The under the radar wonderkids YOUR club should be signing'
A Portuguese defender compared to Ruben Dias, A Ukrainian midfield maestro and an African teenager… the under the radar wonderkids YOUR club should be signing’
- CIES Football Observatory Weekly has compiled a list of 100 top youngsters
- They play outside Europe’s top five leagues but are ready for the next step
A new study has picked out the best young players currently playing outside Europe’s top five leagues and it could be of serious interest to your club.
The CIES Football Observatory Weekly Post has presented a list of 100 players born in 2002 or later who are lying under the radar and in the best position to take their careers to the next level.
Top of that list is 19-year-old Benfica centre-back Antonio Silva, who has been labelled the next Ruben Dias.
They estimate the defender’s transfer value at £88m and believe he is ready to follow in Dias’ footsteps and leave Benfica to star in a major league.
Silva cites the Manchester City star as a hero of his, and even wears the same No.66 shirt that Dias wore when he was coming through the ranks at Estadio da Luz.
Portuguese centre-back Antonio Silva is a dominant presence in defence for Benfica
The 6ft 2in Portuguese has been described as an old-school centre-half while also being stylish on the ball.
He made 49 appearances in all competitions last season, scoring five goals in the process.
Silva is ahead of two players born in 2002, Sao Paulo midfielder Pablo Maia (21) and Shakhtar Donetsk aplaymakr Georgiy Sudakov (20).
Maia, valued at £15m, has already made 100 appearances for his club and was linked with the likes of Fulham, West Ham and Nottingham Forest earlier this year.
Sudakov has already played seven matches for Ukraine and has 10 goals and 12 assists in 60 games for Shakhtar.
Valued at £30m, his former U21 coach has said that he is good enough to play for Manchester City of Barcelona.
Georgiy Sudakov (left) and Pablo Maia (right) are two midfielders that have caught the eye
Barcelona’s new recruit Vitor Roque is in fourth place, an impressive ranking for a player born in 2005.
Arthur Vermeeren are the only other players born in 2005 in the top 100 and both could be available for under £20m.
CIES say the 100-based experience capital metric ‘is particularly useful for scouts, as it enables them to rank players by considering both their playing time and the sporting level of matches played.’
‘This makes it easy to identify the talents whose recruitment offers the best guarantees of success.’
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