The 100 Best Prospects in Football Right Now

Hello all, welcome back to the blog. Every year, I always do some over the top super long post that takes ages to make. This year, this is it. Or one of them, at least. I recently read a Bleacher Report article from back in 2015 that followed this same premise. I will go about things a little differently, and will do 18-year-old players and under, as of June 14th. We have a long list, so let’s get started.

 

100th: Arijon Ibrahimovic

Age: 17

Team: Bayern Munich

 

Don’t confuse this German midfielder with Zlatan, they’re not related. However, as one Ibrahimovic leaves the football scene, a new one bursts onto it. He’s made his senior debut for Bayern, 13 minutes off the bench vs Bochum, and has played all across Bayern’s youth setup. 

 

99th: Filip Zivkovic

Age: 16

Team: NK Osijek

 

Making his senior debut in March, Filip Zivkovic has played intermittently for Osijek at the age of 16. The winger has time on his side and could gain a big move in the next couple of years. 

 

98th: Gabriel Misehouy

Age: 17

Team: Ajax

 

Having made 27 appearances in the 2nd division for Jong Ajax at the age of 17, Gabriel Mosehouy could rise the ranks of this list soon. Soon, he could be the latest big money signing from Ajax’s academy.

 

97th: Ethan Butera

Age: 17

Team: Anderlecht

 

While Belgium’s current Golden Generation is coming to an end, Ethan Butera is looking to be a part of their next one. At the age of 17, he’s an irreplaceable center back for Anderlecht’s youth team. 

 

96th: Joao Veloso

Age: 17

Team: Benfica

 

Still a few levels from the senior team, Joao Veloso has been doing well for the U23 side and may even start playing for the B Side soon before breaking into the first team. 

 

95th: George Ilenikhena

Age: 16

Team: Amiens

 

This young striker was featured in my “9 young stars yet to break out that your club will regret not signing” post back in April. He finished with 17 Amiens appearances and 2 goals. Now looking like he’ll sign for Royal Antwerp in the summer, hopefully this will give Ilenikhena the first division experience he needs.

 

94th: Zidan Sertdemir

Age: 18

Team: Midtjylland

 

Back at Midtjylland after a failed spell at Leverkusen, Zidan Sertdemir is trying to rebuild his reputation at Midtjylland, and maybe even stay a little longer. The midfielder from Denmark is still yet to make a senior appearance for Nordsjalland, however.

 

93rd: Wisdom Amey

Age: 17

Team: Bologna

 

People who remember Amey being the youngest player in Serie A history, getting 1 minute off the bench for Bologna at the age of 15 in 2021, may be surprised to learn that Amey has only played 1 more game for Bologna’s senior side since then. Perhaps what Amey needs is some experience out on loan, rather than staying for another stagnant season at Bologna.

 

92nd: Mamadou Sarr

Age: 17

Team: Lyon

 

Having made his debut for Lyon in May, Mamadou Sarr will have his chance to make an impact for Lyon next season. For now though, his resume consists of a promising number of youth caps for France and Lyon’s B-Team.

 

91st: Serge Ngoma

Age: 17

Team: NY Red Bulls

 

This American winger has a clear path to the top of European football through the Red Bull system. However, he needs to work his way up quickly, as he still doesn’t have any appearances for the Senior or B-Team of New York Red Bulls in 2023.

 

90th: Dariusz Stalmach

Age: 17

Team: AC Milan

 

Dariusz Stalmach is a player who still looks like he’s finding his strengths. He’s played anywhere from CAM to CDM. His first season for Milan Primavera could have gone better. While he played many matches, he wasn’t a standout. However, at only 17, he still has time on his side to figure it out.

 

89th: Martin Georgiev

Age: 17

Team: Barcelona

 

While he’s not got much time in the limelight this season, Martin Georgiev is still a good prospect. In the Masia system, expect Georgiev to become a starting CB of a good European team in the future, if not of Barca themselves.

 

88th: Enes Sali

Age: 17

Team: Farul Constanta

 

And here we have an example of someone who left La Masia. Born in Toronto, Sali was in Barca’s youth setup for 1 full year, likely the only player in history to go from the Woodbridge Strikers to Barcelona. Sali has broken other records, the youngest debutant for Romania ever at 15 years 8 months old, and the youngest goalscorer in Romanian league history, at 15 years and 6 months old. A very strange prospect.

