Lampard opted to start him in the very first match of the season and since then he has become a favourite of the manager as well as the supporters. Mount has scored 8 goals and 6 assists in 52 matches across all competition for Chelsea. The 21 years old plays mostly as an attacking midfielder who possess good skills, impressive passing ability and a very useful pace.
5. Federico Valverde – Real Madrid/ Uruguay
Federico Valverde has emerged as one of the best midfielders of La Liga this season and has played a crucial part in Real Madrid’s 34th La Liga victory . Valverde was brought to Madrid in 2016 and played for Real Madrid Castilla, Madrid’s reserve team before being promoted to the senior team in 2018. Though he got limited opportunities in his first season for the senior team, the breakthrough arrived in during the 2019/20 season when Zinedine Zidane decided to give him chances in starting XI. Valverde managed to gain the manager’s trust through his performance and became a starter for Real Madrid. Valverde is 22 years old and plays as a box-to-box midfielder. He has good speed and passing ability, along with decent defensive skills. In simple terms, he possesses all the right qualities to be one of the best midfielders.
6. Nicolo Zaniolo – AS Roma/ Italy
Another young Serie A player to shine this season is AS Roma midfielder Nicolo Zaniolo. Inter Milan sold him to AS Roma back in 2018 and since then he has been at the club. The attacking midfielder played well in his first season for Roma, but this season he has taken his game to another level. The 21 years old scored 8 goals and provided 3 assists in all competition and his improvement has caught the eyes of many. He is becoming an important player for Roma and if continues his development big clubs will start chasing him in no time.
7. Ansu Fati – FC Barcelona/ Spain
The 17-year-old Spanish teen is currently being considered as one of the best prospects of FC Barcelona and has started to become popular among the fans. Ansu Fati is a player who has come from Barcelona’s La Masia academy, one of the best academy in Europe that has produced the likes of Xavi, Iniesta, Messi and many more over the years. Fati made his senior team debut only in this season and became the youngest player to score for the club in La Liga and also the youngest goalscorer in UEFA Champions League. Despite not being a regular starter, he has scored 8 goals in this season. Many people think he can be the next star of Barcelona and fans have very high hopes from him as well.
8. Vinícius Júnior – Real Madrid/ Brazil
The Brazilian wonderkid Vinícius Júnior came to light when Real Madrid signed him from Flamengo before he turned 18. He joined Real Madrid in 2018 and made his debut in the same season. He started to impress people by his stunning dribbling skills and speed. In 2019/20 Vinicius has emerged as one of the important players for Zinedine Zidane’s side, and scored 5 goals as well as provided 4 assists in all competitions. He also became the youngest goalscorer in an El Classico match in this century when he scored against Barcelona in La Liga at Santiago Bernabeu. At the age of 20, he has already made more than 60 appearances for Real Madrid, which is an imressive achievement for the Brazilian winger. At this age, his dribbling skills has impressed football fans all around the world and if he continues to improve, he has all the potential to be one of the bests.
9. Alexander Isak – Real Sociedad/ Sweden
Alexander Isak was signed by Real Sociedad from Borussia Dortmund in July, 2019. Real Sociedad had an impressive season this year, finished at 6th position in La Liga and qualified for UEFA Europa League. The Basque side have also managed to reach 2019/20 Copa Del Rey final and Isak was an important player for them in this great achievement. Although Isak was Sociedad’s second choice striker, he has scored 16 goals in all competition for them. The 20 years old forward also scored two goals against Real Madrid in Copa Del Rey quarter final to secure his team’s victory. If he continues to score like his first season at Real Sociedad many big clubs will be trying to sign him in coming years.
