Young players are always the focus of attention and expectations. But not all of even the most promising players live up to expectations, remaining only talented.

Someone is hampered by injury, someone because of his young age picks up the so-called “star disease” and puts soccer on the back burner, some even the most talented players mentally do not cope with the great pressure and competition in adult soccer.

We take a look at the top 10 young players under the age of 19. The best young players could safely still play on youth teams, but they have already become important players for their clubs, and some are even team leaders.

10. Jeremy Pino – 19 years old, “Villarreal

Yeremi Pino is a pupil of Las Palmas and the club of the fifth division of Spain “Roda”. Pino plays in all offensive positions and is in his second season of adult soccer at Villarreal. One of the best young footballers in the world came to Villarreal structure at the age of 14 from “Rhoda”. At the time of the transfer Yeremi had an offer from Barcelona itself, but still chose the “yellow submarine”.

Now Pinault is a rotation player, he alternates matches in the main squad with appearances in the substitution. In 2 seasons the talented Jeremi managed to play 77 games for Villarreal, scoring 14 goals and giving 5 assists. Last season he won the Europa League in 2020/21. In the final, Villarreal beat Manchester United on penalties, while Pino played 77 minutes on the pitch and did not produce any result.

Jeremi is occasionally called up to the Spanish national team. One of the most promising players has 4 matches, 1 goal and 1 assist for the national team. Among the achievements of the national team Pino has so far recorded the silver medal in the Nations League.

9. Nuno Mendes – 19 years old, Paris Saint-Germain

Nuno Mendes is already the main left-back of the world soccer “Paris Saint-Germain”. It should be noted that Mendes is the youngest player of the French club to have a regular playing practice at the club.

The promising Portuguese defender moved to PSG in the summer of 2022 from Sporting on loan. One of the richest clubs in the world will pay the Portuguese 7 million euros for the rent, and after the end of the lease deal he can buy the player for 40 million euros. Despite the way the player is spending his first season at the club, there is no doubt that Paris Saint-Germain will buy the Portuguese’s contract.

For 19 years old, the talented Mendes already has a very solid list of accolades. One of the best young players is having only his second full season in professional soccer. Last season 2020/21 with Sporting, he won the Portuguese championship, the Cup and the Super Cup, and this season he won the French championship with PSG.

Mendes made his debut for the Portuguese national team in March 2021 in the World Cup 2022 qualification in the match against Azerbaijan. Nuno has already made 13 appearances for the national team but has not scored and assisted his team-mates yet.

Nunu Mendes is only 176 centimeters tall and far away from the top of the tallest players in the world. Read the article about the player who is 210 cm tall and the entire top ten.

8. Giovanni Reina – 19 years old, Borussia Dortmund

Giovanni Reina is one of America’s top young soccer talents. This promising attacking midfielder went through the youth school of New York City and moved to Borussia Dortmund in the summer of 2019.

With his performances with the Bumblebees, Reina set two records at once. He made his Bundesliga debut on January 18, 2020, in a match against Augsburg, coming on as a substitute in the 72nd minute, and at the age of 17 years and 66 days he became the youngest American to take the field in the German championship.

On February 4, 2020, in the 2019/20 German Cup 1/8 final against Werder Bremen, Giovanni Reina scored his first goal of his professional career, while becoming the youngest goalscorer in German Cup football history.

The 2021/22 season was not very successful for the young talent. Giovanni played only 13 matches in all competitions with 2 goals and 2 assists. The deficit of playing time is associated with permanent injuries of the player, who this season is more treated than played.

“Borussia Dortmund is a club that knows how to unlock the talent of young players, so one can only hope that one of the world’s most talented players will soon end his string of injuries and be able to play at the highest level.

Giovanni Reyna has played for the U.S. national team since 2020. During that time he played 12 games, scored 4 goals and gave 1 assist. At the end of 2020 Reyna was named the best young player in the United States.

7. Jamal Musiala – 19 years old, Bayern

Musiala is in his third season with Bayern Munich. This season, Jamal has become a key player for the German club. The German is a talented all-rounder, he can play in all positions in midfield or on the flank of the attack.

