What Happened to Gazzetta's 2020 List of 'Best 80 Young Players in the World'

In 2020, Italian outlet Gazzetta dello Sport named their top 80 football wonderkids.

The year of 2020 was heavily disrupted by COVID-19, with football being shut down almost worldwide between March and May.

Germany's Bundesliga was one of the first leagues to resume in May, and Bayern Munich went on to win the Champions League final against PSG in August.

In the Premier League, Liverpool were crowned first division champions for the first time since 1990, while Real Madrid won their 34th La Liga title.

In terms of individual players, the Ballon d'Or was not awarded in 2020, but Lionel Messi won the award ahead of Robert Lewandowski when it took place again a year later.

Erling Haaland, meanwhile, signed for Borussia Dortmund in January 2020 and the calendar year was something of a breakthrough for him.

The Norwegian was ranked in second place by Gazzetta - with Dortmund team-mate Jadon Sancho taking top spot.

Sancho scored 17 goals and assisted a further 16 more in the 2019/20 Bundesliga season, before sealing a move to Manchester United a year later.

He hasn't hit those same heights since is now looking to reinvigorate his career on loan at Aston Villa this season.

Bayern's Champions League winner Alphonso Davies, who is still with the Bundesliga giants, was in third place, with Real Madrid duo Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo in fourth and fifth.

Phil Foden in sixth rounded off a largely successful set of choices by Gazzetta, though seventh-placed Ansu Fati has not yet reached his potential - caused mainly by a serious knee injury suffered late in 2020 - and is currently on loan at Monaco from Barcelona.

Tenth-placed Eduardo Camavinga, then playing his club football for Ligue 1 side Rennes, subsequently moved to Real Madrid and is now a consistent presence in the side when fully fit.

The 14th, 15th and 16th positions are all taken up by current Premier League stars - Manchester City's Rayan Cherki, Newcastle's Sandro Tonali and Liverpool's Dominik Szoboszlai.

Arsenal's Bukayo Saka is on the list in 26th place, alongside current team-mate Gabriel Martinelli (31st).

Barcelona and Spain star Pedri is down in a surprisingly low 36th, but he is three positions ahead of another Arsenal key man in William Saliba.

Jude Bellingham's breakout season with Birmingham City earned him a spot on the list in 42nd, while other successful predictions inside the top 50 included Porto reserve team captain Vitinha - who is now at PSG - and Manchester United's Amad, then of Atalanta.

Other picks, though, have not been as successful.

In 13th place was Brazil midfielder Reinier, who was signed by Real for €30 million as part of their new recruitment drive targeted at younger players.

The 2002-born midfielder is described as 'Brazil's great hope in the number 10, a bit of a playmaker and a lot of creativity'.

Real attempted to give him the Sancho/Haaland/later Bellingham treatment by sending him to Dortmund, but his loan spell there was not a success.

He has spent most of the past five years out on loan at various clubs before he was released by Real this summer. Now 23, the playmaker is back in Brazil with Atletico Mineiro.

Giovanni Reyna (25th) is yet to deliver on his full potential despite spells in the Premier League, Bundesliga and Serie A with Nottingham Forest, Borussia Dortmund and AC Milan, while Mohamed Ihattaren (27th) moved to Juventus in 2021 but never made an appearance for the club and is now back in the Netherlands with Fortuna Sittard.

In July 2025, he was given a community service order of 60 hours after admitting to 'being an accomplice in an attempted threat and assaulting his ex-partner', as per Dutch outlet VoetbalPrimeur.