Top 10 players to look out for this season in Europe
- •
- 398 reads
- •
- 1,927 views
- •
- 13 min read
We are a month into football season already – a game in which there are no endings, only new beginnings.
There are exciting players coming from all over Europe but only a few could be selected to enter this list.
Atletico Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Real Madrid and AS Monaco seem to have the best youth players at the moment, while Sevilla, AS Roma and Tottenham Hotspur are signing quality players at a bargain price to save them, as they always did.
Judging by the quality of the players, this season will prove to be tough not only in Premier League but also in Serie A, La Liga, and Bundesliga.
Anyway, here is a list of players who should be kept a close eye on as they could shock world football this season, as a matter of fact, some who are on this list could lead their teams to major glory.
10. Jese Rodriguez – Stoke City/Premier League
His pedigree looks very impressive, came through the ranks of Real Madrid and impressed for the 1st team, which opened a door for him to join PSG, however with the wings occupied by Di Maria and the arrival of Draxler in January it was probably wise for him to join Las Palmas on loan.
Las Palmas style of play suited him massively as he managed to impress at the team. Mark Hughes has created a reputation for signing players who play for big teams but are underappreciated like Bojan, Shaqiri, Affelay and now Jese.
The advantage for Hughes & Stoke is, Jese is about to reach his breakthrough season scoring on his debut against Arsenal proved it.
If he can stay fit this season we could see him scoring around 15 goals or more.
It remains a mystery how Liverpool go for Solanke and Arsenal stick with Walcott and Welbeck instead of going for Jese because if either of them got him he could’ve really been of massive use to them, either way, this is a smart signing for Hughes because he will be a massive asset to the team.
9. Jemerson – AS Monaco/Ligue 1
Monaco have already lost three key players but despite the news that teenage superstar Mbappe joined rivals PSG Jardim is still unfazed because although his team lost against PSG in the French Super Cup, Jardim can at least be proud of how his team responded by winning all their games in Ligue 1 so far.
Most might say Falcao has been Monaco’s standout player so far but Jemerson has kept things tight at the back. His partnership with Glik is the one to look out for this season, come April, Monaco will still be in the title race with the way it looks right now.
Jemerson has already scored for Monaco this season, Brazil national team manager Tite has also proven that he rewards players who perform well by giving the defender a shot at the 2018 FIFA World Cup Qualification matches.
8. Patrick Cutrone – AC Milan/Serie A
As it stands Ciro Immobile and Andrea Belotti will lead the line for Italy, however over the years, Italian managers have proven to reward players who perform well at their teams and as it stands, Cutrone has kicked off this season perfectly, scoring and assisting in Milan’s 1st game of the season as they comfortably won their 1st game of the season.
With the arrivals of Andre Silva and Nikola Kalinic – who are on paper both better than Cutrone, however on the pitch this season it might be a different case as confidence is growing in Patrick considering how well he did in pre-season, and with AC Milan having qualified for UEL they will have a lot of matches and let’s not forget the ‘Coppa Italia’.
With the signings, Montella has made it is clear that they are aiming to win everything this season. So far Cutrone has performed magnificently when given the chance as he scored in his last two Serie A games for AC Milan, making a total of 4 goals scored in 5 games in all competitions. At this rate, Cutrone is the closest thing Milan have to Inzaghi. If Cutrone can stay fit and get more game time he can easily score 12 to 15 goals which will be good.
7. Marc Bartra – BVB/Bundesliga
When people hear his name, all they think about is how Bale humiliated him a few years ago, however that was ‘ a few years ago’.
Let’s forget about it now.
Barcelona made a mistake selling him because he’s about to reach his best.
Last season he had a very good season with BVB.
So far this season it is clear that he has matured as a centre-back, he missed a PK which won FC Bayern the ‘German Super Cup’ however he redeemed himself by putting on a masterclass performance against Wolfsburg as BVB kicked off the campaign winning 3-0 a game which Bartra scored a stunning goal.
