The Sun's List of Wonderkids for the Future

032Devil

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Sergio Aguero, 19, Atletico Madrid, striker
YET another Argentine youngster who has been tagged "the next Maradonna". Aguero joined Atletico aged just 17 in June 2006 from Independiente for a club-record fee of £15.75m. Struggled to cope with the pressure in his debut season but has already scored 12 goals in 22 games this term.


Ever Banega, 19, Boca Juniors, midfielder
CLASSY holding midfielder who has been linked with moves to some of Europe's biggest clubs. Took over the holding role for Boca when Fernando Gago joined Real Madrid last year and formed a strong partnership with Juan Roman Riquelme as the Argentine giants won the Copa Libertadores — South America's answer to the Champions League.


Karim Benzema, 20, Lyon, striker
CAME through the ranks at Lyon and has caught the eye of Arsenal, Real Madrid and Juventus after scoring 12 goals in 16 matches this season. Made his international debut for France in March and has netted three times for Les Bleus in eight games. Arsene Wenger described him as "an immense revelation".


Breno, 18, Bayern Munich, defender
BRAZIL Under-20 skipper who will join the German giants on January 1. Bayern paid Sao Paulo around £8.5million for the skillful central defender. Ex-Brazil and Bayern striker Giovani Elber described Breno as "an absolutely stunning prospect" after he agreed his big-money move.


Macauley Chrisantus, 17, Hamburg, striker
MANCHESTER UNITED, Tottenham, Arsenal, Manchester City were all interested in signing Chrisantus after his exploits at this year's FIFA Under-17 World Cup. The scintillating striker fired seven goals in seven games and was the top scorer as Nigeria won the competition. Joined Hamburg in November 2007.


Denilson, 19, Arsenal, midfielder
BRAZILIAN star who is a regular fixture in the Gunners' youthful Carling Cup sides. Bought from Sao Paulo in August 2006 for £3.4m despite just four starts for the club. All-round midfielder who is comfortable going forward but also a tenacious tackler.


Lorenzo De Silvestri, 19, Lazio, defender
TALENTED full-back who has been tipped as a future Italian international. De Silvestri will be a target for Roma, Juventus and Arsenal in January as he will be available on a Bosman when his contract expires in the summer. Made his Champions League debut in August and has made 12 appearances so far this season.


Franco Di Santo, 18, Chelsea, striker
ARGENTINE wonderkid who will join the Blues in January for £3.4m from Chilian side Audax Italiano. Like Lucas Leiva at Liverpool, he holds an Italian passport and will be able to play for the Blues immediately. May struggle to break into Avram Grant's star-studded team but should earn a few run outs in cup competitions in 2008.


Giovani dos Santos, 18, Barcelona, striker
CAME to prominence in 2005 when he was one of stars of the Mexico team that won the FIFA Under-17 World Cup. Has been a regular feature for Barca this season and has managed to keep Ronaldinho out of the starting XI. Already has four caps for Mexico.


Stevan Jovetic, 18, Partizan Belgrade, striker
A £7m target for Manchester United after becoming the top scorer in the Serbian league with 11 goals. Was named captain of the Montenegro Under-21 side aged just 17 and has already made his full international debut. A creative striker who likes to drop deep and run at defenders. He is also a deadly-accurate finisher.


Bojan Krkic, 17, Barcelona, striker
HAILED as Spain's answer to Lionel Messi by Barca fans after scoring over 800 goals in the Catalan club's youth teams. Broke the record as the youngest ever player to feature in a Champions League match in September 2007. A month later, he became Barcelona's youngest La Liga goalscorer.


Toni Kroos, 17, Bayern Munich, midfielder
NAMED player of the tournament at the 2007 FIFA Under-17 World Cup and has already made his Bundesliga and European debuts for Bayern. A creative, goalscoring midfielder, Kroos shone at youth level for both club and country. Bayern general manager Uli Hoeness has already earmarked him for the revered No10 shirt.


Lucas Leiva, 20, Liverpool, midfielder
SIGNED for the Reds in the summer from Copa Libertadores finalists Gremio after winning the Brazilian Footballer of the Year award. Likened to Steven Gerrard before his move to England, the box-to-box midfielder has already featured heavily in Rafa Benitez's side and should be a key player in 2008.


Lulinha, 17, Corinthians, midfielder
TRANSFER target for Italian champions Inter Milan after starring for Brazil's Under-17 side. Scored 12 goals in seven matches during the South American U-17 Championships before being one of the stars of the 2007 FIFA U-17 World Cup. The tricky attacking midfielder has an eye for goal and is already being touted as the long-term successor to Ronaldinho.


Alexandre Pato, 18, AC Milan, striker
KNOWN as 'the duck', Pato shot to fame when AC Milan shelled out £15m for his services in the summer — despite rules stopping him from playing until January 3. Milan have high hopes for Pato, with president Silvio Berlusconi claiming he expects the youngster to score 30 goals between January and the end of the season. Brazil coach Dunga has dubbed him "the new Ronaldo".


Gerard Pique, 20, Manchester United, defender
RETURNED to United this season after a successful loan spell with Real Zaragoza. The ex-Barcelona youth product showed huge potential during his year in Spain and is expected to feature regularly for the Red Devils in 2008. Has played nine times this season, including the Champions League matches with Roma and Dynamo Kiev.


Ivan Rakitic, 19, Schalke, midfielder
NIKO KRANJCAR and Luka Modric may have ended England's Euro 2008 qualifying hopes but new Three Lions boss Fabio Capello will have to watch out Rakitic in 2008. The Swiss-born attacking midfielder is the latest Croatian star to catch the eye and was snapped up by German champions Schalke in the summer.


