The Wonderkid Power Rankings: Liverpool and Aston Villa duo smash their way straight into new top ten

Every week, our journalists gather around the table to argue over a thorny question – just who is the best young player in the Premier League? The result is our Weekly Wonderkid Power Rankings, our Top 10 of the best under-21s in the top flight based not on talent or hype, but their actual performances at the highest level.

Last week, Johan Manzambi stormed into first place after seemingly single-handedly rejuvenating Aston Villa’s season – but he faces a tough task to hang on after injury ate into his minutes on Saturday.

There’s a lot of churn in our rankings this week, and no fewer than four players drop out either because of injuries, form or because players who had been below them simply performed better. Lewis Miley, Kobbie Mainoo, Josh Acheampong and Alysson all make way, meaning there’s room for four new faces, two of whom make the Top 10 for the first time in their careers.

10. Trey Nyoni – Liverpool (new entry)

Injuries and form have handed Nyoni a run in the first team and he’s been very impressive over the past few weeks, including against a high-flying Brighton side this weekend when he came on as a substitute and helped to maintain control over the fixture. Extremely tidy in possession, rugged in defence – he managed to force no fewer than seven turnovers against Villarreal in the Champions League last week – and seemingly unfazed by the step up to first-team football, Nyoni looks like an extremely bright prospect and gets his first ever nod in our Power Rankings.

9. Rayan – AFC Bournemouth (new entry)

Given how good Rayan was last season – and how much time he spent in our rankings after signing in January – we firmly expected him to be a staple of our Top 10s from the start, but instead he had a pretty slow start to the season, as did Bournemouth as a whole. That rust seems to have been shaken off, however, and the Brazilian has picked up a real head of steam over the past week or two. His fine left-footed finish against Manchester United made it two goals in 10 days, and he’s starting to look more like the player who created a lot of buzz before the summer.

8. Ibrahim Mbaye – Aston Villa (new entry)

A summer signing who arrived from PSG with plenty of hype, the 18-year-old Senegalese winger took a few games to find his feet but has hit his straps now, and has provided three assists in his last three games, including the cross for Nicolas Jackson’s winner against Manchester City on Saturday. Fast, technically adroit and rapidly growing in creative confidence, Mbaye is starting to look like a very real threat for a club who have found some very impressive form.

7. Jack Hinshelwood – Brighton & Hove Albion (⬇️1)

Hinshelwood came into the past week with four goals in three games – albeit three games separated by a fairly lengthy injury lay-off – but put in a pair of pretty forgettable performances against Liverpool and Jablonec in the Conference League. At Anfield he failed to shoot, create a shooting chance or do much of note in defence after coming on at half-time, and drops a place down our rankings as a result. He still has plenty of early-season credit left in the bank, mind you.

6. Myles Lewis-Skelly – Arsenal (re-entry)

Lewis-Skelly ended up dropping out of our Top 10 last week after briefly losing his place to Bruno Guimarães, but was back in the starting line-up and back to something resembling his best in Arsenal’s 2-0 win over Everton this weekend. The 20-year-old was excellent off the ball, winning five one-on-ones, recovering possession four times and winning all three of his attempted tackles, and knocked the ball around nicely too – laying on two shooting chances for his team-mates. A strong all-round outing from a player who’s had a thoroughly satisfactory start to the new season.

5. Luka Vušković – Brighton & Hove Albion (⬇️1)

Vušković has been good enough since signing for the Seagulls that we’re already seeing a string of rumours which suggest that almost every elite side in Europe has sent scouts to watch him over the past few weeks – but they won’t have seen him at his very best at Anfield on Sunday.

There was plenty of good work and the underlying numbers were impressive, but Liverpool’s mobile attack were able to drag him out of position with more ease than the Croatian might have liked and he was caught goalside of Alexander Isak for the hosts’ second goal. There are still a few rough edges to sand off of Vušković’s game, clearly, but he’s still been among the most impressive young players in the Premier League over the past couple of months.

4. Josh King – Fulham (⬆️1)

King has played very well without much end product over the last few weeks, so it only seems fair that he got a slightly generous assist in Fulham’s win over Coventry City – although even King himself would probably acknowledge that the credit for Oscar Bobb’s superb solo goal doesn’t really belong to anybody else.

He was excellent even before the decisive goal, however, with his passing and ball-carrying both giving Coventry’s back line plenty of headaches – he made no fewer than 23 carries forward and failed to connect with just one of his passes in the opposing half. King is growing in stature and skill. The productivity will surely follow, especially if Gonzalo García ever learns to hit the backside of a barn door.

3. Charalampos Kostoulas – Brighton & Hove Albion (⬇️2)

We don’t normally like to punish strikers too harshly for going one or two games without a goal in these rankings, but Kostoulas had the chances to get on the scoresheet against Liverpool, and three of his four shots on goal had an xG of over 0.1 – not sitters, perhaps, any of them, but presentable enough chances that a forward on such form would want to score at least one.

The fact that he was able to get into those positions in the first place against a resilient Liverpool defence was testament to his movement and positioning, at least, and he still has four goals and two assists in his last six appearances. Which makes a third-place ranking feel almost harsh.

2. Johan Manzambi – Aston Villa (⬇️2)

We feel a little bad about knocking Manzambi down into second place, because even though he was restricted to just 25 minutes of football against Manchester City by a minor injury, he still found a way to make his impact felt even in a brief cameo – and while he didn’t make a particularly big dent in the final third, he did showcase his seemingly boundless energy off the ball.

Manzambi won seven of nine one-on-one duels, a stat line that most defensive midfielders would be content with over 90 minutes. For an attacking midfielder to get himself in that many duels in the space of under half an hour is a testament to the 21-year-old’s work rate, while the fact that this is the first Aston Villa game in over a month in which he hasn’t scored or assisted serves as a testament to his quality in the final third.

1. Jérémy Jacquet – Liverpool (⬆️2)

Jacquet followed up what was probably his worst performance for Liverpool so far (in their 4-3 win over Villarreal last week) with one of his best in the 2-0 win over Brighton, and the clean sheet that Andoni Iraola’s side kept owed plenty to the Frenchman’s determination and imposing defensive style.

He seemed to be in the right place at the right time whenever a question was asked, and was both dominant in the air and convincing on the ground as he shut down several waves of potentially dangerous attacks. This a rare outings in which he didn’t show off his quality on the ball, but he did his more traditional defensive work quite brilliantly, and earned a return to our number one spot as a result – his fourth week at the peak of our rankings already.