#TalentRadar Top 10 Young Defenders // As part of our Talent Radar feature, we will regularly publish Player Rankings of Young Players divided across the four primary positions (goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders & forwards) and focusing on the 6 big leagues of Europe (Bundesliga, La Liga, Premier League, Serie A, Ligue 1 & Eredivisie).
Some FAQs worth reading just to clarify any doubts about this.
What is Talent Radar? Read this for complete details on the feature.
What is the eligibility criteria? Players that were aged 21 years and below on June 1st 2014, are eligible for Talent Radar.
How often will these be published? The rankings will be updated and published every fortnight, along with our Talent Radar Team of the Week.
On what basis are these rankings made? These rankings are purely based on our opinion of the players and their performances. Our opinions are based on various factors; if you do have a question/criticism/feedback about the inclusion/exclusion of a player, then do leave a comment below.
What’s the point of all this? Good question. Well for one thing, it’s fun (isn’t it?). Secondly, we always track the progress and performances of youngsters under our Talent Radar feature. Those who are featured here and in our weekly, monthly pieces, will also be recognised in our end of season Talent Radar Young Player Awards and ofcourse will also influence our hugely popular 100 Best Young Players to Watch list (at the end of the calendar year).
More Talent Radar Player Rankings → // Goalkeepers // Midfielders // Forwards
There’s some movement in our Top 10 Young Defenders Player Rankings. Eric Dier retains top spot despite his average showing against Liverpool; his previous Team of the Week worthy appearances keep him at #1. Marquinhos stays in second spot but any slip-up from Dier will see the Brazilian through, the ex-Roma man is ofcourse in the first team until Thiago Silva is back from injury, and his confident performance may well convince Laurent Blanc to keep him at the back.
Layvin Kurzawa climbs one spot replacing Calum Chambers who drops down. The Frenchman didn’t exactly have the best of performances but Chambers failed to make an appearance for the Gunners against Leicester and that remains a worry for him. He has impressed so far this season, but chances seem bleak if Arsenal’s defence remains fit (big if). The Englishman could very well be in free fall as a result. The likes of Kurzawa are expected to play regularly for their sides, and that doesn’t bode well for Chambers’ chances in the rankings. Having said that, Kurzawa too would need to improve on his performances, besides that one brilliant game against Nantes, he has been less than spectacular.
One player rising though is Javier Manquillo, the young Spaniard has played two Premier League games since his move from Atletico Madrid and both have certainly been positive. All signs point to a regular and sustained spot in the first team at Anfield; with the youngster taking the chances presented to him with open arms, expect him to rise further. He’s up from #9 and into the Top 5 spots, breathing down on Kurzawa and Chambers in particular.
Tin Jedvaj is another one who has seen a commendable rise; his most recent game for Leverkusen was memorable, opening the scoring for the opposition with an own goal before tying things up through a neat finish following a run into the box. His blushes were spared as Leverkusen emerged 4-2 winners and hopefully the Croat has done enough to ensure he retains his spot in Roger Schmidt’s side.
Andrew Robertson and Mike van der Hoorn haven’t been able to maintain form right throughout August and that could see them fall out of the Top 10 Young Defenders rankings. They could lose their place to the new comers in the list, Joshua Brenet of PSV Eindhoven and Aymeric Laporte (who was in last season’s Talent Radar Team of the Season) have both entered the Top 10. Still unsure of the former but the latter is certainly one of the best young central defenders out there; as his reputation grows expect his rank as well to rise.
The next Top 10 Young Defenders rankings will be published on September 24th, plenty of more games to consider by then, expect a lot of shuffling by then.
| # | PLAYER | AGE | CLUB | NATIONALITY | TOTW |
| 1 | Eric Dier | 20 | Tottenham Hotspur | England | 2 |
| 2 | Marquinhos | 20 | Paris Saint-Germain | Brazil | 1 |
| 3 | Layvin Kurzawa | 21 | AS Monaco | France | 1 |
| 4 | Calum Chambers | 19 | Arsenal | England | 1 |
| 5 | Javier Manquillo | 20 | Liverpool | Spain | 1 |
| 6 | Andrew Robertson | 20 | Hull City | Scotland | 1 |
| 7 | Tin Jedvaj | 18 | Bayer Leverkusen | Croatia | 0 |
| 8 | Mike van der Hoorn | 21 | Ajax | Netherlands | 1 |
| 9 | Joshua Brenet | 20 | PSV Eindhoven | Netherlands | 1 |
| 10 | Aymeric Laporte | 20 | Athletic Bilbao | France | 1 |
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Written by Sami Faizullah. Chief Editor of this website.