Adel Taarabt, 18, Tottenham, midfielder
YOUNG French midfielder who has established himself as a regular member of Spurs' match-day squad. Compared to Zinedine Zidane before his move to North London, the left-footed trickster has already wowed the White Hart Lane faithful with his ambitious runs and long-range strikes.


Carlos Vela, 18, Arsenal, striker
THE Gunners snapped up Vela after he finished top scorer in the FIFA Under-17 World Cup in 2005 — a feat that Cesc Fabregas achieved two years earlier. The Mexican has been on loan in Spain for the past two seasons and will return to North London in January. An exciting prospect who should make his Arsenal debut this term.


Theo Walcott, 18, Arsenal, striker
JOINED the Gunners from Southampton for £5m in January 2006 and shot to fame when he was called up to England's 2006 World Cup squad aged 17. Scored the opening goal in last season's Carling Cup final and is a regular at Under-21 level for the Three Lions. Should return to the Fabio Capello's England squad in 2008.

***

The blinding omission is United's Anderson. At 19 he's playing regular football.
 
Most of those are reserve players for their teams, Anderson has been a key player for United this season.

Bullshit list.
 
Although Liverpool's Lucas Leiva made the list at 20. Only a sub when Anderson played against them and gave Gerrard a master-class in midfield play.

Three Arsenal youngsters included though. Two strikers and a midfielder Denilson, also 19.
 
Lot 49 said:
No Fabregas or Messi either so maybe they're just not including people who they think have already established themselves as stars. Although that would also rule our Benzema and Aguero so maybe it's just a shit list.
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Your right.

They did mention both Fabregas and Messi but as players who established themselves in 2007.

However, Anderson is still a relatively unknown and unheralded player outside United. A terrible omission by the Sun. Unprofessional work.
 
£15.75m for a 17 yr old :eek:

Aguero must be Really highly rated
 
This list could be from FM2008.

Except from the odd PL player they are all extremely highly rated in Football Manager.
 
doogie_style said:
Oh don't get me wrong. I totally believed you didn't make the article up or anything. I was just pointing out that all of these players (bar one or two) are rated very highly in FM2008. So mainly what I'm saying is, this is sloppy work from the sun.
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FM is the source of a whole lot of masturbation by fans on forums which are read by journos who then print said masturbation leading to yet another round of more intense masturbation.
 
JazzG said:
Possibly why he isn't in this list?
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Like I said earlier, Anderson is still relatively unknown and unheralded outside United. He's not talked about like Ronaldo and Fabregas have by either the press and other football supporters. Most football supporters don't even know that he exists.
 
prateik said:
£15.75m for a 17 yr old :eek:

Aguero must be Really highly rated
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yep he is and look at the youngsters we've shelled millions out for; rooney, anderson, nani and ronaldo. They haven't proved too bad now have they?:drool:

But as for athletico paying that much; well i'm sure the base fee must have been much lower because they don't have that much money to take huge risks on young prospects.
 
Anderson isn`t anymore established than Benzema and Aguero. He should have been in the list IMO. Apart from that the list seems to be quite good, as far as I can tell anyhow. Not all of them I have seen, but those I have seen look quite promising.
 
That Breno guy turns out to be a legend on Football Manager. I suggest my fellow Muppeteers sign him.
 
Lizard King said:
Hahaha, they've clearly used FM2008.

All of those players are the best young players on the game.
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Indeed! :lol:

I've got Aguero, Banega, De Silvestri, Lucas, Breno and dos Santos in my Atletico team :D
 
Hopefully Anderson knocks one in the back of the net today
 
I don't know who most of those players are, and the ones I have heard of aren't very good
 
The title says "Wonder kids for the future," hence ignoring Anderson as he's not for the future so much as he's known for the now i.e. playing regularly for the best club in the world.

Benzema is on the list because he plays for Lyon which MOST people don't think of when they say best clubs in the world. Lyon is like Ajax, can make it's mark on the game but is pretty much a feeder club to the bigger ones. Plus Benzema is even less known to the world then Anderson is.

The list is for players who haven't made their impact outside their baby leagues or the reserves or their limited playing time for their club.

At least that's the BS reason I'll put forth as to why Anderson isn't on the list. The way he plays makes him look 24, very professional- if you didn't know better MAYBE you can make the point?

Oh well, the United game is almost on- see yea.

Good list, haven't see nearly half of them play- will look for them now!
 
Toni Kroos, 17, Bayern Munich, midfielder
NAMED player of the tournament at the 2007 FIFA Under-17 World Cup and has already made his Bundesliga and European debuts for Bayern. A creative, goalscoring midfielder, Kroos shone at youth level for both club and country. Bayern general manager Uli Hoeness has already earmarked him for the revered No10 shirt.


this guy is the closest thing to Zidane ive ever seen
 
Bullshit. Aguero's been a regular since Torres left Atletico and Benzema's a regular at Lyon. They're still both on the list, Anderson should definitely be on the list, he's made more of an impact than Leiva.

Everytime we read the reports about our two young brazillian fullbacks, I read about this Lulinha player. Apparently the better fullback was even more creative in the Brazil youth matches compared to their playmaker Lulinha.

Oh and Spurs' player will be special.
 
JazzG said:
He is quality and a player I would of loved to see us sign but Athletico won't let him go cheap now.
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Did Aguero play in this years under 20 tournament? I saw a few great young players but I lost the program where I had them marked down. Pique was outstanding of course.
 
SAF must of read this list with his morning coffee yesterday and forgotten about Anderson
 
Jazz Tutt said:
So Berlusconi expects Pato to score 30 goals between January and the end of the season.

no pressure on the kid then....
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Only just noticed that. 30 goals, for feck sake.
I'd like some of what Berlusconi is on please.....
 
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