All but six clubs in Europe’s top five leagues have featured at least one under-23 player – born in 1998 or later – at the start of the new season. I pick five young teams to watch this campaign.
Borussia Dortmund
Who else? It has been a stunning start to the season for BVB’s youngsters. Two 17-year-olds in debutant Jude Bellingham and Giovanni Reyna combined for Dortmund’s first goal of the new campaign against Borussia Mönchengladbach. Erling Haaland has already been on target four times this Bundesliga term, having been set up by Jadon Sancho (once) and Reyna (three times if you include a penalty won in the opening game) while also providing an assist himself for Felix Passlack in the dying moments of the most recent meeting with Freiburg. Next in line is Real Madrid loanee Reinier, who came on as a substitute in the last two league fixtures. Mainz and newly-promoted Stuttgart – with Congolese wing-back Silas Wamangituka having caught the eye in particular – may have featured even more under-23s than Dortmund at the beginning of the season, but it’s undoubtedly BVB who are the young team to watch this Bundesliga campaign.
Chelsea
You need to be really good to get a chance in the Premier League. Even more so as a young player. Fulham and Tottenham have not featured a single under-23 so far this season. Only one each has appeared for Burnley, Leicester and Newcastle. Six each have played for Leeds and Wolverhampton, but just three of them have been used in every match. As a result, it is indeed Chelsea who remain the young team to watch this Premier League campaign. The club proper youth products in Reece James, Mason Mount and Callum Hudson-Odoi have all already scored a goal each this season. Meanwhile, new signing Kai Havertz has provided his first assist while Christian Pulisic is also fit again. This may not be as young a Chelsea side as last term. But it is still the one to follow in the biggest league in the world.
Milan
Remarkably, no fewer than seven under-23s started Milan’s last game against Spezia. Gianluigi Donnarumma was in goal. Matteo Gabbia played at centre back. Sandro Tonali featured in midfield. The front four consisted of Rafael Leão, who scored twice in the second half, Brahim Díaz, Alexis Saelemaekers and 18-year-old Lorenzo Colombo who again deputised for the covid-infected Zlatan Ibrahimović. Furthermore, Jens Petter Hauge made his debut off the bench and the now 19-year-old Daniel Maldini also got a run-out late on in the game. Milan may be a shadow of some of the best sides in the club’s rich history, but they are the young team to watch this Serie A season.
Monaco
Both Monaco and Saint-Étienne have already featured a fairly staggering number of 13 under-23s at the start of the new campaign of the Ligue des talents. Despite 18-year-old Adil Aouchiche having started all six league fixtures for Les Verts, the eventual sale of 19-year-old centre back Wesley Fofana to Leicester means I have opted for Monaco as the young team to watch this Ligue 1 season. Left-footed France U21 centre half Benoît Badiashile is probably the pick of the bunch. However, it will also be particularly interesting to follow the progress of fit-again forwards Williem Geubbels and Pietro Pellegri – not so long ago regarded as the biggest teenage talents in France and Italy respectively. They’re both still just 19 years young.
Valencia
“I have been very pleased with your attitude since the first day, I do not think our squad is weak, I think it is young”, said new Valencia head coach Javi Gracia having eventually decided to continue in the job despite having not been allowed to make a single signing in this year’s summer transfer window. Where promises have been broken, the youth could flourish. Seventeen-year-old Yunus Musah has already made three La Liga starts this season – as did 19-year-old Lee Kang-in who also grabbed two assists on the opening day of the campaign against city rivals Levante. Since then, 20-year-old Hugo Guillamón has won himself a starting berth at centre back while fellow under-23s in Portuguese right-back Thierry Correia along with midfielders Vicente Esquerdo, Álex Blanco and Serbian Uroš Račić having also started at least one match each. Valencia are last season’s Chelsea. And the young team to watch this La Liga term.
In the picture (credit goes to Getty Images): Under-23 players have scored all but one league goal Borussia Dortmund have produced so far this season while providing an assist for every single one of the seven.
BREAKTHROUGH 