2022 Review (2): Young football stars who dominated the game in 2022

The InsightMedia Sports Arena dig out all the breakout stars of 2022 who are likely to become great and important players in the nearest future. Most of them are currently staking starting shirts in their clubs and countries.

There is no doubt that the current generation of United States players has the potential to take the national team to new heights in the coming years, and Ricardo Pepi is likely to be a key figure in that ascent.

The 19-year-old had a 2021 to remember, becoming the youngest player to ever score a hat-trick in MLS on his way to netting 13 goals in his first full season of senior football for FC Dallas.

He also made a dream start to life in the international arena, scoring two goals and laying on three assists in his first two matches for the U.S. men’s national team.

That form means that Pepi is now expected to lead the line for Gregg Berhalter’s side at the 2022 World Cup, while it also earned him a January move to Augsburg.

The Bundesliga outfit paid a club-record €17.5m fee to bring the striker to Germany, making Pepi the second-most expensive sale in MLS history, behind only Alphonso Davies’ move from the Vancouver Whitecaps to Bayern Munich.

Now the onus is on the teenager – whose size and finishing ability has been likened by some to Erling Haaland – to prove that he can live up to that price tag within the European game.

“My team-mates tell me that Haaland and I are very similar, especially in terms of speed. Most of them even tell me that I’m better than him!”

For Benjamin Sesko, that is some billing to live up to within the Red Bull Salzburg dressing room, but so far ‘Mini-Haaland’ is showing why he is regarded as one the best teenage strikers on the planet.

The 18-year-old has already reached double figures for direct goal involvements in his debut season with the Salzburg first team, while he has also found the net for Slovenia, for whom he is the country’s youngest-ever player.

Sesko is able to match his height and power with supreme pace, with his top speed of 36.1km/h pretty much matching that of Kylian Mbappe.

Where Sesko stands out from other young No.9s is his willingness to drop into midfield and help start attacks, rather than solely finishing them off.

That well-rounded ability has the likes of Bayern Munich, Liverpool and Tottenham closely monitoring Sesko’s progress, while Manchester City, Juventus and Borussia Dortmund have also previously shown an interest in acquiring him.

Both the youngest player and goalscorer in Bundesliga history, Youssoufa Moukoko has been spoken about as a potential superstar of the world game ever since making headlines five years ago.

Aged 12, Moukoko scored almost two goals-a-game for Borussia Dortmund’s Under-15s side, marking him out as a talent of rare potential.

The 17-year-old continued his out-of-this-world goalscoring record throughout his youth-team career, netting over 140 times in less than three-and-a-half seasons before celebrating his 16th birthday with a professional debut.

Moukoko ended his first season in the senior side with three goals to his name, but Erling Haaland’s presence, as well as some bad injury luck, means that opportunities to impress have been limited in 2021-22.

That said, Moukoko has made an impact at international level, scoring three goals in his first two appearances for Germany U21s, with the hope that he will one day be leading the line for Die Mannschaft at a major tournament.

For now, though, his focus remains on making his mark at Dortmund, particularly if – as expected – Haaland departs this summer.

Ajax’s tradition of producing top-tier talents is showing no signs of slowing down, with Devyne Rensch the latest to graduate to both the first team in Amsterdam and the senior Netherlands side.

The 19-year-old has played in a variety of positions during his academy career, including both full-back positions, centre-back and defensive midfield.

Rensch has settled into a right-back role since breaking into Erik ten Hag’s squad at the Johan Cruyff ArenA, though it is expected that he will eventually be moved inside into the heart of the backline.

Described as being a “true Ajax defender” due to the comfort he has when in possession, Rensch’s ascent has been relatively rapid, given he was not scouted by a professional club until the age of 13.

But after PSV Eindhoven allowed him to move on following a trial, Ajax snapped him up, and by 2020 he was lifting the Abdelhak Nouri Trophy after being voted the club’s best academy player.

Barcelona and Juventus have both been linked with moves for Rensch in the past, and it is likely that he eventually joins the growing group of homegrown Ajax talents to sign for one of Europe’s modern elite in the years to come.

Rayan Cherki is regularly described as the greatest talent to ever emerge from the Lyon academy, which is some claim given they were the club where Karim Benzema learned his trade.

There is no doubt, however, that the 18-year-old playmaker possesses outrageous ability with the ball at his feet, with Real Madrid among the clubs to have taken a very close look at him in recent years.

Questions remain over Cherki’s decision-making and defensive work, and there is a feeling that those doubts have led to him being left on the bench more times than not by Peter Bosz this season.

When he has played, however, he has made an impact, providing five direct goal contributions in four Europa League matches while netting four times in his first three games for France Under-21s.

The youngest-ever player to appear in a Champions League knockout match when he came on for the 2020 semi-final against Bayern Munich, there remains a belief that Cherki can come close to matching the career of Benzema.

There is also a growing feeling that he may need to leave his comfort zone at Lyon to do so, but regardless of how it happens, Cherki being able to deliver on his potential would be excellent news for all who enjoy the beautiful game.

