A NEW study has named Jadon Sancho and Bukayo Saka as top of their class following a fantastic breakout into senior football. The England pair is establishing themselves as household names and could play a big role at the upcoming Euros.
Research carried out by the CIES Football Observatory has ranked the most promising young players around the world based on their ‘capital experience’ model. They have broken down the results into four age categories: players born in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2003 or after and picked out 25 of the most promising youngsters in each age group.
Coming out on top in the class of 2000 was Borussia Dortmund star Sancho, who has racked up almost 100 Bundesliga appearances.
Erling Haaland was ranked third in this group with Bayern Munich’s Alphonso Davies separating the Dortmund team-mates on the podium.
Wolves star Pedro Neto took fifth, ahead of Manchester City pair Phil Foden and Ferran Torres.
The competition for places in this class was incredibly high with Barcelona’s Sergino Dest, Wesley Fofana of Leicester and Moise Kean all just outside the top ten.
In the class of 2001, Arsenal winger Saka took first place comfortably.
Having just made his 50th Premier League appearance, the 19-year-old beat Manchester United’s Mason Greenwood to the number one spot.
Fellow English football prospects Jason Knight of Derby, Liverpool’s Curtis Jones and Reading playmaker Michael Olise also made the top ten.
But there were no Premier League players in the class of 2002, where 18-year-old Barcelona midfielder Pedri took first place.
Ansu Fati was left in ninth, having missed much of the season through injury, with Gio Reyna and Eduardo Camavinga in the top five based on the experience formula.
Very few players born in 2003 or later have accumulated substantial game time at high levels, with this category topped by Florian Wirtz.
The Bayer Leverkusen talent, 17, has stepped into Kai Havertz’s old position to bag four goals in 20 league games this season.
Jude Bellingham, Liverpool’s Harvey Elliott, on loan at Blackburn, and Bayern Munich breakout star Jamal Musiala also featured high up in this class.
In total, 12 players produced in English football made the four 25-man lists across the different age groups.
