Today’s brightest stars: Profiles of best young footballers
Today’s best young footballers use modern gyms and the best training equipment. Their performance on the pitch is unlike anything we’ve ever seen before in football.
They can pull a hat trick out of thin air, turning the match around all by themselves. Still, they are only human and have strengths and weaknesses.
Their strengths lie in their physical prowess and their understanding of the situation. Talented young footballers dribble, assist, and shoot on target with equal ease.
They appear tireless and eager to play the entire match. They are also filled with childlike enthusiasm for playing and scoring.
Their weaknesses stem from their personality. If young soccer players are not respectful and humble, they can bully and sabotage their team.
The most famous example is Lionel Messi. He set the tactics for the team instead of the coach. His contract almost bankrupted FC Barcelona. Marca dubbed it “el contrato faraonico” (“contract for a pharaoh”).
Erling Haaland: Defining the Premier League with Goals and Grit
- Age: 23
- Position: Forward
- Foot: Left
- Nationality: Norway
- Height: 194 cm
- Shirt number: 9
- Player value: 196M € (estimated 100M € sign up bonus)
One of the best young footballers of the modern era, Erling Haaland is a goal-scoring machine. This season in the English Premier League, he played 31 matches.
In them, he on average scored 0.9 goals per game, or one every 95 minutes. He also had exceptional accuracy, with 1.9 shots on target per game.
Erling does not take free kicks and has only attempted one in those 31 matches. Instead, he prefers to position himself to get the ball and deliver it behind the goalie’s back.
Erling’s biggest strength is his ability to deliver deadly finishes. He has an uncanny ability to detect weak spots in defense.
He also has a masterful sense of positioning and can turn even the flimsiest pass into a goal chance. Combined with his imposing stature, defenders panic when near him. When they try to stop Erling, they can often tackle him in the box, leading to a penalty.
Erling’s biggest weakness is the lack of passion for defending. Best young footballers often do not return to defend; neither does Erling.
In fact, for every ten EPL matches Erling plays, he makes only 1 interception and 2 tackles. The upside is that he rarely gets booked; he only got 1 yellow card in the 2023–2024 EPL season.
According to SofaScore, these are Erling’s player attributes as of May 2024:
- Attacking: 83/100
- Creativity: 56/100
- Defending: 33/100
- Tactical: 75/100
- Technical: 63/100
Compared to May 2021, Erling Haaland’s scores have decreased, in particular in Attack (-5 points). His Creativity and Technical scores have also decreased (-4 and -8 points respectively).
That would seem to show Erling has become a one-trick pony. He can score plenty but he is not versatile enough to be a real threat. When defenders figure out his trick, they don’t panic and shut him out with ease. If that keeps happening, his attacking score should lower even more.
In one 2023 ESPN article we get the confirmation. The “Why Erling Haaland holds Man City back” article talks about Erling limiting the team. Manchester City scores the same with or without Erling. But, when he is on the pitch, the team lacks variety and creativity.
Kylian Mbappe: Speed and Strategy on the Global Stage
- Age: 25
- Position: Forward
- Foot: Right
- Nationality: France
- Height: 178 cm
- Shirt number: 7
- Player value: 191M € (estimated 180M € sign up bonus)
Kylian Mbappe is one of the best young footballers from France. His scoring ability is even better than Haaland’s.
In Ligue 1 in the 2023–2024 season, Mbappe played 29 matches and scored 27 times or 0.9 goals per match. That translates to scoring every 80 minutes. Still, his accuracy was a bit worse than Erling’s — Mbappe took 2 shots on target to score.
Mbappe’s biggest strength is that he keeps improving himself. As seen by his SofaScore stats, Mbappe keeps working on his skills and finesse.
He is trying to become a versatile player who the entire team relies on. But, that can also lead to trouble if he takes on too many responsibilities.
Mbappe’s biggest weakness is that his ego can get the best of him. In one situation at the 2021 Euro, France played Switzerland and the match went to penalties. The only one who missed the penalty was — Kylian Mbappe.
According to Ibrahima Konate, Mbappe wanted to show his teammates how to score and boost their confidence. His ego got the best of him and France was eliminated.
According to SofaScore, these are Mbappe’s player attributes as of May 2024:
- Attacking: 94/100
- Creativity: 73/100
- Defending: 32/100
- Tactical: 70/100
- Technical: 85/100
The same as Haaland and other best young footballers, Mbappe doesn’t care about defending. He almost never intercepts or tackles. But, he is much more creative and tries different approaches in attack.
