Soccer Prospect Discussion Thread V

[Ajacied]

The Guardian’s annual list (2002 borns). Any omissions? Anyone you particularly like? I recognized only six players, so I’m gonna have step my game up...

Next Generation 2019: 60 of the best young talents in world football

The only trivia I have (and considering this is a hockey forum) is that Tim Prica is a cousin of Leafs prospect Pierre Engvall.

I can only speak for the Dutch. Gravenberch and Ihattaren are no brainers, but I expected Brobbey to be included as well. I think his transition to professional football will be very tough on him, but few strikers have dominated youth football as he has. I doubt he'll reach his upside though. I actually think he'll flop.

Funny that Hoogewerf is mentioned in the Premier League list. He's 11th on my 2002 prospect list. Those guys ahead of him wouldn't have looked out of place at all, either; Taylor (Ajax), Salah-Eddine (Ajax), Maatsen (Chelsea), Braaf (City), Bogarde (Hoffenheim), Hansen (Ajax) and Hoever (Liverpool).

 

[YNWA14]

The Guardian’s annual list (2002 borns). Any omissions? Anyone you particularly like? I recognized only six players, so I’m gonna have step my game up...

Next Generation 2019: 60 of the best young talents in world football

The only trivia I have (and considering this is a hockey forum) is that Tim Prica is a cousin of Leafs prospect Pierre Engvall.

A little surprised that Noni Madueke isn't on the list for the English; he always impressed me most of the '02 English crop when I've seen them.

 

[Ajacied]

EC U19 qualifiers continued yesterday. Zirkzee had another goal + assist. Redan also added in 2 goals and 2 assists. Redan now contributes on the stats sheet once every 33 minutes this entire season.

Heh.. Redan with another 2 goals + 2 assists game vs Latvia. He now has 4 goals and 4 assists in his past two games. It were the Feyenoord talents who completed the stats sheet, with Summerville (hattrick), Azarkan (2G + 1A) and Burger (1G). Zirkzee didn't play this one.

Unuvar and Oranje U18 currently play vs Belgium U18.

 

[YNWA14]

Redan has been lighting it up this season after a pretty disappointing domestic season last year. It'll be interesting to see how he and Zirkzee develop and who ends up on top of the two...if either of them make it.

 

[Ajacied]

I really have no clue who will come out on top from that entire age group ('01/02); Redan, Zirkzee, Boadu, Braaf, Brobbey, Hansen and Hoogewerf, but it looks promising. If you put a gun to my head I'd say Zirkzee just because he has a rare combination of skills and size. In terms of sheer skill, I like Hansen and Redan a lot. Boadu is the safest bet, but he's also the furthest in his development. Then again, I could see a lot of them bust into nobody's as well.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

As to the two Americans on the list, Reyna belongs on the listing. Busio does not. Stat-watching, playing time watching. Thats what that is. There are a remarkable amount of people who've watched a lot of Busio who don't like how he plays. I don't think it's a coincidence. Damian Las, a goalkeeper at Fulham, should've been named instead. But 2002 is a terrible generation for the USA. The worst age group in years. I can't imagine we have two of the 60 best players in the world for that age group.

There are three US-eligible players on the list who play international football for other teams, Efrain Alvarez, Malik Tillman and Yunus Musah. I don't know much about Musah. I've read Tillman is better than his brother and more of a central midfielder than an attacking midfielder that his brother is. Alvarez is a #10. Great technically and creative. Fitness is a big problem, and his work-rate is pretty terrible. Talented kid, but he needs to improve his professionalism, and thats not to say he's a bad kid in the dressing room or anything like that, but professional athletes need to put work into areas that the average person in society does not need to.

 

[YNWA14]

Speaking of Madueke:



Really nice goal; he also scored a bicycle kick in September for England. Don't know too much about the entire 02 English crop but he's the best I've seen from them.

 

[John Pedro]

He's pretty similar to Casemiro indeed. His passing needs work, but the team changed coach to one that loves possession so he'll be touching the ball a lot from now on. He doesn't take many risks in his passing, though. Very mature for his age and is amazing doing the dirty work.

 

[John Pedro]

Refreshing to see a 17y old kid doing tricks like this. Nowadays players are all about pace, there very few creative ones like Ronaldinho used to be. Talles is a very creative dribbler although I don't expect him to be like Ronaldinho or anything close to that, it's nice to see it hasn't completely died out.

 

[John Pedro]

Reinier for the win at the 90min

 

[AB13]

Arsenal got a pretty good player!

 

[Jersey Fresh]

West Ham signed Mipo Odubeko (17) from United. Supposed to be pretty well rated, scored 35 for Unitrd youth teams last season.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Richie Ledezma made the bench for PSV today for the first time. Very talented 19 year old American CAM. Hopefully he gets his debut soon.

 

[ecemleafs]

Jeremie frimpong called up to dutch u20 team for first time. Hes been very impressive for celtic in the matches hes played this year. He probably has eligibility for Ghana and england as well.

