What country do you take? For me it's gotta be France: Umtiti (23) Varane (23) Dembele (19) Pogba (24) Rabiot (21) Coman (20) Martial (21) Mbappe (18) Bakayoko (22) Lemar (20) Laporte (22) Zouma (22) Sarr (18) Fekir (23) Cornet (20) Germany deserves some consideration too with: Ter-Stegen (23) Tah (20) Sule (20) Draxler (23) Gnabry (21) Meyer (21) Brandt (20) Weigl (21) Kimmich (22) Werner (21) Sane (21) Plus, considering past performance you gotta assume that the young Germans will win more.
I was thinking about this yesterday while watching Germany v England and noticing how many young Germans were playing. For a long time it seemed like the best young talent was Spain, Brazil and Argentina in whatever order. England has been making strides with their young players too (Ali, Dier, Kane, Rashford, etc.) and Portugal has some gems in Sanches, Martins and B. Silva.
Don't think this is much of an argument. France is loaded for the next few international tournaments.
I agree and what gives them even more of an edge in my book is that all of their young talent is established at world class clubs, but then again the Germans always win international tournaments and their young talent is pretty deep too. More surprised that Brazil and Argentina are "falling behind" but with megastars at key positions they will be fine for a while.
Belgium has loads of talent but I hesitate to put them in the conversation until the win more internationally. Also somebody posted the snubbed France XI for this FIFA date and it was ridiculous.
Plus all the players who are French born and raised but play for other countries. Benatia, Mahrez, PEA, etc.
Totally forgot about Sarr. If Zouma gets back into form, France's CB depth will be more insane than it already is.
Yeah those lists were not mean to be comprehensive. I'll revise them, and feel free to add any more for other countries. Belgium does have some ridiculous talent on paper.
They've at least got Donnarumma and Bernardeschi, and Veratti is still young. But yeah, nothing compared to some of the other footballing powers.
Meant it more as in the amount they use to produce compared to now. No doubt that Donnarumma is a superstar in the making.
France needs that star to emerge besides Griezmann, nice to have that many really good players but nobody has been consistent including Pogba. Germany needs a striker
France will have attackers and center mids on the bench that almost every other country would build their entire team around
Italy doesn't often have a bunch of young wonderkids because of the way Serie A typically works. In the late 90s, they just happened to have Buffon, Totti, Nesta, Cannavaro, Del Piero (faggit), etc. all appear out of nowhere. Italy only winning one WC with that crop, especially considering the fact that it included a world class defense is the greatest waste of talent ever. But as they say, no Pirlo, no party. Ancelotti figured out how to use him too late to rescue that generation.
Germany has 2 fullbacks they can rely upon and Howedes is their 3rd CB, wouldn't call that a major strength at this point. Getting a lot stronger on the wing though with guys like Sane, Brandt, and Gnabry(great job losing him for pretty much nothing, Wenger)
Top tier publication The Daily Mail just released their list of the top 50 talents under the age of 23 across Europe, felt it was relevant to this thread. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/fo...Top-50-players-23-Europe-10-1.html?mrn_rm=rta http://www.football.london/tottenham-hotspur-fc/players/dele-alli-finishes-above-arsenal-12802762 50 - Franck Kessie - Atalanta, 20, Midfielder 49 - Levin Oztunali - Mainz, 21, Midfielder 48 - Niklas Sule - Hoffenheim, 21, Defender 47 - Alexander Isak - Borussia Dortmund, 17, Forward 46 - Sandro Ramirez - Malaga, 21, Forward 45 - Morgan Sanson - Marseille, 22, Midfielder 44 - Jose Luis Gaya - Valencia, 21, Defender 43 - Giovanni Simeone - Genoa, 21, Forward 42 - Victor Lindelof - Benfica, 22, Defender 41 - James Ward-Prowse - Southampton, 22, Midfielder 40 - Jose Gimenez - Atletico Madrid, 22, Defender 39 - Eric Bailly - Manchester United, 22, Defender 38 - Maxime Lopez - Marseille, 19, Midfielder 37 - Alex Grimaldo - Benfica, 21, Defender 36 - Ruben Neves - Porto, 20, Midfielder 35 - Kasper Dolberg - Ajax, 19, Forward 34 - Piotr Zielinski - Napoli, 22, Midfielder 33 - Naby Keita - RB Leipzig, 22, Midfielder 32 - Joshua Kimmich - Bayern Munich, 22, Defender/Midfielder 31 - Marcus Rashford - Manchester United, 19, Forward 30 - Marquinhos - Paris Saint-Germain, 22, Defender 29 - Ryan Sessegnon - Fulham, 16, Defender 28 - Alex Iwobi - Arsenal, 20, Forward 27 - Andreas Christensen - Borussia Monchengladbach, 20, Defender 26 - Serge Gnabry - Werder Bremen, 21, Forward 25 - Anthony Martial - Manchester United, 21, Forward 24 - John Stones - Manchester City, 22, Defender 23 - Saul Niguez - Atletico Madrid, 22, Midfielder 22 - Timo Werner - RB Leipzig, 21, Forward 21 - Mahmoud Dahoud - Borussia Monchengladbach, 21, Midfielder 20 - Adrien Rabiot - Paris Saint-Germain, 21, Midfielder 19 - Wylan Cyprien - Nice, 22, Midfielder 18 - Mateo Kovacic - Real Madrid, 22, Midfielder 17 - Julian Weigl - Borussia Dortmund, 21, Midfielder 16 - Christian Pulisic - Borussia Dortmund, 18, Midfielder/Forward 15 - Bernardo Silva - Monaco, 22, Midfielder/Forward 14 - Tiemoue Bakayoko - Monaco, 22, Midfielder 13 - Thomas Lemar - Monaco, 21, Midfielder 12 - Julian Brandt - Bayer Leverkusen, 20, Midfielder/Forward 11 - Moussa Dembele - Celtic, 20, Forward 10 - Hector Bellerin - Arsenal, 22, Defender 9 - Renato Sanches - Bayern Munich, 19, Midfielder 8 - Ousmane Dembele - Borussia Dortmund, 19, Forward 7 - Raheem Sterling - Manchester City, 22, Forward 6 - Gabriel Jesus - Manchester City, 19, Forward 5 - Youri Tielemans - Anderlecht, 19, Midfielder 4 - Kylian Mbappe - Monaco, 18, Forward 3 - Leroy Sane - Manchester City, 21, Forward 2 - Gianluigi Donnarumma - AC Milan, 18, Goalkeeper 1 - Dele Alli - Tottenham, 20, Midfielder
England would probably burn down if a 19 year old did what Jesus has done for Brazil so far Huge fan of Bernardo Silva too
I'm not sure what's not to believe for saying I'd have to think about. Sane has been awesome lately and been our most dangerous player. Doesn't mean he's better than Dembele, not sure what's not to believe. Jesus plays a completely different position so that's not really apples to apples comparison
France with 5 of the top 11 on this list. Nkunku will be the only one playing in the U20 WC. https://www.si.com/planet-futbol/2017/05/16/top-20-under-20-world-soccer?xid=socialflow_twitter_si
I closed the tab as soon as I saw Josh Sargent on the list including a mention of him starring at next summer's world cup.
J/k I kept reading and confirmed the article/list is trash. - "Marcos" Asensio - Dembele criminally low - Comparing Dele Alli to Russell Westbrook
I like that Dembele had a disappointing season and fell to 17th while Coman rode the bench and is in 6th. Even as an American homer Pulisic above Dembele is just criminal. How does anyone justify that when they are on the same team?