The new Champions League season kicks off tonight. Here are five young guns ready to make their mark on the world’s top club competition.
By Conor Heneghan & Shane Breslin
Thiago Alcantara (Barcelona)
Barcelona may already have had the smoothest, most precise midfield passing unit in the world, and they may have broken the bank to bring Cesc Fabregas to the Nou Camp in the summer, but Thiago Alcantara could still make an impact this season. He’s that good.
The 20-year-old announced himself to the world during the quiet summer months, with smashing goals for Spain in the European U21 Championships and Barca in a pre-season friendly against Manchester United, but it was this daringly imaginative free-kick that really made us sit up and take notice. He looks certain to be a superstar – but first he has to get a game.
Christian Eriksen (Ajax)
It’s not far off two decades now when the last great Ajax side won fans all over Europe before being broken up by big-money transfers to the continent’s biggest clubs. And while few would argue that the same is likely to happen now – the gap between Europe’s richest clubs and the rest is just too big to bridge – players such as Eriksen, Miralem Sulejmani and Toby Alderweireld will be expected to grasp their chance in the spotlight this season.
Already well established as a Danish international – he has 20 caps and scored in the win over Iceland in the summer – Eriksen is a key member of the latest wave of talent to be delivered to the world stage by Ajax, controlling the flow of the game from his central midfield spot. They’re in a tough group with Real Madrid, Lyon and Dinamo Zagreb but Ajax have youth and tradition on their side so they’ll fear no-one particularly at Amsterdam ArenA.
Eden Hazard (Lille OSC)
Hazard (pictured top) has long been hyped across Europe but he’s still just 21 and this could be the season he really makes an impact on the world stage. His inventiveness helped to bring Lille to the top of the tree in France last season, at the end of which he was named France’s Player of the Year. And on the evidence of his two goals against St Etienne at the weekend, he’s started this term in even better form.
Arsenal were repeatedly linked with his signature in the summer and it’s looking increasingly like he may have been a perfect antidote to the departures of Nasri and Fabregas. LOSC kick off against CSKA Moscow on Wednesday evening and they also have late additions Trabzonspor and out-of-sorts Inter in their group so it would be no surprise to see Hazard & Co – yep, even Joe Cole – hang around the Champions League for quite a while this season.
Phil Jones (Manchester United)
Jones had suitors queuing up for him in the summer after an impressive season and a half for Blackburn Rovers, but he has accentuated his glowing reputation even further in a handful of games for Manchester United since the start of the season.
Even at the callow age of 19, he looks like a United and England captain in waiting. He’ll probably end up at centre back, but looks completely at ease at right back and as a defensive midfielder and as he showed against Bolton on Saturday, he’s not half bad going forward either.
Fergie had probably intended to introduce him into the team gradually, but he seems set to cement a permanent place in the United XI. Comfortable on the ball, strong in the tackle and in the air and blessed with natural leadership skills, United have bought themselves a proper player and when they look back in years to come, £16 million could prove to be an absolute bargain.
Mario Götze (Borussia Dortmund)
People are often too quick to burden young footballers with comparisons to the greats of the game, but when Franz Beckenbauer starts talking about a player in the same breath as Lionel Messi, there’s a good chance that the kid’s a bit special. And anyone who watched Borussia Dortmund on their march to the Bundesliga title last season would know that Mario Götze is a bit special.
More of a provider than a finisher (15 assists for Dortmund last season), Götze, who turned 19 in June, has pace, a good touch and excellent dribbling skills. Comfortable on the wing or as an attacking midfielder, he already has nine caps for Germany and has made such an impression that a player of the stature of Mesut Özil is quaking in his boots.
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