Soccer is a physically hard kind of sports that requires outstanding skills. It also pays off greatly. That is why young people, even teenagers, can become the best players—their strength and speed are their best helpers. There are many great soccer players under 21 who already play for the most prestigious European football clubs and are famous around the world. Sometimes, their results impress the soccer veterans and managers who seek out the best players for their teams. As a result, astronomical sums of money are paid for their transfer. SportDailyTimes has made a list of the most promising and notable soccer players under 21 years old.
Raheem Sterling
Raheem Sterling is a young English soccer player who was born in Jamaica. Raheem is now considered to be the most expensive player in England and the most valuable young player in the whole Europe. Being only 21 years old, the young man has already played for two major clubs of the country. His professional senior career began in 2012 in Liverpool F.C., where he immediately joined the UEFA Europa League for the qualifying matches.
Sterling was named player of the month several times and entered the recent list of the best young players of the year, drawn up by the Professional Footballers’ Association. In 2015, Raheem was transferred to play for Manchester City. The fee paid for the player was incredible—£49 million. This transfer provided him the place among the top 10 highest paid soccer players ever.
Luke Show
The next English professional soccer player is Luke Shaw. The young man is a member of the Manchester United club and plays for the national team of his homeland. In summer 2015, Luke celebrated his 20th birthday. However, despite his young age, he has already been named one of the most talented full-backs in the world.
The player joined Manchester United in 2014 for an incredible sum of money—£30 million. Now, he has the position of a left-back in the first-team squad. Unfortunately, due to several injuries, last season was not very successful for the young star. Shaw made only 16 appearances in the matches. However, we can expect to see him more often this time around.
Martin Odegaard
The youngest man to play for Real Madrid is Martin Odegaard. The Norwegian was only 16 years old when he scored his first goal in his professional career. As for now, Odegaard plays for Real’s reserve team but trains with the main squad. Odegaard has already played for the first squad as a substitution to Christiano Ronaldo in a match against Getafe CF.
The Norwegian plays as an attacking midfielder and is famous for his quick and balanced pace and shooting power. Besides his success in Real Madrid, Martin plays for the Norwegian national team in the main squad.
Adnan Januzaj
Januzaj is one of the most famous young Belgian players. The young man was born in 1995 and began his professional career in a Belgium professional club, Anderlecht. When Adnan was 16 years old, he was transferred to Manchester United and was soon promoted to the first team and entered the international arena in the 2013-14 season.
After David Moyes had been replaced in the position of the club’s manager, the Belgium player ended up under the guidance of Louis van Gaal. Initially, Januzaj struggled to impress the new manager. But now, with the departure of Robin van Persie and his Colombian fellow Radamel Falcao, Adnan is expected to show his skills in the main team next season.
Marquinhos
The next noticeable soccer player has already had a very exciting and interesting experience with football clubs. Marquinhos is a Brazilianprofessional soccer player. His first club was Corinthians. In 2012, he transferred to Roma where his career burst forth. He was noticed by one of the most prestigious French soccer clubs, Paris Saint-Germain, and was transferred for an impressive fee of £31.5 million.
Excellent performance for PSG resulted in Marquinhos being named the most promising defender in the world. Recently, some rumors about his departure to Manchester United have been circulating the press. It is unknown whether the club has really taken an interest in the young player, but the manager of PSG has confirmed that the Brazilian will stay with them.
Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg
The youngest Bayern player in the Bundesliga is the 20-year-old Dane, Pierre Hojbjerg. His first official match in the Bayern Munich team was in 2013 when the man was only 17. During the next two seasons, Pierre made 15 league appearances.
Later on, he entered the main squad of Augsburg on loan, which led to an unpleasant incident at the match against his parent team. The player assisted in the last goal that led to Bayern’s defeat. In 2015, the player was yet again transferred to another German club—this time as a midfielder for FC Schalke 04.
Jose Maria Gimenez
One of the most prominent young defenders is Jose Gimenez, who was born in Uruguay in January 1995. A few days ago, the professional soccer player celebrated his 21st birthday. Gimenez is already a player who shows great results and advances his career steadily, without major failures.
Gimenez is a center back in Atletico Madrid. After the departure of his center back colleague, Miranda, who transferred to Internazionale, a.k.a. Inter Milan, Jose’s role in the team became more advanced and allowed him to show off the skills he had. Gimenez has also been called up to play for his national team several times.
