10 Young Players Ready to Break Out in 2021
Identifying this year's Haalands, Osimhens, and Brunos
Today, we shine a light on ten young footballers primed for big things in the year ahead. Since “breaking out” is quite an amorphous term, we’ll focus on players who are:
Not already playing at Champions League clubs in the big five leagues (eliminating the likes of Amadou Haidara and Curtis Jones)
Valued at less than $20m on Transfermarkt and therefore not rated among the very top tier of young prospects in the sport (removing Houssem Aouar and Leon Bailey, for example)
Essentially, this is a list of players who you can expect to have a much higher profile 12 months from now—by securing big moves, becoming established internationals, or otherwise elevating their position in the game. Alternately, this list could look hilariously idiotic in hindsight and that would also be fun.
Antony
Club: Ajax
Nationality: Brazil (capped at youth level)
Position: RW
DoB: Feb. 24, 2000 (20)
Transfermarkt Valuation: $19.80m
While it doesn’t get as much attention as their absurdly prolific academy, Ajax boasts an excellent track record as a launchpad for young stars making their “first big move” before moving on to Europe’s elite — including bringing Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Davinson Sanchez to the Netherlands and recruiting the likes of Luis Suarez, Frenkie de Jong, and Hakim Ziyech from within the Eredivisie.
So when a new player like Antony finds his form so quickly at the club, it’s a good bet that his career will kick on in a big way. Signed from Sao Paulo in the summer for a reported fee of $17.33m, he’s likely to command a far greater sum soon when a wealthier club comes calling. In 797 minutes of Eredivisie football, the fleet-footed winger has already registered 6 goals and 7 assists — equating to a ridiculous 1.47 direct goal involvements per 90.
Signed to fill Ziyech’s position when the Moroccan departed for Chelsea, Antony similarly operates from the right side but likes to shift infield onto his preferred left foot.
Loïc Badé
Club: Lens
Nationality: France
Position: CB
DoB: Apr. 11, 2000 (20)
Transfermarkt Valuation: $3.30m
Badé was a relatively unheralded prospect with all of seven appearances in Ligue 2 football to his name when newly-promoted Lens signed him away from Le Havre on a free transfer in the summer, so it’s been quite a meteoric rise for him to become the linchpin of a side that now sits seventh in the table.
Playing in the middle of Lens’ back three, Badé excels at winning back possession for his side. His 29 interceptions top the league and his 44.2% successful pressure percentage, a measure of how often his team takes possession within five seconds of him closing down a player on the ball, ranks second in Ligue 1. Badé is similarly impressive in the air, winning the second-most aerial duels in the league, and no other player in the top ten can match his 71.4% aerial win rate.
In possession, Badé is supremely composed for such a young player. He is granted broad license to carry the ball forward and the Frenchman ranks fifth in the league in progressive carrying distance. He’s also highly adept at finding teammates upfield, as he has completed the fifth-most long passes of any outfield player and 77.0% of his long passes have found their target.
It’s been an extremely auspicious start to top-flight football for Badé, who is surely catching the eye of scouts across the continent as well as the French Football Federation. The 20-year-old hasn’t been capped at any level thus far but he is showing the attributes to stand out even with a golden generation of young French defenders.
Sven Botman
Club: Lille
Nationality: Netherlands (capped at youth level)
Position: CB
DoB: Jan. 12, 2000 (20)
Transfermarkt Valuation: $11.00m
Botman is being linked with several European heavyweights in anticipation of a fire sale by Lille to settle the club’s debts, and it’s easy to see why. The left-sided center back stands 1.95m (6'5"), is dominant in the air (63 aerial duels won, fifth in Ligue 1), and has the ball-playing ability you would expect of a player reared at Ajax’s academy.
Botman ranks second among all outfield players in Ligue 1 this season in progressive passing distance (7,425 meters) and seventh in passes into the final third (76) while completing 87.9% of his passing attempts.
Perhaps the most impressive attribute in Botman’s locker is his durability: after completing every single minute of the Eredivisie season while on loan at Heerenveen last season, Botman has yet to miss a minute in Lille’s domestic campaign and anchors a defense that has allowed just 12 goals in 17 matches.
Lille was able to lure him away from Ajax for a reported $8.80m this past summer, and the French club looks poised to multiply that investment several times over.
