{"id":1098691,"date":"2019-07-22T15:26:26","date_gmt":"2019-07-22T14:26:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?p=1098691"},"modified":"2019-07-22T15:26:26","modified_gmt":"2019-07-22T14:26:26","slug":"premier-league-youngsters-pre-season","status":"publish","type":"features","link":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/features\/premier-league-youngsters-pre-season\/","title":{"rendered":"The Premier League youngsters tearing it up in 2019\/20 pre-season"},"content":{"rendered":"

For academy prospects and aspiring stars, pre-season football is often the perfect opportunity to catch a manager’s eye.<\/strong><\/p>\n

With limited opportunities provided to top-flight youngsters these days, some of the game’s most promising starlets often go under the radar, festering away in the reserves or struggling for consistency across multiple loan spells.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/audioboom.com\/posts\/7317342-rodgers-has-helped-tick-the-boxes-for-maguire-s-manchester-move<\/p>\n

But, every so often a budding talent seemingly emerges from out of nowhere and explodes onto the scene, immediately earning the moniker ‘the next Messi’ or the ‘Stockport Iniesta’.<\/p>\n

And, that latter nickname has been earned by Phil Foden, a beneficiary of pre-season football, after the fledgling midfielder flourished in the International Champions Cup last summer, notably producing a stellar performance during Manchester City’s 3-2 win over Bayern Munich.<\/p>\n

Such was the lasting impression Foden left on Pep Guardiola during the club’s Stateside sojourn last year, that the Catalonian even referenced his impressive summertime displays as a key reason for his ascent to the first-team fold.<\/p>\n

“I had the feeling in pre-season\u00a0\u2013\u00a0I was incredibly impressed.”<\/p>\n

– Guardiola on Foden’s rise to senior football<\/em><\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So, which youngsters have impressed for their respective clubs this time round, and who could be knocking on the first-team door for 2019\/20 based on their pre-season performances?<\/p>\n

Mason Greenwood (Manchester United)<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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Age: <\/strong>17<\/p>\n

Position:\u00a0<\/strong>Centre-forward<\/p>\n

When there are major question marks about the future of the club’s main striker \u2013 in this case Romelu Lukaku \u2013 the best thing you can do as an understudy, is demonstrate to the manager that he can live without his chief threat, and that is exactly what Greenwood has been doing, with his dazzling performances yielding two goals, including a winner against Inter Milan last week.<\/p>\n

The fleet-footed\u00a0ambipedal forward has excelled this summer, prompting comparisons with Ryan Giggs’ emergence nearly three decades<\/a> ago by\u00a0Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, while the Norwegian has also hinted at a starting berth for the teenage tyro<\/a> for the club’s opening Premier League match against Chelsea.<\/p>\n

Rhian Brewster (Liverpool)<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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Age: <\/strong>19<\/p>\n

Position:\u00a0<\/strong>Centre-forward<\/p>\n

Earmarked as a future Liverpool star, the Merseyside wonderkid has left Kopites purring this summer with his destructive abilities inside the penalty area evoking fond memories of legendary Anfield strikers of old, including Ian Rush and Robbie Fowler<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Brewster\u00a0famously drew acclaim after clinching the Golden Boot in England\u2019s\u00a0FIFA U-17 World Cup triumph in 2017, but\u00a0a long-term injury lay-off plagued his progress last season. However, the scintillating Londoner is back, and he certainly means business, netting four goals in four games, including against\u00a0Borussia Dortmund, as well as a clinical brace in the 6-0 mauling over Tranmere Rovers.<\/p>\n

Jurgen Klopp has already lavished praise on the youngster, with the German even suggesting his elite-level prospect is now\u00a0“ready”<\/a> for Premier League football.<\/p>\n

Eddie Nketiah (<\/strong>Arsenal)<\/h2>\n

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Age: <\/strong>20<\/p>\n

Position:\u00a0<\/strong>Centre-forward<\/p>\n

Long-tipped to break into the first-team reckoning in north London, Nketiah has perennially been on the cusp of fighting his way into Arsenal’s starting XI, but is yet to truly hold down a prominent role in senior plans.<\/p>\n

That said, the lethal\u00a0Lewisham marksman has just turned 20 and has been making significant noise this summer, bagging three goals against high-quality opposition, including a double to sink Fiorentina and a winner during the Gunners’ 2-1 triumph over Bayern Munich.<\/p>\n

There are substantial blockades preventing Nketiah from making the centre-forward role his own in Unai Emery’s first-team \u2013 notably the world class talent of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and the high level performances of Alexandre Lacazette \u2013 but the pre-season breakout star believes he is now ready to rival Arsenal’s current crop of insatiable strikers.<\/p>\n

“I am trying to show in pre-season that I have developed and I am ready to show what I can do. I am ready to start playing regularly.”<\/p>\n

– \u00a0Nketiah on his first-team prospects<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Billy Gilmour (Chelsea)<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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Age: <\/strong>18<\/p>\n

Position:\u00a0<\/strong>Central midfield<\/p>\n

With Chelsea currently enduring a two-window transfer embargo, this could prove the perfect opportunity for Frank Lampard to nurture and blood in young talent, and that is exactly what he has been doing for his pre-season so far, with Billy Gilmour the pick of the teenage bunch.<\/p>\n

A Glasgow-born midfielder, the 18-year-old could be mistaken for a La Masia\u00a0alumnus such is his technical ability and dazzling imagination. He drew widespread adulation from Chelsea fans for his performances in Ireland and was even namechecked by Lampard for his mesmeric form against Bohemians and St Patrick’s Athletic.<\/p>\n

Lampard told Chelsea TV: “Billy Gilmour has had a brilliant trip.<\/p>\n

“As a young lad, the personality he has shown on this trip to play two games at the level has played them is great.<\/p>\n

“I just hope Billy pushes on with that this season.”<\/p>\n