#TalentRadar Top 10 Young Midfielders // 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).
The third issue of our Talent Radar Player Rankings takes into considerations three rounds of domestic league action and the opening round of the Champions League games. We haven’t taken into consideration the Europa League, nor the Capital One Cup, to maintain consistency.
More Talent Radar Player Rankings → // Goalkeepers // Defenders // Forwards
Marco Verratti and Diego Rolan retain their position at the top of the Talent Radar Young Midfielders’ rankings after terrific starts to the season. Verratti has certainly grown into his role under Laurent Blanc, developing into a vital part of the side, while Rolan has surpassed expectations with his performances at Bordeaux. Though the form of the duo has dipped slightly since the previous issue, their explosive start to the campaign keeps them at the top. Uruguayan Rolan also got on the score-sheet in that period, opening the scoring against Evian, while Verratti scored in PSG’s memorable win over Barcelona.
Climbing into 3rd spot and threatening the hold of his fellow Ligue 1 youngsters is Frenchman, Gianelli Imbula, who this week made his first appearance in our Talent Radar Team of the Week. The midfielder has been thriving under new boss Marcelo Bielsa as the Southern French side lead the way in the league. Imbula, whose performances can sometimes go unnoticed, ensured that viewers took note when he scored a fabulous left footed effort against Reims in a stunning 5-0 away victory before adding another in the fierce derby against St. Etienne. Going the way he is, it won’t be long before he makes a claim for the top spot.
The man who he replaced at third spot, Raheem Sterling, has fallen off to fourth in the standings after being unable to put in similar performances as he did at the start. Having said that, the Liverpool mans’ fall by one position is a combination of Imbula’s improvement and Sterling’s sub-par showing. It’s interesting to see how the teenager handles the pressure of being one of the most important players of Brendan Rodgers’ side, as off-late he has struggled a bit with the pressure.
Zakaria Labyad has seen a big rise from eight position, all the way up to fifth. The biggest factor working in his favour is the consistency he has maintained (something which we hold in high regard for our Talent Radar Player Rankings). That, combined with the fact that the others he’s taken over have pulled their foot off the pedal has seen the Vitesse man rise in the rankings.
A new entrant comes in at sixth as Croat Mateo Kovacic has found his feet at Inter with some good string of performances, scoring goals (that’s a new), and setting up others. Though the Italian giants haven’t completely impressed most viewers, Kovacic has been arguably their best performer ensuring that Talent Radar doesn’t miss his exploits. His performance in the smashing victory over Sassuolo also earned him his first Talent Radar Team of the Week appearance of this season.
Twente’s Hakim Ziyech is still being involved in goals at the club, but he often goes missing for large parts of the game that has resulted in him yet to make a Team of the Week appearance, and also affecting his drop in the rankings, down from fourth.
Hakan Calhanoglu comes in at eight after a few solid showings at Bayer Leverkusen, while World Cup winner Mario Gotze is finally finding his feet at Bayern Munich. The rankings are rounded off with Jesus Manuel Corona, the Mexican who has made only two appearances for Twente and yet has come into tenth spot, also making the Talent Radar Team of the Week for both those performances.
| # | PLAYER | AGE | CLUB | NATIONALITY |
| 1 | Marco Verratti | 21 | PSG | Italy |
| 2 | Diego Rolan | 21 | Bordeaux | Uruguay |
| 3 | Gianelli Imbula | 22 | Marseille | France |
| 4 | Raheem Sterling | 19 | Liverpool | England |
| 5 | Zakaria Labyad | 21 | Vitesse | Morocco |
| 6 | Mateo Kovacic | 20 | Inter Milan | Croatia |
| 7 | Hakim Ziyech | 21 | Twente | Netherlands |
| 8 | Hakan Calhanoglu | 20 | Leverkusen | Turkey |
| 9 | Mario Gotze | 22 | Bayern Munich | Germany |
| 10 | Jesus Manuel Corona | 21 | Twente | Mexico |
Written by Sami Faizullah. Chief Editor of this website.
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