5. Harvey Elliott

At the start of the 2021-22 season, it was expected that Harvey Elliott would have an increased role within the Liverpool first team, but that his opportunities would largely come from the bench.

It became clear early on, however, that Jurgen Klopp had other ideas for the 18-year-old, as he named him in the Reds’ starting line-up for three of their opening four matches of the campaign.

In all likelihood, Elliott would have become an established starter in recent months if not for suffering a fractured ankle in September that kept him out of action for almost five months, but he has since returned to the line-up, netting his first goal for the club in early February.

The youngest player in Premier League history, Elliott joined Liverpool from Fulham in the summer of 2019, but it was not until his loan spell at Blackburn Rovers in 2020-21 that his talent truly began to shine through.

He provided 19 direct goal contributions for the Championship outfit while playing as a wide forward, though he has been shifted into midfield by Klopp since returning to Merseyside.

It is a position that Elliott seems to like, too, with his recent displays having prompted many pundits to push for him to be rewarded with an England call-up ahead of the 2022 World Cup.

When Jamal Musiala left Chelsea to join Bayern Munich in the summer of 2019, he was a little-known England youth international whose lack of physicality meant he seemed a few years away from making a first-team breakthrough.

But over the course of the last two-and-a-half seasons, the 19-year-old has grown into a key player for the Bundesliga champions’, breaking a number of records along the way, while also earning himself a regular spot in the senior Germany squad.

The youngest player in Bayern’s league history at the time of his debut towards the end of the 2019-20 campaign, Musiala impressed with his confidence, quick footwork and intelligent decision-making, marking him out as a potential heir for Thomas Muller at the Allianz Arena.

That said, there is talk that Julian Nagelsmann could look to move Musiala back into a deeper midfield role, believing his close control and passing ability is an ideal combination as he aims to find a new No.6 in Bavaria.

Regardless of position, Musiala, who spent time at Southampton’s academy before joining Chelsea as an eight-year-old, looks set to continue making his mark on both the Bundesliga and Champions League stages.

When Luis Enrique was picking his Spain squad for the Nations League finals in October, the first Google result for ‘Gavi’ returned the official website of The Vaccine Alliance, with no mention of football until halfway down the page.

A result that reflects the times we live in, perhaps, but also a sign of just how little was being spoken about Barcelona midfielder Gavi outside of Catalunya and the football scouting community.

But not only was the 17-year-old selected in La Roja’s squad, he also started both matches (the eighth and ninth of his professional career), including the final, to signpost what has been a meteoric rise for one of the jewels of La Masia.

Gavi’s talent has been spoken about in hushed tones around Camp Nou for a couple of years, but not even the most optimistic supporters would have expected him to become such a key member of the first team so soon.

A sublime first touch, game intelligence and outrageous confidence are Gavi’s key strengths, though his passing and shooting are also well above-average for someone of his age.

He and team-mate Pedri are now being spoken about as being ‘the new Xavi and Iniesta’ for both Barcelona and Spain, and there is no reason to think that may not come to pass given the time both still have on their side.

When Bayer Leverkusen sold Kai Havertz to Chelsea, they would have been forgiven in investing some of the €85m fee they received in signing a replacement.

Instead, the Bundesliga outfit reached into their youth ranks and introduced Florian Wirtz into the line-up, saving themselves a huge amount of cash while unearthing a player who could prove to be even better than his predecessor.

Leverkusen beat Liverpool to the signing of Wirtz from FC Koln in January 2020, and after making his debut four months later, he briefly became the youngest goalscorer in Bundesliga history in the final weeks of that season.

The 18-year-old attacking midfielder then went on to enjoy an encouraging first full campaign of senior football in 2020-21, registering 16 direct goal contributions in all competitions.

This season, though, Wirtz has blown that number out of the water already, announcing himself as one of the most effective attacking players in Europe, capable of providing both goals and assists at an extraordinary rate for a player his age.

Already a full Germany international, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich have been credited with interest in Wirtz, who looks set to be sold for an even bigger fee than Havertz in the next few years.

While English football has been doing a roaring trade when it comes to producing high-quality wingers and No.10s in recent times, the Three Lions have been crying out for a true box-to-box midfielder around whom Gareth Southgate (and his eventual successors) can build his team for the next 15 years.

The 19 year-old has emerged as the finest young midfielder on the planet since joining Borussia Dortmund in the summer of 2020, with Bellingham capable of dictating the tempo of matches at the very highest level of the European game.

Fans of rival clubs laughed when Birmingham City retired the No.22 shirt of their youngest-ever player after he left for Germany, but those same supporters are now realising quite why such a fuss was made.

With close control any player would kill for, and the self-confidence of a seasoned title-winner, Bellingham has all the ingredients a modern-day coach would want, particularly given his goal and assist numbers have shot up this season.

Manchester United have already missed out on signing him once but are unlikely to give up that easily, while Liverpool and Chelsea will also be in the race when Bellingham eventually leaves Signal Iduna Park as the latest top-tier talent to benefit from Europe’s finest football finishing school.

Regardless of his next destination, there is no doubt that Bellingham’s is a name that will be around the very top of the European and world game for years and years to come.