The Wonderkid Power Rankings: Man Utd and Newcastle gems smash into latest top ten

Each week, our journalists dig through the stats and watch the tape in order to figure out who the best young players in the Premier League are right now – based not on potential, but on the quality of their performances at the very highest level. The result is The Wonderkid Power Rankings.

Last week, Newcastle’s Lewis Hall deservedly took top spot, but he won’t be back in our Top 10 ever again having turned 22 and thus aged out of contention. So who will take his place at the top of our rankings?

Hall is one of three players dropping out this week, which has made space for no fewer than three brand new entries – Arsenal’s Myles Lewis-Skelly and Chelsea’s Jorrel Hato both had tough weekends and thus fall away to create the space for some new faces. We don’t doubt that both will be back, unlike Hall. Let’s see who made it in this time out…

10. Tyrique George – Everton (-)

George was full of energy in the 0-0 draw against Tottenham Hotspur but found himself pinned down by Archie Gray for most of the match, ultimately winning just two of his eight one-on-one duels with the Spurs youngster (who only just missed out on re-entering the rankings himself). Still, we saw a few flashes of George’s quality, not least in the second half when he twisted Gray inside and out and delivered a superb far-post cross right onto Thierno Barry’s forehead – a chance which was, unfortunately, wasted.

9. Harrison Armstrong – Everton (⬇️2)

A second Evertonian in the bottom half of our little table, and a second who’s clinging on a little bit. Armstrong has credit in the bank after an excellent start to the season but wasn’t especially impactful on or off the ball against Spurs – not that he did much wrong, but he simply wasn’t able to get himself involved as often as the best defensive midfielders manage to do. Improvement will be needed over the coming week or he’ll likely have to spend a little time on the outside of the Top 10.

8. Bazoumana Touré – Newcastle United (new entry)

The first of a run of new entries into this week’s rankings. Summer signing Touré has only played 79 minutes of football for Newcastle since arriving from Hoffenheim but he’s already scored twice, including Monday evening’s consolation goal against Leeds – a half-chance which he did well to corral before finishing calmly. Such efficiency in front of goal gets its reward in our rankings, and should surely earn some more minutes soon.

7. Kobbie Mainoo – Manchester United (new entry)

Mainoo has drawn votes for inclusion for each of the past two weeks and finally, deservedly, gets his flowers after another fine outing in the 1-0 defeat to Manchester City. The result may not have been great, but Mainoo’s defensive work was excellent – he racked up nine forced turnovers – and his poise on the ball helped United to keep possession ticking over nicely throughout. Sadly, none of his team-mates made much use of the strong platform that he provided.

6. Charalampos Kostoulas – Brighton & Hove Albion (new entry)

Kostoulas may have squandered a presentable early chance to give Brighton the lead against Coventry, but he didn’t take long to make amends – the Greek forward’s poise and control to manoeuvre around Bobby Thomas ahead of his opening goal was superb, and his angled finish just as impressive. Kostoulas also won a penalty later on in the piece and looked like every inch of a starting striker.

5. Lewis Miley – Newcastle United (-)

The scoresheet credits – discredits? – Miley with opening the scoring against Leeds via an own goal, but there wasn’t a whole lot that the 20-year-old could have done about the hefty deflection that pinged off of his body and into the far corner of the Newcastle net, and nor was there much wrong with the rest of his performance despite the disappointing result.

Miley may not yet have the dynamism of the departed Bruno Guimarães and he needs to find ways to drive attacks forward more frequently, but he was very good out of possession, forcing six turnovers, and was tidy on the ball throughout. Newcastle’s midfield as a whole has been significantly weakened after the summer, but Miley offers very legitimate hope for the future.

4. Joshua King – Fulham (⬇️1)

King enjoyed a few nice moments during the 0-0 draw with Liverpool, particularly when he capped a counter-attacking move in the second half with a sharp and a ferocious shot which required a very good save – but he could so easily have been the Cottagers’ hero as well.

Given the form in which the teenage number 10 finds himself in, he might have been expected to do better when he found himself free inside the area after a set piece routine, but his angled shot was too easily taken in by Alisson in the Liverpool goal. It was a fairly bad miss, but the dynamism with which he’s lit up Craven Cottage in recent weeks was still visible, even if the production was absent on this occasion.

3. Malick Yalcouyé – Brighton & Hove Albion (⬆️3)

Yalcouyé has been handed the chance to get a string of starts earlier than expected due to injuries to Jack Hinshelwood and Georginio Rutter, and he’s taking that chance quite brilliantly – just as he did with his goal against Coventry, when he latched onto a ball over the top and finished cooly past Carl Rushworth.

Outside of his scoring, his energy, work rate and dynamic ball carrying have all stood out and while Hinshelwood’s imminent return could cost him some starts going forward, the Ivorian has earned himself an awful lot of credit at the Amex Stadium. We’re expecting to see an awful lot more of his over the coming months than we might have though before the season started.

2. Luka Vušković – Brighton & Hove Albion (⬆️2)

A third Seagull in this week’s Top 10, and perhaps the most consistent of Brighton’s young guns over the course of the season so far – the Croatian wasn’t necessarily pitch perfect during the 5-0 win over Coventry but he still stood out in a defence which did otherwise allow the home side a few more chances than they probably should have received once they went down to 10 men.

Vušković wasn’t the cause of any of Coventry’s attacks and in fact put quite a lot of fires out – he was strong in one-on-one situations and his positioning was exceptional, leading to seven clearances as he put himself in the right place at the right time to deal with several potentially threatening crosses and through balls. Even at 19, the former Spurs centre-back looks like Brighton’s best defender.

1. Jérémy Jacquet – Liverpool (⬆️1)

With Hall ageing out of the equation, Jacquet reclaims his place at the top of our table – and he’s starting to build a healthy lead on his rivals following yet another absolutely outstanding performance against Fulham. The young Frenchman is starting to look like a contender for signing of the season.

A single, solitary foul aside, Jacquet was immaculate on the ground and utterly dominant in the air, winning all five of his aerial duels. This was a fundamentally flawless defensive performance, backed up by some wonderfully composed work on the ball – he carried the ball out from the back a colossal 27 times, worth nearly 100m of territory. He’s a true ball-playing defender who already seems to do all of the more traditional defensive duties quite brilliantly. A hell of a prospect, and a very worthy number one.