One of the best young footballers was born in Stuttgart, and at the age of 7 he moved with his family to England, where he began his career. Musiala played for the youth teams of Southampton and Chelsea, and in 2019 he returned to Germany and became a player for Bayern.

Despite the midfielder’s still quite young age, he is already one of the important players for Munich and could become a star at Bayern. At 19, Musial already has as many club accolades as some mature top players do not. In three years, one of the world’s most promising players has managed to win three championships with Bayern, won the German Super Cup twice, the Club World Cup, the UEFA Super Cup and the Champions League.

Musiala took a long time to choose which national team he would play for. At youth level, he played for both England and Germany and still preferred playing for England, noting that he was more comfortable playing for England at youth level than Germany.

At the adult level, Jamal Musiala made the decision to represent the German national team. In 2021, he was included in the squad for Euro 2020, where he competed in two matches. To date, Musiala has played a total of 11 games for the national team, during which he scored one goal and provided one assist. His contributions to the team come as Germany aims to win the most expensive trophy in the world, the FIFA World Cup.

6. Eduardo Camaviga – 19 years old, Real Madrid

Eduardo Camavanga made his Ligue 1 debut for Rennes at the age of 16 and has since become a consistent player in the starting lineup. Almost all the top European clubs were interested in Kamavinga, and yet, in the summer of 2021 one of the best young players moved to Real Madrid for 31 million euros. It should be noted that at the time of the transfer Eduardo was already valued at EUR 55 million, so the “Slivos” were very lucky to get the player almost twice cheaper.

In his first season for the “Royal Club” one of the most talented players in the world played 42 games, appearing more often from the bench. Kamawinga is averaging 41 minutes per game, which is almost an entire half. Given the high level of competition and the fact that current Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti is not too fond of changing the roster, relying mostly on proven players, it is likely that Real Madrid are counting on the promising Camavanga to become the club’s future star.

Eduardo Camavanga plays as a central midfielder, has an excellent passing game and has a fairly mature soccer mindset. He assists the team equally well in offense and defense and does a lot of work. Even since the beginning of his performances for Rennes, it was clear that this young player should become a true star of world soccer.

In the French team Eduardo Camavanga played only three games in which he managed to distinguish himself with a goal to the Ukrainian team.

5. Ansu Fati – 19 years old, Barcelona

The first representative of Barcelona in our top young players is Ansu Fati. He joined Barcelona’s youth academy in 2012 and made his debut for the Catalans in a match against Betis in 2019. Fati became the second youngest player to make his Barcelona debut. Since the beginning of his performances in professional soccer, Ansou has been called the successor of Lionel Messi himself.

Ansu Fati could even claim the first place in our top most promising footballers. In the fall of 2020, at the age of 17, Transfermarkt valued the Spanish striker at 80 million euros. But the 2020/21 and 2021/22 seasons were unsuccessful for the young player. In those two seasons, Fati played only 22 games due to injuries.

And when Ansu is healthy, he demonstrates why he has been called the heir to the great Argentine and one of the most talented young players in the world. This season, Fati has 12 matches, 6 goals and 1 assist to his credit, and this despite the fact that the Spaniard has only played 485 minutes on the field.

For the Spain national team Ansu Fati played 4 matches and scored 1 goal. It is interesting that the only goal that Fati scored for the national team, as well as our previous hero, Eduardo Kamavinga, scored against Ukraine.

4. Gavi – 17 years old, “Barcelona”

The next most promising player is Fati’s teammate, 17-year-old prodigy Gavi, who is also the youngest player of the top. He is credited with a resemblance to another legend of Barcelona, and now the coach of this club, Javi Hernandez.

Apart from a similar nickname, Xavi and Gavi are similar in position and manner of play. The young talent of the Catalans has a great vision of the game, great passing and dribbling – the qualities which were the main ones in Xavi.

Gavi is a pupil of La Masia and the 2021/22 season is the first of his adult career. But already at such a young age the Spaniard has become an important figure in the Barcelona squad. The talented footballer has already managed to play 44 matches in all competitions and score 8 assists.

