The world's top 50 young players were ranked back in 2012, the top three are fascinating

Back in 2012, the world’s top 50 young players were ranked.

The list of players aged 21 or under was put together by The Bleacher Report and it included some huge names that we have become accustomed to over the last few years.

Players such as Raheem Sterling, Mateo Kovacic, Romelu Lukaku, Antoine Griezmann and James Rodriguez were all included.

The top five players ranked were Christian Eriksen, Lucas Moura, Mario Gotze, Neymar and Eden Hazard.

Although the top three have all gone on to win big trophies, it can be said that all three players haven’t really maximised their careers.

Gotze scored the winner for Germany to win the 2014 World Cup but was then hit with a string of different injuries.

The German went on to play for the likes of Bayern Munich, PSV Eindhoven and most recently Eintracht Frankfurt.

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Second-placed Neymar became the most expensive player of all time when he joined French giants Paris Saint Germain from Barcelona in a deal worth £198 million.

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However, his spell in France was largely disappointing and the Brazilian completed a moved to Saudi Professional League side Al Hilal this summer.

Last but not least, Hazard, who was rated as the number-one young player back in 2012.

The Belgian was impressive during his time in the Premier League with Chelsea, which earned him a dream move to Real Madrid.

However, Hazard’s time with the Spanish giants soon turned into a nightmare as he was badly hampered by multiple injury problems.

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The 32-year-old is currently a free agent after leaving Madrid at the end of the 22/23 season. In recent weeks, there have been reports linking the forward with a move to Saudi Arabia and the USA but there have also been claims that Hazard is considering retirement as he struggles to find a new club.

The full list of 50:

50.Marco Verratti

49.Lucas Piazon

48.Raheem Sterling

47.Mateo Kovacic

46.Lorenzo Insigne

45.Ola John

44.John Guidetti

43.Bernd Leno

42.Aaron Ramsey

41.David Alaba

40.Lucas Ocampos

39.Raphael Varane

38.Luciano Narsingh

37.Jack Wilshere

36.Patrick Herrmann

35.Sebastian Coates

34.Giorgino Wijnaldum

33.Joel Matip

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32.M’Baye Niang

31.Romelu Lukaku

30.Antoine Griezmann

29.Kyriakos Papadopoulos

28.Douglas Costa

27.James Rodriguez

26.Mattia Destro

25.Rodrigo

24.David De Gea

23.Jack Rodwell

22.Thibaut Courtois

21.Victor Moses

20.Iker Muniain

19.Isco

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18.Philippe Coutinho

17.Lewis Holtby

16.Gaston Ramirez

15.Alex Oxlade Chamberlain

14.Marc Andre Ter Stegen

13.Julian Draxler

12.Phil Jones

11.Xherdan Shaqiri

10.Thiago Alcantara

9.Stephan El Shaarawy

8.Danny Welbeck

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7.Oscar

6.Andre Schurrle

5.Christian Eriksen

4.Lucas Moura

3.Mario Gotze

2.Neymar

1.Eden Hazard

Apart from the 50 players that were listed, there were honourable mentions for the likes of Lazar Markovic, Erik Lamela, Ilkay Gundogan, Steven Caulker, Kevin De Bruyne, Gerard Deulofeu, Oriol Romeu, John Obi Mikel, Paul Pogba and Son Heung Min.