Featured Image Credit: Getty/FootyRenders
Topics: Football, Mario Gotze, Neymar, Eden Hazard
Marcus Chan
Topics: Football, Mario Gotze, Neymar, Eden Hazard
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.
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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.
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The German went on to play for the likes of Bayern Munich, PSV Eindhoven and most recently Eintracht Frankfurt.
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
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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
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
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
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.