Six young players to look out for in the Premier League this season
Carney Chukwuemeka (Aston Villa)
“Probably the best 16-year-old in England” was how Chukwuemeke was described by Villa’s CEO, Christian Purslow, in March last year. The hype looks well justified now: the midfielder was named the academy’s player of the season after helping the under-18s to victory in the FA Youth Cup, piquing the interest of Bayern Munich and Juventus, before committing pen to paper for Villa. Confident, skilful and rangy, Chukwuemeke is the jewel in the crown of an academy filled with big prospects – and given what’s happened at Villa Park this summer, an exciting homegrown playmaker would be just what the doctor ordered.
Michael Olise (Crystal Palace) Patrick Vieira’s first signing for Crystal Palace registered 12 goals and seven assists for Reading last term on his way to being named the Championship’s young player of the season. It prompted Palace to fork out £8m for a player who does not turn 20 until December. Wilfried Zaha and Eberechi Eze have shown that Selhurst Park is the perfect place for a tricky young winger to make the step up to Premier League stardom. Olise’s first task is to compete with them for a place in the side; if he can earn a starting spot in that company, the rest should be easy.
Billy Gilmour (Norwich) A Champions League winner in May and man of the match against England at the Euros in June, Gilmour is hardly an unknown but it is time for a player of high repute to add to his five Premier League starts. A season’s loan at Norwich, where there is an Emi Buendíashaped gap in the playmaking department, looks like the perfect platform. At Chelsea, where many a promising
youngster has been consigned to the loan system, those in the know are convinced Gilmour is destined for the first team – and with Mason Mount having blazed a trail in that regard, could a home-grown midfield pairing be just a year away?
Anthony Elanga (Manchester United)
The striker was spotted by United as a 12-year-old shortly after his family had relocated from Stockholm – where his father, Joseph, part of Cameroon’s 1998 World Cup squad, played left-back for Malmö. Seven years later he is on the fringes of the first team, scoring on his second appearance on the final day of last season. Having added another two in pre-season, the man who succeeded Mason Greenwood as the club’s young player of the year will hope to reap the benefits of a busy fixture list. “The boy is electric,” was the verdict given last month by Ole Gunnar Solksjaer – a manager always keen to give youth a chance.
Ademipo Odubeko (West Ham) A sharp two-footed striker, Odubeko has been described by David Moyes as “a player we have big hopes for” and with good reason: the Hammers poached the free-scoring teenager from Manchester United amid interest from a number of European heavyweights. He averaged more than a goal a game for West Ham Under-23s last season having done the same for the Under-18s the season before. Even with another summer arrival, a side that last season relied too heavily on an increasingly injury-prone Michail Antonio look worryingly light up front. Could Odubeko be the answer to West Ham’s perennial goalscoring woes? Folarin Balogun (Arsenal)
A prolific striker at youth level, Balogun signed a much wrangled-over four-year contract in April and has been handed the No 26 shirt. Arsenal are not short of attacking prospects – just as well given the form of their senior forwards – but with Mikel Arteta more than happy to trust in youth, the New York-born 20-year-old will surely be given his chance this term. With two senior goals in last season’s Europa League to his name despite having yet to kick a ball in the Premier League, Balogun could be just what is needed at the Emirates to shake up a side outscored by Leeds and West Ham last season.