Eberechi Eze
Club: Crystal Palace
Nationality: England (capped at youth level)
Position: LM
DoB: June 29, 1998 (22)
Transfermarkt Valuation: $19.80m
The hype is starting to build around the human YouTube compilation that Crystal Palace signed from QPR in the summer. Shuffled in and out of the starting lineup as he adjusted to Premier League football at the start of the campaign, Eze has started eight of Palace’s last nine matches and has four direct goal contributions in that span - including this gem of a solo run and finish in a victory against Sheffield United.
Eze’s most apparent strengths are his dribbling and ball progressing ability; he’s completed the eight-most dribbles in the league and ranks 12th among midfielders and attackers in progressive carrying distance. On top of that, Eze is a strong set-piece taker and his statistics at QPR last season, when he registered 14 goals and eight assists, show that he has a good amount of end product as well.
Another promising facet of Eze’s game is his ability to keep the ball under pressure, as Smarterscout rates him in the 84th percentile for ball retention as a left-sided midfielder. Eze is a bit like Jack Grealish in the way he glides past defenders, perhaps a trait borne out of necessity for both as they developed in the rough-and-tumble Championship. Like Grealish, Eze uses his low center of gravity to withstand challenges and dance around defenders rather than simply bursting by them, allowing him to keep the ball close to his feet after beating his man and to set himself up for his next touch.
Bryan Gil
Club: Eibar (on loan from Sevilla)
Position: LW
Nationality: Spain (capped at youth level)
DoB: Feb. 11, 2001 (19)
Transfermarkt Valuation: $16.50m
Playing on the left wing, Gil (or just “Bryan”, as he wears on his kit) has a difficult task as the primary creator for a low-possession side facing relegation. This makes it all the more impressive that, as a teenager, he ranks toward the top of the league in a variety of passing statistics including key passes (ninth) and expected assists per 90 (eighth). These underlying numbers indicate that Bryan’s lack of assists is due more to wasteful finishing than poor deliveries.
Bryan isn’t just a passer, either. While he isn’t the fastest straight-line runner, Bryan is a clever dribbler with the acceleration and close control to bypass defenders. He has completed the eleventh-most dribbles in the league and also draws over two fouls per match, using his body intelligently to shield the ball.
Bryan is a committed defender to boot, chipping in with 1.3 tackles and 0.9 interceptions per match - strong numbers for an attacking player.
Sevilla will surely be pleased with their young winger’s development and, whether he’s turning out for Sevilla or moved on to another club in the summer, you can expect to see his variety of skills on display in some big matches in 2021.
Pedro Gonçalves
Club: Sporting Lisbon
Position: CM
Nationality: Portugal (capped at youth level)
DoB: June 28, 1998 (22)
Transfermarkt Valuation: $8.80m
A journeyman prospect who had previously spent time on the books of Braga, Valencia, and Wolves, Gonçalves (also known as Pote) enjoyed a promising season at Familiçao last season with five goals and five assists from midfield and was scooped up by Sporting for a relatively modest fee of just over $7 million dollars.
Slotting in as one of the two attacking midfielders in Sporting’s 3-4-2-1 formation, Gonçalves has been nothing short of a revelation as he leads the league with 11 goals (all from open play), is eighth in key passes per 90 minutes (1.8), and also completes 1.4 dribbles and 1.5 tackles per match.
Gonçalves looks like a proper successor to Bruno Fernandes as Sporting’s chief playmaker and danger man, even if Gonçalves’s absurd conversion rate of 0.42 goals per shot is likely to revert back a bit (for comparison, he scored with 7% of his shots last season). The 22-year-old has helped propel Sporting to the top of the table, and he’ll be an instant club hero if he can end their 18-year title drought. A first senior national team call-up surely can’t be far off.
Amine Gouiri
Club: Nice
Position: ST/LW
Nationality: France (capped at youth level)
DoB: Feb. 16, 2000 (20)
Transfermarkt Valuation: $16.50m
Gouiri is a very interesting player tactically. While spending most of his time at Nice thus far nominally as a center-forward, Gouiri’s heatmap indicates that he doesn’t spend a whole lot of time in the center of the pitch:
The Frenchman has also logged minutes as an inverted left winger on occasion, flanking a more traditional number nine like Kasper Dolberg, and it’s clear that Gouiri likes to attack the left channel regardless of where he is put in the team sheet.
