Leicester trio star among Europe’s top youngsters of the week
With just the Bundesliga to recommence this coming weekend, we look back at the top performing youngsters of the previous gameweek across the remainder of Europe’s top five leagues, as both La Liga and Serie A got back underway.
It was, however, a Premier League star that led the way of players aged 21 and under in the WhoScored.com ratings, with Gabriel Jesus opening his account for the season in a thumping win over Huddersfield. The Brazilian scored Manchester City’s second goal in a 6-1 victory, hitting the target with five of six attempts and creating a further five chances for teammates for a rating of 9.47.
Elsewhere compatriot Richarlison continued his fine start to life with Everton with a third goal in just his second appearance for the club to earn a rating of 8.11, while there were three further Premier League representatives, all from the same team. Leicester’s Wilfred Ndidi (7.78), James Maddison (8.28) - who opened his account for his new club - and man of the match Ben Chilwell (9.02) all impressed in a 2-0 win over newly promoted Wolves and brought to focus the potential within the Foxes squad.
Away from England’s top-flight there was a debut to remember for Athletic Club’s Peru Nolaskoian, with the centre-back the latest in a long line of impressive young centre-backs to emerge through the ranks in the Basque country. The 19-year-old opened the scoring with a header from a corner against Leganes with a goal that would prove to be decisive as Eduardo Berizzo’s men ran out 2-1 winners. With a 91 per cent pass success rate and six aerial duels won the teenager promises to be one to watch this season.
There was another strong league bow from a centre-back in Serie A too, with Jacob Rasmussen putting a disappointing competitive debut in the Copa Italia behind him to ensure promoted Empoli got off to a winning start. The 21-year-old, signed in the summer from Rosenborg, won seven aerial duels and completed 11 clearances to help keep a clean sheet against Cagliari.
Elsewhere in Italy, all eyes were on Cristiano Ronaldo’s debut in Serie A and while the Portuguese made a decent start to his Juventus career, earning a place in the team of the week, he was beaten in the ratings by Chievo winger Fabio Depaoli. The 21-year-old came head-to-head with the former Madrid star for much of the second half and completed a match-high of eight tackles for a rating of 7.70.
Some more familiar names completed the top ten this week, with Ismaila Sarr (eighth) proving to be the match winner as Rennes left it late against Angers, while Kylian Mbappe made quite the comeback for PSG. The Ligue 1 champions were 1-0 down at the break in Guingamp before Thomas Tuchel introduced the teenager, who duly scored twice to ensure the visitors picked up all three points, earning a rating of 8.49 despite playing only 45 minutes.
