The Wonderkid Power Rankings: Top four stay classy as Musiala crashes out

It’s tough, being a wonderkid. All that weight of expectation, all that pressure to perform, and you’re barely out of school… and to make it worse, 3 Added Minutes will boot you from their Wonderkid Power Rankings after just a few iffy games.

Because while many of the top ten were superb this week, several are struggling, so it is on us to reflect the harsh realities of the world by booting them out of the list. Gavi has hit a rough patch but at least clings onto his spot – while we bid farewell to the out-of-sorts Jamal Musiala, who has been a staple of the rankings since their inception but has found it tough going since the arrival of Thomas Tuchel. He got off the bench this weekend, but another underwhelming display in the defeat to Mainz sees him out of our top ten – for now at least.

Joško Gvardiol joins him in departing after a bad day at the office against Bayer Leverkusen, while Florian Wirtz was benched again while he recovers from injury, so he’s out too. Both are likely to return, just like two of our players this week, who break their way back in – and we have a brand new entry from the Bundesliga courtesy of Borussia Dortmund’s endless conveyer belt of talent.

1. Gabriel Martinelli – Arsenal (non-mover)

Death, taxes, Martinelli scoring. That makes it eight in his last ten league games, and the last time the Brazilian failed to either stick one in the net or set up someone else was in the 3-1 defeat to Manchester City back in mid-February. Which, let’s be honest, probably doesn’t bode very well for The Gunners ahead of Wednesday’s big showdown – but, with boding at an unexpectedly high rate around north London lately, Martinelli just keeps playing well, keeps getting goals, and there’s no real argument to be made for moving him off the top spot his worked so hard to earn over the last couple of months.

2. Jude Bellingham – Borussia Dortmund (non-mover)

Bellingham scored a wonderful goal this weekend, turning his marker swiftly and gracefully to give himself space to fire into the bottom corner and open his team’s account against Eintracht Frankfurt. He pretty much ran the show – again – as Dortmund finished up as 4-0 winners and put themselves top of the Bundesliga. Game after game, Bellingham shows off not just his technique and talent, but his magnificent reading of match going on around him. He’s already one of the smartest players on the ball of recent years, and he’s still only 19. A genuinely generational talent.

3. Bukayo Saka – Arsenal (⬇️ from 3)

As Arsenal do their best to crumble around him, Saka continues to keep his cool, using the ball well, starting attacks at will and making life absurdly difficult for defenders around him – and when Arsenal need him to come good – as they most certainly did in the thrilling 3-3 draw on Friday night - he does, picking up a superb assist from the byline and picking up an equaliser deep into injury time, with Arsenal’s title challenge on the line and a crowd of Southampton players surrounding him. As composed as he is skilful, as endlessly excellent as he is utterly crucial to his club.

4. Eduardo Camavinga – Real Madrid (non-mover)

The fabulous young Frenchman has been a patchy of late, often playing out of position and left-back and finding himself on and off the bench as Real juggle their squad around their European and domestic priorities – but in the 2-0 win over Celta Vigo, he was simply magnificent. Every time Celta tried to attack down their right flank, they must have felt like they were sprinting head-first into a brick wall. It probably felt much the same for most of the Celta midfield, too – Camavinga was everywhere, shutting down attacks and sparking some of his own. A superb performance, his best since the World Cup came to a close. And yes, that means the top four hasn’t changed one inch – they were all absolutely magnificent this past week, and shifting any of them up or down would be a crime.

5. Arda Güler – Fenerbahçe (⬆️ from 9)

The more Arda plays, the more bizarre it seems that Fenerbahçe seemed so keen to shelter him for much of this season – having been given the iconic number 10 jersey at the start of the campaign, he was mostly used from the bench until recently, and given his performances, he won’t be starting too many more games with his tracksuit on. Fener only managed a 3-3 draw against İstanbulspor this weekend but Arda was utterly sublime, scoring two and coming close to a Puskas-worthy strike when he picked the ball up in the middle, dribbled it past a couple of midfielders to reach the right flank, then sent a couple of defenders to Coventry as he cut back inside and sizzled a strike over the bar. Arda is beginning to look like one of the biggest prospects of his generation – and if you need any convincing, take a look at this:

6. Xavi Simons – PSV Eindhoven (re-entry)

The 20 year-old La Masia graduate bludgeons his way back into the top ten this week with another superb display, this time scoring one and teeing up a second to give PSV a hugely important 3-0 win over Ajax – a scoreline which puts PSV in the driver’s seat for the Eredivisie’s second Champions League qualification spot. That made it five goals in ten – with four assists on top – for the young Netherlands international, and served as evidence that he can do it against the big teams and not just against the lesser lights of the Dutch top tier. An elegant and increasingly dangerous player who looks likely to become a household name before too long.

7. Moisés Caicedo – Brighton & Hove Albion (⬇️ from 6)

Caicedo has been superb of late and while he couldn’t inspire his side to a semi-final victory over Manchester United, his defensive nous and tireless running was a huge part of the reason that United were unable to get too many sights on goal during the match. As his side tired around him – and many of the Seagulls’ starting eleven did look decidedly leggy as extra time wore on – Caicedo kept going, kept things tight and continued to look like a player who will deserve a berth in a Champions League side before very much longer.

8. Gavi – Barcelona (⬇️ from 5)

It’s been a slightly up-and-down season for the startlingly good young midfielder - a bit of a difficult second album, if you will – and he’s been on one of the ‘downs’ lately after struggling to heavily influence the game for the third week in a row. Barcelona at least won this time, beating Atlético Madrid 1-0 in a hard-fought match, and Gavi at least showed a few flashes of attacking intent, but he wasn’t at his scintillating best as Diego Simeone’s well-drilled side largely kept him quiet. He may be sliding down the rankings at the moment, but much like the departed Musiala, he’s so good that any decline is almost certainly very temporary.

9. Karim Adeyemi – Borussia Dortmund (new entry)

Amazingly, the 4-0 win over Frankfurt was the first time this season that Adeyemi has played a full 90 minutes in the league – a situation not helped by a couple of niggling injuries, but still a remarkable statistic considering that he already has four senior caps for the German national team. Whatever inspired Edin Terzić to give him the full game this time around, he repaid that faith in droves, setting up two goals and terrorising the defence of one of Germany’s better teams. An incredibly fast winger with tremendous technical ability and strong predatory instincts, Adeyemi has been regarded as one of the most promising attackers in world football for some time now – and there is likely plenty more to come.

We want your feedback on 3 Added Minutes - details here

10. Benjamin Šeško – Red Bull Salzburg (re-entry)

Šeško has had a strange season – tipped for the top, in part due to being one of the best young players in Football Manager in recent editions, and linked last summer with Manchester United, he nevertheless struggled to get going in the Austrian Bundesliga this season, ending up dropped to the substitutes’ bench for spells in both October and February. But since getting another go in the starting line-up, he’s finally found his shooting boots and consistency – his goal against Sturm Graz saw Salzburg take a huge step towards the title and marked his fifth goal in five and his tenth in ten, a run which includes a hat-trick against Rapid Vienna. A towering presence in the Salzburg front line, the Slovenian is finally starting to live up to his virtual self’s billing.