Barcelona’s Gavi, Manchester City’s Rico Lewis & Two US Soccer Stars Headline 2023’s Best Under-21 XI

The next generation of players is undoubtedly showing a lot of promise. Recently, CIES Football Observatory, an organization for soccer data and analysis, published its list of the best players under-21 in 2023. The list includes 270 players from multiple leagues around the world. Additionally, the best eleven 2004-born players were also selected, including players like Manchester City’s Rico Lewis and Pablo Gavi from FC Barcelona and two players from the USA.

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Most of the soccer greats have made it big since their under-21 days. Players like Lionel Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, Erling Haaland, and many others have come through the ranks of the under-21. But now the world is looking for the next set of youngsters to carry the legacy.

Pablo Gavi and Rico Lewis make it to the best under-21 XI of 2023ADVERTISEMENT

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This time, the best under-21 eleven has some impressive names. The top players to be selected were Pablo Gavi, with a score of 96.0, followed by Rico Lewis of Manchester City, with a score of 94.0. The list includes two American players, including goalkeeper Chris Brady of the Chicago Fire and left-back Caleb Wiley. Likewise, the list of eleven includes players born in 2004 only.

The best XI players born in 2004 are: Chris Brady (goalkeeper), Rico Lewis (right back), Thomas Aviles (center back), Felipe Sanchez (center back), Caleb Wiley (left back), Joao Neves (holding midfielder), Pablo Gavi (holding midfielder), Roméo Lavia (holding midfielder), Ângelo Gabriel (right winger), Evan Ferguson (center forward), and Alejandro Garnacho (left winger).

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The criteria for the player scoring system are the number of official minutes played for the team, with a maximum of 2,250 minutes, the critical fixtures they played in, and the percentage of being selected as the first choice for the role. The scoring system assigned a value out of 100, which was determined by the percentage of times they were selected as the first option.

The CIES Football Observatory is a leading organization that provides soccer data analysis and research. Bodies like FIFA and UEFA also approved the organization, as well as a few clubs.

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12 American players in the list of 270 upcoming talentsThe list of 270 players also included 12 soccer players from the USA. Apart from Wiley and Brady, stars like Benjamin Cremaschi, Tomás Avilés, and Diego Gomez from Inter Miami were also on the list, along with players like Brian Gutiérrez, Diego Luna, and Cade Cowell included as left-wingers.

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Other players included were Noel Buck, Kobe Franklin, Olwethu Makhanya, and Daniel Edelman. In the list, most players on the list played in the Spanish La Liga, followed by the Belgian Pro League, the Dutch Eredivisie, and the MLS.

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