The Wonderkid Power Rankings: Chelsea youngster into top ten, but who is the best in the world?

Welcome to the final 3 Added Minutes Wonderkid Power Rankings of 2023 – our last attempt of the year at corralling the best and brightest young talents in the global game into a top ten based on form at the senior level.

2023 has unquestionably been the Year of the Bellingham, with Jude earning the number one slot in every single week that he’s played so far since the summer. With starlets like Warren Zaïre-Emery and Jamal Musiala back in action after injury lay-offs, can anyone finally unseat Stourbridge’s finest, or will he go into our winter break in top spot once more? Read on to find out…

Leaving our top ten this week are Simon Adingra, who didn’t have a great game against Arsenal, Lamine Yamal, who was restricted to such brief cameo appearances that he wasn’t able to make much of an impression over Barcelona’s last two games, and Endrick, who has the best excuse of the lot – the Brazilian season is over, so he’s putting his feet up and celebrating becoming a national champion at the tender age of 17. We’ll see him in a few months, most likely.

10. Sávio – Girona (⬇️ from 8)

Remarkable victories over Barcelona and Alavés have put minnows Girona on top of La Liga and 19-year-old winger Sávio, on loan from Troyes (like Girona, a member of Manchester City’s sprawling network of client clubs), has been one of the main drivers of their extraordinary success, although he wasn’t pulling up as many trees as usual in the 3-0 win against Alavés.

All the brilliant dribbling was there, the sharp turn of pace was very much in evidence, and he got into just as many dangerous areas as usual (he has ten goal contributions so far this season already) but for once the end product was missing, with no shots on goal and no completed crosses to his name. Still caused plenty of palpitations among opposing defenders, as is very much the norm for the tricksy Brazilian teenager.

9. Johan Bakayoko – PSV Eindhoven (⬇️ from 5)

When we praised Bakayoko’s extraordinary scoring streak recently, we clearly also cursed him – he hasn’t found the back of the net since. His decision-making might be a part of the reason he’s dried up slightly of late, and he took on no fewer than five shots in a convincing win over AZ Alkmaar without scoring, or indeed racking up much in the way of xG.

Still, while he spent a little too much time shooting from angles he shouldn’t have and also gave possession away a little too often for comfort (20 times in all) he still did his usual trick of popping up absolutely everywhere down the right flank, using his pace and boundless energy to nip opposing attacks in the bud just as often as he found space in the final third. He didn’t make good choices this time around, but the fact that he already has four goals and 13 assists suggests that he gets it right most of the time.

8. Warren Zaïre-Emery – Paris Saint-Germain (re-entry)

Back from a brief injury break and looking none the worse for wear, the 17-year-old French prodigy has wasted no time at all in re-establishing his role in PSG’s first team with a pair of metronomic performances against Lille and Metz.

As always, he was economical and excellent in equal measure, keeping his passing smart and sensible (he managed a 96% completion rate in the 3-1 win over Metz and 93% in the draw with Lille) and getting back to recover the ball with regularity from midfielders a decade or more his senior – he ended up with eight turnovers across the two games. Mature way beyond his years and already one of Europe’s best defensive midfielders.

7. Cole Palmer – Chelsea (new entry)

Palmer has been on the cusp of the top ten a few times, but finally gets in off the back of yet another brilliant performance, this time against Sheffield United in which he scored one and set up another to give Mauricio Pochettino a much-needed win.

Palmer has been arguably the Blues’ best player since joining from Manchester City and was at his very best this week, stabbing home Raheem Sterling’s cross from six yards out to open the scoring before keeping his cool to send the ball across the face of the goal to set up Chelsea’s second when just about everyone seemed to think the ball was dead. To put the cherry on top, he also scored one of the penalties against Newcastle United as they advanced to the semi-finals of the EFL Cup.

6. Jamal Musiala – Bayern Munich (re-entry)

The extraordinarily gifted Musiala has been back in action over the last week or so after taking some time to recover from a knock, and he’s already back to his sparkling best as both VfB Stuttgart and VfL Wolfsburg found out – especially the latter, whose defence he ghosted past to head home a tempting cross and open the scoring in an eventual 2-1 win.

