In our analysis, we evaluate all the players who played in the Top 7 European Leagues until the present day (2023/2024 Season – Games until 13/03/2024). All things considered, this type of analysis filters the best performers born in the year 2004+ with a minimum of 750 minutes played in the league. Afterwards, assessing all the positions, we can evaluate a lot of factors and indicators in their games that allow us to generate and select the players with an Rating of 6.50+ : players referred to as the Best Young Talents in Europe. It is important to realize that, for a breakdown of the clear best players, we’ve created a short list in a graphic format in which we’ve highlighted those who achieved a high average rating with the most significant number of minutes.
Regardless of the league, we present all the players that met the predefined criteria. Consequently, it’s worth noting that, according to these requirements, no players from the Premier League, Serie A and the Bundesliga were selected. Given these points, we start the following list with the Primeira Liga.
Primeira Liga (Portugal):
Firstly, with two Portuguese Midfielders, the highlight of this year’s Primeira Liga goes to João Neves, the Benfica youngster who is having a great season. Furthermore, Mateus Fernandes is exceeding expectations with this loan to Estoril even being expected to become a regular player for Sporting in the next season.
- João Neves
- Team: Benfica
- Nationality: Portuguese
- Main Position: Midfielder
- Born: 2004
- Average Rating: 7.38
- Minutes Played: 1715
- Mateus Fernandes
- Team: Estoril
- Nationality: Portuguese
- Main Position: Midfielder
- Born: 2004
- Average Rating: 6.99
- Minutes Played: 1526
La Liga (Spain):
Regardless of his age, and in his first season in La Liga, Sávio is one of the biggest attractions in the Spanish League. On the list are also both of Barcelona’s young players, consolidating their place in the spotlight. It’s also important to realize that Gavi has a great average rating but with limited minutes due to injuries.
- Gavi
- Team: Barcelona
- Nationality: Spanish
- Main Position: Midfielder
- Born: 2004
- Average Rating: 7.29
- Minutes Played: 944
- Sávio
- Team: Girona
- Nationality: Brazilian
- Main Position: Winger
- Born: 2004
- Average Rating: 7.24
- Minutes Played: 2263
- Lamine Yamal
- Team: Barcelona
- Nationality: Spanish
- Main Position: Winger
- Born: 2007
- Average Rating: 6.81
- Minutes Played: 1477
Ligue 1 (France):
Considering France one of the biggest talent factories in the world, this list certainly can be expected. Overall, Warren Zaire-Emery and Leny Yoro are some of the greatest talents in the world and are already displaying their quality on a regular basis.
- Warren Zaire-Emery
- Team: PSG
- Nationality: French
- Main Position: Midfielder
- Born: 2006
- Average Rating: 7.31
- Minutes Played: 1601
- Leny Yoro
- Team: Lille
- Nationality: French
- Main Position: Centre-back
- Born: 2005
- Average Rating: 7.10
- Minutes Played: 2038
- Christian Mawissa
- Team: Lille
- Nationality: French
- Main Position: Full-Back
- Born: 2005
- Average Rating: 6.74
- Minutes Played: 806
Eredivisie (Netherlands):
Despite the season with clear poor results, Jorrel Hato is one of Ajax’s few bright spots. Undeniably, and because of his incredible performance, it’s expected that Hato becomes a regular player in the Dutch National team.
- Jorrel Hato
- Team: Ajax
- Nationality: Dutch
- Main Position: Centre-Back
- Born: 2006
- Average Rating: 8.20
- Minutes Played: 2250
- Yankuba Minteh
- Team: Feyenoord
- Nationality: Gambian
- Main Position: Winger
- Born: 2004
- Average Rating: 7.44
- Minutes Played: 922
In addition, we can apply a stricter filter in terms of minutes (+1500 Minutes Played) that get us a list of fewer players with considerable playing time. Therefore, we present the Best Young Talents in Europe:
Altogether, we can state that five players are some of the greatest talents in the world. Even though the players are from very competitive nations, it is expected that, maintaining this competitive level, these players will represent their Clubs and National teams in the biggest international competitions. In the case of European players, it will still be possible to see some of these names at the Euro 2024.
MORE CONTENT:
BEST PLAYERS IN LIGUE 1 – FRANCE (MAR 2024)
BEST PLAYERS IN LA LIGA – SPAIN (MAR 2024)
Data from FBref.
