Lionel Messi named his four Premier League stars of the future, two aged brilliantly

Lionel Messi tipped four Premier League stars for greatness three years back, with his selections the definition of a mixed bag.

Many years ago the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner was a young prospect himself and Messi has regularly demonstrated a keen eye for talent.

And back in 2020, he singled out for players making waves in the Premier League.

Messi took part in an activation with Topps and designed his own Champions League cards.

Some cards focused on the 'Greatest Moments' of his career, but others had a nod for 'Top Talents' and 'Youth on the Rise.'

In total, Messi named 15 exciting youngsters and then gave a sentence about every player and what they bring to the table.

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Ousmane Dembele, Frenkie De Jong, Kylian Mbappe and Joao Felix were among those to get the recognition.

But from a Premier League perspective, Messi gave props to Trent Alexander-Arnold, Phil Foden, Christian Pulisic and Mason Mount.

Messi came up against Alexander-Arnold in the 2018/19 Champions League semi-final and said he is "impressive going forward" while calling him "the future".

He continues to be Liverpool's main creative force and is now doing the business in an England shirt too.

Image: Getty

Foden has blossomed under Pep Guardiola, a manager Messi knows well, and the Argentine correctly predicted he will "do amazing things" as he has gone on to become an integral part of an all-conquering Manchester City side.

Messi praised Pulisic's "agility" and said Mount had the potential to become "one of the best".

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Both were at Chelsea at the time and won the Champions League a year later.

However both left in the summer, with Pulisic moving to AC Milan for £18 million and Mount joining Manchester United for £55 million.

Pulisic has scored six times in Serie A, while Mount is yet to open his account for United and has been plagued by injury problems.