He was excellent in the 3-0 win against Stuttgart too, even if he didn’t get on the scoresheet himself – although he did come close on a couple of occasions. He showed plenty of his ability to be a team player in that game, too, with some brilliant usage of the ball and, remarkably, no fewer than seven tackles, an incredible number for a forward and a testament to his industry and ability to take part in the press. A great player, and it’s good to have him back.

5. Nico Williams – Athletic Club (⬆️ from 9)

The Williams brothers have been brilliant in Bilbao of late, but it’s Nico who’s understandably getting most of the plaudits after two superb performances, first in the 2-0 win over Atlético Madrid and then in a 1-0 win against Las Palmas.

There was plenty to enjoy in both matches, from typical darting runs and sizzling dribbles, but his water-cooler moment came with a goal of the season contender against Atléti, when he took the ball on the right-hand side of the area, gave himself a bit of room with a little shimmy or two, and then lashed a curling shot into the far corner from the most improbable of angles. Williams’ issue in the past has been consistency – but based on the way he’s played recently, that might not be much of a problem any more, and we’re getting more and more moments of undeniable magic.

4. Pedri – Barcelona (⬇️ from 3)

The good news is that Pedri has been excellent since coming back from injury, and he put in another very sturdy display against Valencia in an otherwise disappointing 1-1 draw. The bad news is that Pedri promptly got injured again, and missed the win over Almería in midweek. Given his injury history, there will have been a lot of clenching going on in Catalonia when that was announced.

Mercifully, he shouldn’t be out for too long this time, although he will likely miss another game or two while Barcelona manage him carefully through the coming weeks. They’ll need him back soon, too, based on the way he played against Valencia – he might be best known for his dribbling and creative canniness but he was the hardest-working player on the pitch when his team needed him to be, racking up a remarkable 116 touches as well as making five tackles and two interceptions.

3. Xavi Simons – RB Leipzig (⬆️ from 3)

The Dutchman didn’t get on the scoresheet against Werder Bremen last weekend, but that doesn’t tell the story of his performance – he was everywhere at times, and at the heart of everything that Leipzig did well going forward. The game ended as a 1-1 draw, but Leipzig would have won had they been less profligate with the many chances that Simons produced.

Simons racked up a personal expected goals and assists total of 0.75 and played no fewer than four keys passes through to team-mates as he repeatedly unlocked the Werder defence – but sadly for his stats, nobody took him up on those chances. He was also way too much for Werder to handle with the ball at his feet, drawing a Grealishesque five fouls as he ran the opposing defence ragged. A brilliant personal performance that deserved more from those around him.

2. Florian Wirtz – Bayer Leverkusen (non-mover)

Wirtz has been sublime of late and racked up a goal and two assists across Leverkusen’s last two games, big wins over Eintracht Frankfurt and VfL Bochum, although it was against the former that he was at his absolute best, turning Frankfurt inside out on a number of occasions with his movement, passing and technique.

Wirtz set the first goal up, hit the woodwork, and then wrapped up a 3-0 win with a lovely finish, half-chipping, half-curling the ball over the onrushing goalkeeper in a slow arc towards the top corner. It was a wonderfully aesthetic piece of work from a player who is simply an unceasing joy to watch.

1. Jude Bellingham – Real Madrid (non-mover)

Well, naturally. Bellingham has been by far the best young player of the season so far, and deserves to keep his ranking into the new year. He could have walked around the pitch in a drunken haze against Villarreal and still been good value for number one, but of course he was as effervescent as always and capped his year with yet another goal – as if any capping was required.

The goal wasn’t one we’ll see replayed time and again, just a routine header after a towering leap, but it did serve as another slice of proof that Bellingham is has one of the best striker’s skillsets in the world despite being a midfielder – he’s so good at finding half a yard of space, so potent in the air, and such a cool finisher. There isn’t much more to say at this point – Bellingham is simply the best in the business, and his potential is almost incalculable.