The Wonderkid Power Rankings: Bournemouth, Spurs & Southampton starlets shine in our latest Top 10

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Our regular ranking of the ten best young players in the Premier League sees Bournemouth, Spurs & Southampton stars battle for top spot.

Wondering which young player are making an impact in the Premier League right now? Curious as to which of the brightest starlets in the top flight are making the biggest waves? Well, the Wonderkid Power Rankings are back to rank the ten top-performing Under-21s in England right now.

Last week, we had two Cherries on top of our countdown, with Milos Kerkez edging out Dean Huijsen to take the crown for the second time – but can he hang on this week, or will the Bournemouth supremacy be ended as Tottenham Hotspur and Southampton stars climb the ranks?

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We’ve got two players dropping out of the Top 10 this time around, with Jhon Durán and Yankuba Minteh sliding out of the reckoning after failing to make a dent as substitutes over the past week’s football, but that leaves room for one brand new entry and a returning favourite. Let’s find out how they stack up…

10. Bilal El Khannouss – Leicester City (new entry)

The Moroccan attacking midfielder breaks into the Top 10 for the very first time after he capped a run of improved form with a brilliant winning goal at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, curling the ball powerfully into the bottom-right hand corner of the Spurs goal from over 20 yards out. His direct running and hard yards off the ball have made him one of Leicester City’s more threatening players of late, and the 20-year-old looks like a player starting to come into his own.

9. Levi Colwill – Chelsea (⬇️2)

It was not a great week for Colwill, who endured an unusually awkward and error-laden game against Manchester City, during which he failed to register a single successful tackle or interception and actually opened up at least one opportunity for the opposition. Colwill has been consistent enough of late that we haven’t punished him too harshly, but it’s also been a little while since he put in a really impactful performance.

8. Rico Lewis – Manchester City (⬇️3)

Despite being one of City’s better players during their recent travails, Lewis has started to see his minutes reduced and he was benched for the win over Chelsea – and employed as a makeshift centre-half in the second half against PSG in the Champions League, a role which didn’t suit him. Usually sure-footed and tidy in possession, he looked at sea on occasions in the 4-2 defeat and gave up a couple of fouls which a ‘genuine’ defender might have avoided. There’s at least one position Lewis probably can’t play, on this week’s evidence.

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7. Carlos Baleba – Brighton & Hove Albion (re-entry)

The Cameroonian midfielder may not have been able to prevent Brighton falling to a 1-0 defeat to Everton this weekend, but he did a lot of good work defensively, putting in five tackles to keep the scoreline down, and his passing range was highly impressive, repeatedly sparking forays forward from deep positions. We’ll gloss over his three ambitious attempts on goal from 25 yards as youthful exuberance – Baleba is getting back to his best of late.

6. Savinho – Manchester City (⬇️2)

Another City youngster who had a week to forget. Like Lewis, he was benched against Chelsea after failing to impress over 45 minutes against PSG in midweek, and he was hoicked off in favour of Jack Grealish having missed a very presentable chance from the left side of the six-yard box in a game he otherwise struggled to make much of a dent in. His prior form was impressive enough that he doesn’t slip down our table too far, but this was still a week the Girona winger won’t look back on very fondly.

5. Mateus Fernandes – Southampton (⬆️3)

The Saints may be struggling, but summer signing Fernandes only seems to be getting better as the season goes on. His excellent passing range didn’t directly help Southampton to get any goals in the 3-1 home defeat to Newcastle United, but he was still the beating heart of their attack – such as it is – and one struggles to imagine that he’ll be playing in the Championship next season even if his team do go down.

It's also worth noting that while his precise passing has been a feature of his game all season, he seems to be fleshing out his all-round game, too. His dribbling is getting more dangerous and he’s making a bigger contribution out of possession as well, putting in a useful effort against a high-energy Newcastle midfield on Saturday. The brightest spot in a bleak season on the south coast.

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4. Lucas Bergvall – Tottenham Hotspur (⬆️2)

Speaking of bright sparks in bad seasons, Swedish midfielder Bergvall has been thoroughly impressive in recent weeks despite Spurs’ slide down the table and he was good again against both Hoffenheim in Europe and Leicester in the Premier League.

Granted, he missed a golden chance against the German side when the ball came to him on the edge of the six-yard box, but it wasn’t a costly miss and he was excellent in defence over the course of that match, and his fine long-distance passing set quite a few moves up against Leicester. Mostly tidy with flashes of excellence, Bergvall looks ready to be a regular starter whether Spurs stick with Ange Postecoglou or not.

3. Lewis Hall – Newcastle United (-)

Hall stands pat at number three this week after a second indifferent performance on the bounce, and in weeks when more of the players below him had really shone he might well have slipped down the rankings – but Hall was number one for some time this season for a good reason, and a couple of less impactful performances shouldn’t be punished too harshly in our opinion.

He was tidy enough on the ball against Southampton but didn’t make a dent going forward, failed to find his man with any of his six crosses, and didn’t show enough steel in defence – his Achilles heel so far has been opposing wingers running at him and he didn’t manage a successful tackle over the course of what proved to be a pretty comfortable win. Not an awful outing, but not one worth writing home about, by any means.

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2. Milos Kerkez – Bournemouth (⬇️1)

Kerkez can’t cling on to top spot this time around, and even though Bournemouth pulled off a quite brilliant 5-0 win over Nottingham Forest, it would be fair to say that Kerkez wasn’t one of the main reasons that Andoni Iraola’s side managed to thrash one of the toughest teams in the country.

Not that the left-back did much wrong – he was just a little bit of a peripheral figure, lost a few one-on-one battles down the wing, didn’t complete a cross and only contributed the sum total of 0.01 expected goals’ worth of chances for his team-mates. A 5/10 performance from a player who’s been hitting much greater heights recently, even if his team as a whole scored a very definite 10.

1. Dean Huijsen – Bournemouth (⬆️1)

Just a few weeks ago, the 19-year-old Spaniard wasn’t even in the Bournemouth starting eleven, much less our Top 10 – but since earning a place in the line-up he’s been absolutely brilliant and is suddenly finding himself linked with moves to half of Europe’s elite teams.

Once again, Huijsen did everything that could sensibly have been asked of him at the back – six clearances, two tackles and three interceptions, for those counting the stats. His passing is impressive too, and he was often able to get counter-attacks going with raking long balls downfield. He hasn’t demonstrated a single significant weakness over the last month or so, and looks like a real find for Bournemouth – and, for the first time, he’s our pick for the best young player in the Premier League.

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