 

87th: Valentin Barco

Age: 18

Team: Boca Juniors

 

Born on the 23rd of July in the 25th of May, Barco has slowly integrated himself in the Boca setup. He has a bright future, and is the favourite to be the future of Argentina’s Left Back position.

 

86th: Miguel Perez

Age: 18

Team: St Louis City

 

Perez has been a big part of the new St Louis City franchise in the MLS this season, representing the city in which he was born. The American has played 12 games for St Louis this season, and could attract a big European move soon.

 

85th: Nico Paz

Age: 18

Team: Real Madrid

 

After joining Real Madrid at the age of 12 from Tenerife, Nico Paz has risen the ranks of the club. It may be a while yet until he becomes a first team regular, but this Argentine midfielder may be a homegrown talent to become a Blanco regular.

 

84th: Ethan Nwaneri

Age: 16

Team: Arsenal

 

Making headlines in September for being the youngest player to ever play in the Premier League, Ethan Nwaneri hasn’t made headlines much since then, but is slowly working his way up the Arsenal youth ranks, and hopefully can make more appearances for Arsenal’s senior team in the future.

 

83rd: Kobbie Mainoo

Age: 18

Team: Manchester Utd

 

If you’re thinking about a Manchester United midfielder from Stockport, you’d think he’d be named Darren Smith or Declan Taylor, not Kobbie Mainoo. Mainoo joined the club at age 9 and has made a breakthrough in 22/23, apparently what sealed Zidane Iqbal’s fate, and is looking likely to get plenty of game time for the senior side next season.

 

82nd: Plamen Andreev

Age: 18

Team: Levski Sofia

 

Plamen Andreev is one of my favourite players on this list, and the only one who captains their senior side. Andreev has played 27 matches as Goalkeeper of Levski Sofia in the Bulgarian First Division, and got 20 clean sheets. In 46 total appearances for the club, he’s got 29 clean sheets. It’s only a matter of time until he gets his big break out of Bulgaria.

 

Editing Jim: Sorry about this. I didn’t write testimonials on the rest of these players as I started this around 2 months ago, but I still wanted to post this as I had already put a lot of effort into this. With the other projects I have in store to work on I just can’t see myself finishing this before it’s out of date. 

 

81st: Benja Cremaschi

Age: 18

Team: Inter Miami

 

80th: Andre Gomes

Age: 18

Team: Benfica

 

79th: Garang Kuol

Age: 18

Team: Hearts (On Loan from Newcastle)

 

78th: Adyson

Age: 17

Team: America MG

 

77th: Jacob Dicko Eng

Age: 18

Team: Valerenga

 

76th: Mateus Fernandes

Age: 18

Team: Sporting

 

75th: James Beadle

Age: 18

Team: Brighton

 

74th: Luca D’Andrea

Age: 18

Team: Sassuolo

 

73rd: Nelson Weiper

Age: 18

Team: Mainz

 

72nd: Noah Sadiki

Age: 18

Team: Anderlecht

 

71st: Joshua Wynder

Age: 18

Team: Benfica

 

70th: Iker Bravo

Age: 18

Team: Real Madrid (On loan from Bayer Leverkusen)

 

69th: Kenan Yildiz

Age: 18

Team: Juventus

 

68th: Yasin Ozcan

Age: 17

Team: Kasimpasa

 

67th: Obed Vargas

Age: 17

Team: Seattle Sounders

 

66th: Badredine Bouanani

Age: 18

Team: Nice

 

65th: Jorne Spileers

Age: 18

Team: Club Brugge

 

64th: Alan Matturro

Age: 18

Team: Genoa

 

63rd: Pedrinho

Age: 17

Team: Corinthians

 

62nd: Joao Neves

Age: 18

Team: Benfica

 

61st: Malick Fofana

Age: 18

Team: Gent

 

60th: Kaide Gordon

Age: 18

Team: Liverpool

 

59th: Lovro Zvonarek

Age: 18

Team: Bayern Munich

 

58th: Ashley Phillips

Age: 17

Team: Blackburn

 

57th: Rokas Pukstas

Age: 18

Team: Hajduk Split

 

56th: George Hall

Age: 18

Team: Birmingham

 

55th: Luka Romero

Age: 18

Team: Lazio (To become Free Agent)

