The Champions League kicks off on Tuesday and with that, a number of top footballing stars will be battling it out for Europe’s ultimate price.
While Real Madrid will undoubtedly be one of the top contenders for lifting the trophy, the likes of Liverpool and Juventus are also expected to come hard.
Manchester City look as polished as last season and many will be betting on the Pep Guardiola magic to help the Citizens lift their maiden Champions League trophy. Juventus too have a fair shot at the title given their acquisition of Cristiano Ronaldo during the summer.
With so many stars taking the field this midweek we decided to take a look at five youngsters that could make a name for themselves during this year’s Champions League:
5. Frenkie de Jong(Ajax):
If Ajax had failed to qualify for the Champions League then De Jong would have surely moved out of Netherlands and joined a big name but the fact that the Dutch powerhouse have made it to Europe’s top competition means De Jong will be playing in that familiar white and red.
Touted as the next best thing to come out of the Ajax academy, the 21-year-old has already made a name for himself during his international debut for the Netherlands against France this month.
A number of top European clubs were eager to sign Frenkie de Jong during the summer transfer window with the likes of Barcelona and Spurs ready to pay as much as 40 million pounds for the youngster but all of them were turned down in the hopes that a powerful Champions League campaign will double the price tag of the midfielder.
4. Justin Kluivert(Roma):
The son of former Barcelona striker Patrick Kluivert has been tipped for greatness and was a key figure for Ajax last season. During the summer he moved to Italy and joined AS Roma.
While his first couple of weeks have not been very great professionally but Roma are hoping that just like his young counterpart Frenkie de Jong, Kluivert Jr can showcase his talent at the European stage.
3. Phil Foden(Man City):
Easily the best talent to have come out of the Man City academy in recent years, Phil Foden has played a small part for the first team during the previous season.
While he is not expected to make a breakthrough into the first XI but if City qualify for the knockout stages early enough then Phil Foden might get a run in during the last couple of group games.
2. Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund):
Sancho is also a Man City academy graduate but unlike Foden, he chose to move out of the Etihad in order to get more playing time.
Sancho played a profound role for Dortmund last season in the Bundesliga and his influence is expected to rise during the current season.
1. Malcom(Barcelona):
Easily the most talked about youngster during the summer transfer window, Malcom was all set to join AS Roma but Barcelona made a last-minute intervention and swooped up the player.
It will be almost impossible for him to break into the first team setup this season at Barcelona and like Phil Foden, Malcom too will have to rely on Barcelona’s early qualification to the knockout stages in order to get some game time.
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