10. Alphonso Davies – Bayern Munich/ Canada
The rise of Alphonso Davies is one of the fairy tales of this season. His story from a refugee camp in Ghana to the Champions League final at the age of 19 has been phenomenal. The 19 years old Left Back was signed by Bayern Munich in January 2019 as a backup fullback but he became a regular player of the starting XI this season and has astonished the fans with his performance. The injury of Bayern Munich defenders Lucas Hernández and Niklas Süle opened the door for Davies to feature in Bayern’s starting XI in Bundesliga as well as in UEFA Champions League. The attacking full-back has scored 3 goals in all competitions and added 9 assists to his name. The fullback has an electric pace with an impressive attacking prowess that makes him even more dangerous. It is evident that Alphonso Davies is going to be an important player for the Bundesliga champions in the upcoming season and manager Hans Flick will be happy to rely upon him.
11. Ferran Torres – Valencia/ Spain
The 20 years old Spanish winger has been phenomenal in this season on the field and has surprised many with his performance. Although Valencia did not have a very impressive season, Ferran Torres scored 6 goals and provided 8 assists in all competitions for the Spanish club. Torres was a part of the U17 Spanish team who became FIFA U17 World Cup, 2017 runners-up. He has been a Valencia player since his childhood and graduated from Valencia youth academy. He was promoted to the senior team in 2018 and was a part of the senior team since then. However, with such impressive performance this season English giants Manchester City already made their move to secure his signature even before the opening of the transfer window. Ferran Torres will be featuring next season wearing the colours of Manchester City.
12. Mohammed Salisu – Real Valladolid/ Ghana
Mohammed Salisu is 21 years old and played for La Liga side Real Valladolid as a centre back. He was promoted from Valladolid’s B team to the senior team in 2019 and became their first choice centre back in his very first season for the senior team. He has been rock solid this season in La Liga with his blocking and interception techniques. His statistics of clearances, aerial duals and ball recoveries is also good. He played total 32 matches in La Liga and Copa Del Rey for Real Valladolid in this season. His defensive skills have drawn the attention from a number of clubs and according to the news, English Premier League side Southampton has managed to finalise a deal to sign him permanently. That means Salisu will be playing in English Premier League next season.
13. Eduardo Camavinga – Stade Rennais/ France
Eduardo Camavinga is a defensive midfielder who played for Ligue 1 side Stade Rennais FC this season. He is only 17 years old and already is being considered as one of the most promising defensive midfielders in Europe at the moment. He is one of those players who are technically gifted and his name is on the top of the transfer rumours list. At the age of 17, he has started in Rennais’s almost every matches in the league this season and it is needless to say he has been an important player for the club. While many top clubs of Europe are interested in him, La Liga champions Real Madrid are leading the race to sign him. Will he fit in Madrid?
14. Donyell Malen – PSV Eindhoven/ Netherlands
The 21 years old Dutch striker Donyell Malen is a player of Eredivisie side PSV Eindhoven. He joined PSV youth team from Arsenal U23 in 2017 and one year later he was promoted to PSV senior team. He was in an amazing goal scoring form in this season, scoring 11 goals in 14 appearances in Eredivisie. He scored total 17 goals as well as provided 9 assists in 25 appearances this season before he was out due to knee injury in December 2019. Malen has been out of the field since December but if he can continue his goal-scoring form after recovering from his injury, surely many big clubs will try to sign him.
15. Riqui Puig – FC Barcelona/ Spain
Riqui Puig is another La Masia graduate who made his debut for the senior team this season. Although he had very limited game time, his performance has already caught the eyes of football experts. The 20 years old is a very promising midfielder and earned a good reputation from his academy days. Barcelona’s lack of midfield depth opened the opportunity for the young Spanish player to debut for the senior team in this season. The Catalan giants are lacking a key midfielder in their squad since the departure of Andres Iniesta and Barcelona management as well as fans think Riqui Puig can fill up the place. As Barcelona sold Arthur Melo to Juventus , Riqui Puig will surely be getting more first-team opportunities next season to prove his worth even further.
What are your thoughts on our best young footballers of 2020 list? Did we miss out on anyone? Let us know in the comment section below.
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