6. Sergio Escudero – Sevilla/ La Liga
One of the most exciting left-backs in La Liga, a former Getafe player, Monchi saw something in him like he did when he recommend the club to sign fullbacks like Adriano, Coke, and Dani Alves in the past.
Unfortunately, Monchi (Director) is now with AS Roma, but he has left Sevilla with exciting players, Escudero is one of them. Sergio scored a crucial goal for Sevilla in the UCL qualification which fired the team into the group stages.
With Cesar Azpilicueta playing as a CB for Chelsea, Monreal doing the same for Arsenal and Marcos Alonso being his only competition, Escudero should rightfully be Spain’s number one left-back but unfortunately, Jordi Alba will still be picked despite Escudero having been better than him in 2017.
5. Mariano Diaz – Lyon/Ligue 1
It looks like Lyon have made some good businesses in the summer so far, they sold Lacazette for £50 million and replaced him with a player who scored a couple of goals for Real Madrid’s 1st team last season, that same player cost only €8 million and he has already scored 3 goals for Lyon so far, 2 of those goals coming on his debut for Lyon.
Real Madrid has a buy-back clause on him and he could possibly Benzema’s replacement some day. Mariano has a huge potential and if given time and chance, he could probably grow to be better than Benzema. Should Real Madrid not choose to re-sign him next season, it will be very hard for Lyon to keep him.
4. Angel Correa - Atletico Madrid/La Liga
Has the time finally arrived for Correa to finally show the world that if Griezmann goes he can take over?
Well, it’s tough to say, but what is clear is that when Griezmann was sent off against Girona and Correa came on as a sub it looked like Atleti was still playing with 11 men, because Correa came on and added energy within the attack which was missing. Correa scored a stunning long-range goal, as he decided to take matters into his own hands.
Angel Correa looks good when comes from bench compared to when he starts, however, the time has come for Correa to get a run of games as a starter as he finally matured enough. Simeone decided to start Correa against Las Palmas and it only took him about 3 minutes to score a brilliant individual goal, Atleti won the game 5-1, Correa has started the season in the best possible way and he could be crucial for Atleti this season.
3. Giovanni Simeone- Fiorentina/Seria A
He’s the son of Atletico Madrid coach Diego Simeone but unlike his father he is not a defensive midfielder, he’s a centre forward. Last season he had a breakthrough season at Genoa, scoring 12 goals.
Nikola Kalinic may have left Fiorentina but Giovanni Simeone is an adequate if not better replacement for the Croatian.
And with the World Cup around the corner, Argentina’s forwards are currently filled with names like Higuain, Icardi, Aguero, Angel Correa and Joaquin Correa, however, If Simeone proves his worth this season he could jump his way in.
2. Thomas Partey – Atletico Madrid/La Liga
In the last two seasons, we have only managed to witness only glimpses of Thomas and in those glimpses, we have seen Simeone’s experiments on Thomas in 5 different positions.
Against FC Barcelona in the UCL 1st leg Atleti played that game with 10 men Simeone brought on Thomas to play as a centre-forward, in that position we witnessed how good Thomas held the ball and did forward runs to try and take pressure off his team, against Las Palmas last season he played as a right-back and excelled brilliantly by capping off that game by scoring a goal, Thomas was used as a winger in other games and as a box-to-box more often, however last weekend against Las Palmas he played in a defensive midfield role. A role which many believe is his best position, Thomas completely dominated the midfield and showed the world that there is no need for Simeone to buy anybody in January while he is around as he got on the score sheet, scoring a stunning goal.
It will be interesting and exciting to see how Thomas will match up against De Rossi and Kante this season.
1. Christian Pulisic – BVB/Bundesliga
BVB have lost one of their best players last season to FC Barcelona, was it right for BVB not to buy his replacement in the market? Why should they when they have ‘America’s Next Best Thing’, a player who impressed heavily last season as he had 12 goals & 14 assists to his name for his club & country last season.
For a 17-year old, that’s an impressive record, it’s very likely that he could play a massive role in guiding BVB to a Bundesliga title this season.