In the summer of 2023, Gavi’s contract with the “Blue Granatovites” expires, the sides have been discussing the details of a new agreement for quite some time, but so far they have not reached a compromise. There were reports in the media that the player is actively interested in the giants: Liverpool, Manchester United, Bayern and PSG, but Barcelona intends to keep the promising young player.

3. Florian Wirz, 19, Bayer Leverkusen

Wirz is a 19-year-old attacking midfielder and a key player for Bayer Leverkusen. He started his career as one of the best young players at Cologne’s youth team, from where he moved to Bayer in 2020 for 200,000 euros.

Wirz is in his third season with Bayer. In the current season he played 31 matches in all competitions, scored 10 goals and gave 14 assists. But at the end of the season, in the match of the 26th Bundesliga tour against his native Cologne, Florian suffered a terrible injury – a rupture of cruciate ligaments, and now will be able to return to the field no earlier than September.

Transfermarkt values the young talent at 70 million euros, and the media reported that the club is ready to let Florian go for at least 150 million euros. Now there is information that the midfielder is actively interested in the giants: Bayern, Real Madrid and Barcelona.

One of the most promising young players in the world has four matches for the German national team, in which he distinguished himself with two assists.

2. Jude Bellingham – 18 years old, Borussia Dortmund

The second representative of Borussia Dortmund in our list of the world’s best young footballers is 18-year-old English midfielder Jude Bellingham. The development of Bellingham’s career is quite atypical.

He started his career as the second best young footballer in the world at Birmingham, making his debut for the main team in 2019. Already in the middle of the 2019/20 season, Manchester United, Chelsea and Borussia Dortmund declared interest in the player. “Bumblebees” managed to convince the player, and in the summer of 2020 Jude moved to Germany for 25 million euros.

“Borussia took a risk by giving such a large sum for, at the time, a promising 17-year-old player who had spent only one full season at the adult level in the Championships. Bellingham himself had also chosen a difficult path for himself. The English are reluctant to leave to play in other countries, but the young footballer was not afraid to move to another country, knowing that it was at Borussia that he would have a better chance to reach his full potential.

The club and the player did not make a mistake by choosing each other. Bellingham is in his second season at Borussia Dortmund, has become a regular player in the starting lineup and is valued at 75 million euros. The player is closely watched by Real Madrid. Marca newspaper reports that the transfer will cost the “Royal Club” in 90 million euros.

It should be noted that Bellingham this season played 43 matches in all competitions out of the 45 played by Borussia, missing one game due to injury and the other one because of the suspension. This demonstrates the enormous capacity and indispensability of one of the world’s most talented players for Borussia.

1. Pedri – 18 years old, Barcelona

Pedri is the world’s best young footballer and a central midfielder for Catalonia’s Barcelona. In 2021, the Spanish prodigy won the Golden Boy award, which is given to players under the age of 21. Pedri was given this award at 18, most likely he will become a real star of world soccer in few years.

Pedri is a pupil of Las Palmas, from which the young player moved to Barça in 2019 for 17.5 million euros. The talented Pedri is in his second season with the Granada Blues. Last season in 2020/21, he became the record holder for games played in a single season, playing 73 games.

The young Spaniard has been under a lot of pressure – at the beginning of the 2021/22 season Pedri picked up a hamstring injury which caused him to miss almost half a year in total. This season the midfielder played only 22 matches in all competitions for Barcelona, and even distinguished himself with five goals and one assist.

The player is valued at 80 million euros in 2022. According to the publication AS, Bayern Munich is interested in signing Pedri and is ready to break their transfer record for the transfer of the Spaniard. Due to Barcelona’s difficulties with finances, it is possible that this transfer could happen. Bayern are reportedly willing to pay Pedri four times what he receives at the Catalan club.

Pedri has also become a staple in the Spanish national team. In particular, at Euro 2020, the most promising footballer of the world came out in all matches in the main squad, playing 5 out of 6 matches without substitution. Pedri has 12 caps for the national team and one assist. At the same Euro, Pedri was included in the symbolic team of the tournament, as well as being named the best young player. Also from the achievements with the Spanish national team – the young player already has a silver medal at the Olympic Games in Tokyo.