Gouiri is prolific as both a finisher and creator: his 0.60 goals + assists per 90 minutes ranks him sixth among all players under 21 in Europe’s big five leagues, behind only Erling Haland, Ansu Fati, Moise Kean, Phil Foden, and Gio Reyna.
His all-around game and work rate make Gouiri a particularly intriguing prospect. In addition to his goal contributions, Gouiri ranks among the top 20 players in Ligue 1 this season in successful dribbles, attacking-third pressures, and attacking-third tackles, underlining the variety of ways that he can trouble an opponent’s back line.
Ryan Gravenberch
Club: Ajax
Nationality: Netherlands (capped at youth level)
Position: CM/CDM
DoB: May 16, 2002 (18)
Transfermarkt Valuation: $12.10m
Yet another Ajax wunderkind, Gravenberch is an enormous talent now getting his first extended run in the first team in his age-18 season.
Hailed as the “Dutch Pogba” because he stands 1.90m (6'3") and is capable of things like this, Gravenberch is a difference-maker both in and out of possession. Playing most frequently in a double pivot this season, Smarterscout rates Gravenberch in the 90th percentile among defensive midfielders in the Eredivisie for attacking output and 97th percentile for defending quantity.
Gravenberch possesses a rare blend of vision and technical quality, as he can carry the ball forward himself (1.5 successful dribbles per match) or use his impressive passing range to break the lines (2.5 accurate long balls and 0.33 assists per match).
The Dutchman received his first senior call-up in November and, while he didn’t make it off the bench, he’s certainly staking a claim for inclusion at Euro 2021.
Nuno Mendes
Club: Sporting Lisbon
Position: LWB
Nationality: Portugal (capped at youth level)
DoB: June 19, 2002 (18)
Transfermarkt Valuation: $13.20m
Sporting Lisbon has a knack for churning out talented wide players, but the club hasn’t produced anyone quite like Nuno Mendes before. A rapid modern full-back with a winger’s technical quality, Mendes is an impact player both in and out of possession.
Playing a demanding role as the left wing-back in Sporting’s 3-4-2-1, Mendes is responsible for covering a huge area of the pitch and does it with aplomb. The 18-year-old ranks third in the Primeira Liga for interceptions per match (2.6) and is dribbled past just 0.6 times per match, one of the best rates for any full-back or wide midfielder.
Mendes offers plenty going forward as well, chipping in with 1.4 successful dribbles and 0.7 key passes per 90, and his 94th percentile rating for ball retention (per SmarterScout) demonstrates a rare maturity in possession for such a young player.
Mendes has been rising up the ranks of Portugal’s youth teams but doesn’t currently have the clearest path into the senior side, as Raphael Guerreiro is definitively first-choice at left-back and Joao Cancelo and Ricardo Pereira are both experienced filling in at the position. Still, expect Mendes’ development to force him into consideration in the year ahead—as well as to generate plenty of interest from some of the continent’s biggest clubs.
Darwin Núñez
Club: Benfica
Position: ST
Nationality: Uruguay (full international)
DoB: June 24, 1999 (21)
Transfermarkt Valuation: $19.80m
Any player who leads the line for Uruguay is in vaunted company. The nation of under four million has somehow maintained a conveyor belt of elite strikers in recent years , from Diego Forlan to Edinson Cavani and Luis Suarez. From that list, Nuñez is most frequently likened to Suarez; a lofty comparison, for sure, but the young Benfica striker does have a rare mix of quick feet, vision, and physicality.
Nuñez is already the most expensive player in Primeira Liga history, as Benfica bought him for $26.40m after a 16-goal campaign for Almería in the Spanish Segunda División. Nuñez took some time to find his goal-scoring form in Portugal, with just one goal in his first nine league appearances, but he has since scored in back-to-back league matches and has also netted five goals in five Europa League appearances.
Nuñez is also making his presence felt through his clever passing and holdup play. He’s ninth in the league in assists per 90 minutes with 0.38 and, per Smarterscout data, ranks in the 94th percentile for aerial duels in open play, 75th percentile in defending quality, and 79th percentile for ball retention when indexed for his league and position.