 

54th: Dario Essugo

Age: 18

Team: Sporting

 

53rd: Jordan James

Age: 18

Team: Birmingham

 

52nd: Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty

Age: 18

Team: Toronto FC

 

51st: Noah Mbamba

Age: 18

Team; Leverkusen

 

50th: Cher Ndour

Age: 18

Team: Benfica

 

49th: Jobe Bellingham

Age: 17

Team: Sunderland

 

48th: Diego Moreira

Age: 18

Team: Benfica

 

47th: Mario Stroeykens

Age: 18

Team: Anderlecht

 

46th: Caleb Wiley

Age: 18

Team: Atlanta United

 

45th: Hugo Larsson

Age: 18

Team: Eintracht Frankfurt

 

44th: Rooney Bardghji

Age: 17

Team: Copenhagen

 

43rd: Jorrel Hato

Age: 17

Team: Ajax

 

42nd: Lamine Yamal

Age: 15

Team: Barcelona

 

41st: Rodrigo Ribeiro

Age: 18

Team: Sporting

 

40th: Tom Rothe

Age: 18

Team: Dortmund

 

39th: Antonio Nusa

Age: 18

Team: Club Brugge

 

38th: Ilyes Housni

Age: 18

Team: PSG

 

37th: Valentin Carboni

Age: 18

Team: Inter

 

36th: Jeanuel Belocian

Age: 18

Team: Rennes

 

35th: Roger Fernandes

Age: 17

Team: Braga

 

34th: Tom Bischof

Age: 17

Team: Hoffenheim

 

33rd: Cihan Canak

Age: 18

Team: Standard Liege

 

32nd: Luis Guilherme

Age: 17

Team: Palmeiras

 

31st: Simone Pafundi

Age: 17

Team: Udinese

 

30th: Paul Wanner

Age: 17

Team: Bayern Munich

 

29th: Sergey Pinyaev

Age: 18

Team: Lokomotiv Moscow

 

28th: Wilson Odobert

Age: 18

Team: Troyes

 

27th: Leny Yoro

Age: 17

Team: Lille

 

26th: Gianluca Prestianni

Age: 17

Team: Velez

 

25th: Sael Kumbedi

Age: 18

Team: Lyon

 

24th: El Chadaille Bitshiabu

Age: 18

Team: PSG

 

23rd: Facundo Buonanotte

Age: 18

Team: Brighton

 

22nd: Lewis Hall

Age: 18

Team: Chelsea

 

21st: Alvaro Rodriguez

Age: 18

Team: Real Madrid

 

20th: Stefan Bajcetic

Age: 18

Team: Liverpool

 

19th: Julien Duranville

Age: 17

Team: Dortmund

 

18th: Arthur Vermeeren

Age: 18

Team: Royal Antwerp

 

17th: Ivan Fresneda

Age: 18

Team: Real Valladolid

 

16th: Desire Doue

Age: 18

Team: Rennes

 

15th: Evan Ferguson

Age: 18

Team: Brighton

 

14th: Eliesse Ben Seghir

Age: 18

Team: Monaco

 

13th: Angelo Gabriel

Age: 18

Team: Santos

 

12th: Arda Guler

Age: 18

Team: Fenerbahce

 

11th: Rico Lewis

Age: 18

Team: Manchester City

 

10th: Jamie Bynoe-Gittens

Age: 18

Team: Borussia Dortmund

 

9th: Kendry Paez

Age: 16

Team: Independiente DV (Joining Chelsea in 2025)

 

8th: Mathys Tel

Age: 18

Team: Bayern Munich

 

7th: Luka Vuskovic

Age: 16

Team: Hajduk Split

 

6th: Vitor Roque

Age: 18

Team: Atlético Paranaense

 

5th: Alejandro Garnacho

Age: 18

Team: Manchester United

 

4th: Warren Zaire-Emery

Age: 17

Team: PSG

 

3rd: Youssoufa Moukoko

Age: 18

Team: Dortmund

 

2nd: Gavi

Age: 18

Team: Barcelona

 

1st: Endrick

Age: 16

Team: Palmeiras (Joining Real Madrid in 2024)

 

That’s all for this one, thank you for reading this. Sorry for the last 81 players not having bios, but as I said at the top, I just couldn’t finish before it’s outdated. I’m Jim James, until next time.

 

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