 

[John Pedro]

Antony has cooled off a lot since his hot start and has been pretty wasteful, pretty poor finishing that has haunted his end product but last night he scored a beauty and had an assist. 2 goals and 5 assist in 23 games, should've way more with better finishing. He must stay put and have a big next season in Brazil before going to Europe, playing in the Libertadores gonna be huge for him.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

Teams are going crazy these days. An MLS team signed a 14 year old goalkeeper to a first team contract. This kid is 23 days older than Freddy Adu when he signed in MLS.

And I recently saw this kid play. He's good for a 14 year old goalkeeper in the United States. He's not a prodigy. I feel like it's setting this kid up for failure. If someone is that far away from impacting your team, you shouldn't be paying them. This kid might not even be old enough to suit up for the first team by the time his contract is over.

 

[robertmac43]

For Canadian fans: The CPL has shortlisted it's 3 U-21 players of the year for the inaugural season. Here are my thoughts - slight bias towards Borges as I have season tickets to Forge....

Forge FC - Tristian Borges: Talented MF/Winger. Has a powerful left foot, maintains possession well and can pick out a good ball. He won the golden boot and is also up for CPL player of the year, so he is the logical choice to take home U-21 player of the year as well. Borges also had the most tackles and key passes per game out of all MF's. Would not be surprised to see this guy get a National Team call up in the near future.

Terran Campbell - Pacific FC: Powerful striker with great work ethic. Really came alive in the second half of the season scoring 11 goals in total. Could have easily been the golden boot winner had he started the season off a little better. Campbell is not all strength and work ethic, he has good attacking awareness, makes good runs and always finds himself in the right place at the right time,

Diyaeddine Abzi - York 9: Abzi was easily the best FB in the CPL this year. He has speed for days and kept the leagues best wingers at bay for most of the season. His offense was suspect at the start of the season but by August Abzi looked great moving forward. He supplies good supporting runs and has a knack for picking out a good cross. Abzi is a graduate of Blainville which is awesome to see. He is a sign that the Canadian Soccer pipeline is more alive than ever.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

NYCFC transfers Joe Scally to Gladbach for 2M base fee with add on’s that should reach 7M.

The deal can’t be completed until a year from now when he turns 18, but it’s another smart transfer for Eberl. This kid is an athletic terror of a RB. He might move inside to CB eventually. Excellent defender, as well. If there’s any complaint, his touch and passing can be spotty. Supposedly this deal had been in the workings for about a year, and Gladbach was insistent on getting a deal get done to the point NYCFC thought it was too much money to refuse.

 

[bluesfan94]

NYCFC transfers Joe Scally to Gladbach for 2M base fee with add on’s that should reach 7M.

The deal can’t be completed until a year from now when he turns 18, but it’s another smart transfer for Eberl. This kid is an athletic terror of a RB. He might move inside to CB eventually. Excellent defender, as well. If there’s any complaint, his touch and passing can be spotty. Supposedly this deal had been in the workings for about a year, and Gladbach was insistent on getting a deal get done to the point NYCFC thought it was too much money to refuse.

I love this. Gladbach developing Americans is almost as nice as Ajax doing so.

 

[Paulie Gualtieri]

The Guardian’s annual list (2002 borns). Any omissions? Anyone you particularly like? I recognized only six players, so I’m gonna have step my game up...

Next Generation 2019: 60 of the best young talents in world football

The only trivia I have (and considering this is a hockey forum) is that Tim Prica is a cousin of Leafs prospect Pierre Engvall.

Can't take that list seriously when Troy Parrott isn't on it.

 

[cgf]

Adeyemi being on that list is a pretty bad look; as his physical advantages simply aren't special enough to carry him to the top level without the rest of his game making huge progress, despite the early success he's enjoyed at lower levels.

Samardzic is a huge talent and definitely deserves his spot.

But...even though I like Malik a lot more than I did his brother...if I was going to nominate a 2nd german 2002er, I'd have suggested Mehmet Can Aydin, Mika Schroers or David Hummel before Tillman. Haven't seen enough of him this year to say if he's put himself into that tier and he's a good talent in his own -- so this isn't anywhere near as bad as including Adeyemi -- but those three are simply more special & have higher realistic-ceilings.

 

[JimboA]

I know I'm a biased Swede but I still think Dejan Kulusevski (Atalanta, on loan at Parma) deserves a mention in this thread. The 19-year-old winger has 3 goals and 5 assists so far in Serie A and has a fantastic workrate. He seems to have good mental abilities and is not afraid to "take charge". Creates a lot of chances.

 

[YNWA14]

Speaking of Kulusevski:



Pretty neat. These are only league stats I believe, and only Sancho/Kulusevski play in top 5 leagues.

 

[robertmac43]

Speaking of Kulusevski:



Pretty neat. These are only league stats I believe, and only Sancho/Kulusevski play in top 5 leagues.

Really cool to see a Canadian flag on the list. David representing us well!

 

[gary69]

Evilo is absent, but does anybody else have an opinion on PSG's attacker Arnaud Kalimuendo, who turns 18 in a couple of months. Scored a hat trick against Real Madrid in the Youth CL yesterday. Based on that match, seems like a stocky guy with a good movement, who has knack on being in the right spot and then good enough finishing. Has sat on the PSG bench a few times in Ligue1, but hasn't played any minutes yet.