He also cares more about technique rather than relying on raw power. Stats show it all: Mbappe averaged 47.9 touches per 2023–2024 league match compared to Erling’s 22.5. Compared to his May 2021 stats, Mbappe has improved in each aspect by 2–15 points.
Despite signing him and other stars on, PSG has not managed to win the Champions League. In the 2023–2024 Champions League, Borussia Dortmund eliminated PSG.
Over two legs, Mbappe had a total of 4 shots on target and hit the woodwork twice. Still, that was not enough and PSG lost both legs 1:0 to the team with superior teamwork.
Joao Felix: The Artistry and Agility of an Emerging Icon
- Age: 24
- Position: Forward
- Foot: Right
- Nationality: Portugal
- Height: 181 cm
- Shirt number: 14
- Player value: 29M €
Joao Felix can thank his lucky stars for playing with the best young footballers. Loaned from Atletico Madrid to Barcelona for 1 year, he is in peak player form.
He played 29 LaLiga matches in the 2023–2024 season, scoring 7 goals or once every 217 minutes. But, he does defend more than Haaland and Mbappe. Felix averages 0.3 interceptions and 0.8 tackles per game, showing his desire to help the team.
Felix’s biggest strength is pushing high-value balls through defensive lines. When his teammates are ready, Felix can serve them incredible balls.
That gives his team the power to maintain forward momentum and couple up attacking moves. Rigid defenses fall apart when Felix and other best young footballers get in sync.
Felix’s biggest weakness is relying on his teammates too much. He has a lot of variety in how he serves balls. If there’s not enough team chemistry, Felix’s passes go to waste. If he doesn’t play often enough with his team, he can’t play at his best.
According to SofaScore, these are Felix’s player attributes as of May 2024:
- Attacking: 74/100
- Creativity: 61/100
- Defending: 32/100
- Tactical: 51/100
- Technical: 61/100
Some of Felix’s attributes have improved and others have decreased compared to May 2021. He shows signs of improvement in Defending (up +4 points) and Creativity (+5 points).
But, his Tactical score has dropped (-4 points) and his Technical score is down (-1 point). That might be due to not starting very often and playing on average only 52 minutes per LaLiga match.
Kai Havertz: Precision and Poise in Key Moments
- Age: 24
- Position: Midfield
- Foot: Left
- Nationality: Germany
- Height: 193 cm
- Shirt number: 29
- Player value: 58M €
Kai Havertz started his career as one of the best young footballers in Bayer Leverkusen. He transferred to Chelsea and then to Arsenal.
During the 2023–2024 PL season, he on average played 71 minutes per game, scoring 13 goals across 37 matches. That amounts to 0.4 goals scored per game.
There are high hopes at Arsenal for him and there’s still time for him to shine as one of the best young footballers.
Havertz’s biggest strength is high pressing. He is tenacious when it comes to taking the ball away and holding on to it.
When it comes time to aerial duels, Havertz shines as well. He is not afraid to put his head where others wouldn’t put their foot.
Havertz’s biggest weakness is poor spatial awareness. Havertz often gets caught offside, plays short passes, and does rough tackles.
He is not afraid of tackling, with 0.9 tackles and 0.5 interceptions per game. Still, he isn’t very cautious and often gets booked. This season, he accrued 11 yellow cards in the EPL.
According to SofaScore, these are Havertz’s player attributes as of May 2024:
- Attacking: 65/100
- Creativity: 59/100
- Defending: 35/100
- Tactical: 50/100
- Technical: 51/100
Compared to May 2021, Havertz shows significant drops in Attack (-8 points), Creativity (-12), and Technical (-11). But, he has improved in Defending (+9) and Tactical (+7). That might mean he is being shoehorned into the defensive role at Arsenal.
Future Forecast with Predictions of the Next Wave of Premier League Phenoms
There are plenty of performance analysis tools in modern football. We know how far every player has sprinted and the number of touches he has made.
What we don’t know how to measure is player psychology and team spirit. The sport needs a way to analyze player psychology and find a way to train team spirit as well. AI analysis tools seem to be that way.
Artificial intelligence could let coaches see into the minds of their players. What are they thinking? What are they afraid of? What makes them push forward? What makes them fall back? A coach who has access to that information can give not only performance guidance but wisdom as well.
The next wave of best young footballers could come thanks to AI. Those players would learn their personality flaws that block them from achieving greatness.
They could then work on them to not only be present with their body on the pitch but work with the team spirit too. That would teach them humility and respect for their team.
If all Premier League teams adopt AI analysis tools, we could see a revolution. The understanding of player psychology could usher in a golden age of football.
We could see unparalleled teamwork and understanding between players. That would pave the way for the best young footballers of the next generation.
