Cole Palmer streaks ahead in top ten U21 goal contributors as Bellingham drops to third
Jude Bellingham drops to third in this top ten of Under-21 players with the most combined goals and assists in Europe’s top five leagues behind two playmakers enjoying similarly ludicrous seasons.
10) Fares Chaibi (Toulouse/Frankfurt) – G3 A12
Six of his 12 assists came in the Europa Conference League but we won’t hold that against a player who had caught Mikel Arteta’s eye before joining Frankfurt for just £8.5m in the summer.
9) Rasmus Hojlund (Manchester United) – G13 A2
Quite a few of us tipped him to be the biggest flop of all and were feeling pretty smug at Christmas, but after seven goals in six Premier League games at the turn of the year it looks as though Sandro Tonali was the correct choice. Hojlund might just prove to be a rare case of United paying a reasonable price for a footballer.
8) Savio (Girona) – G10 A7
A young, very talented footballer being the face of this multi-club ownership loophole is just one of many things wrong with it.
7) Nico Williams (Athletic Bilbao) – G6 A13
He signed a three-year contract renewal in December in an apparent bid to show his ‘loyalty’ to Athletic, but a reported release clause of just £43m isn’t likely to dissuade anyone, and that’s presumably why Williams and his representative pushed for it. Arsenal are supposedly the Premier League side most interested, but Tottenham and Chelsea are also keeping tabs on the Spain international.
6) Jamal Musiala (Bayern Munich) – G12 A7
The playmaker wasn’t in the top ten when we last did this in mid-February, after a relatively slow and injury prone season to that point. His five goals and four assists since have come too late for Bayern in the Bundesliga – they’re 13 points behind champions elect Bayer Leverkusen. But his return to form will be a concern for Arsenal ahead of their Champions League quarter-final, and indeed for England, France and whoever else hopes to go all the way in the European Championships in Germany this summer.
5) Maximilian Beier (Hoffenheim) – G13 A7
Jurgen Klopp is reportedly a big fan, not that that really matters now. Beier spent the previous two seasons on loan at Hannover without pulling up any trees, but returned to his parent club in the summer and has proven his worth, which – without putting too fine a point on it – boils down to being sh*t quick.
4) Xavi Simons (RB Leipzig) – G9 A13
He got 21 goals and 12 assists for PSV Eindhoven last season having been allowed to leave Paris Saint-Germain for nothing, and reportedly came pretty close to joining Manchester United – among others – in the summer, only for PSG to take advantage of a £4m buy-back clause before sending him on loan to RB Leipzig. He’s now valued at £69m and the Ligue 1 side have been tipped to ‘make him the face of their post-Kylian Mbappe future’. No pressure.
3) Jude Bellingham (Real Madrid) – G20 A10
We were all well aware of the brilliance that led Real Madrid to spend £90m him, but if anyone says they predicted Bellingham would be top scorer in his debut La Liga season they are a big fat liar.
He still tops the charts in Spain despite failing to find the net since February 10 (the fraud), but has missed four of their six games since through injury and suspension.
If Bellingham maintains his current level he will become the greatest English footballer of all time; if he continues what has been an extraordinary rate of development he will be among the greatest of any nationality.
2) Florian Wirtz (Bayern Leverkusen) – G13 A18
Images of the 20-year-old donning a red kit for the featured image of YouTube skills videos titled ‘Florian Wirtz: Welcome to Liverpool’ existed even before Jurgen Klopp announced his departure, but they became widespread when everyone assumed Alonso would be next in at Anfield and would make the young playmaker his first summer signing.
Reports now claim Alonso’s Liverpool snub means the Germany international looks set to remain with the treble-chasers, but they will likely have to reject some pretty significant offers for his services this summer.
1) Cole Palmer (Man City/Chelsea) – G21 A12
‘Do Chelsea really need to splash out more money on yet another forward?’ was the Evening Standard’s perfectly reasonable but now laughable take, shared by many when the Blues made the Manchester City academy star their last signing of the summer. He’s been their best winger, their best No.10 and best No.9 this season, is unquestionably the best signing of the Todd Boehly era and probably the best signing made by any club in the Premier League this season. Chelsea would have been entirely screwed without him.
His hat-trick against Manchester United in the batsh*t game at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday means he’s second in the race for the Premier League Golden Boot and only four players of any age group – Harry Kane (49), Kylian Mbappe (47), Erling Haaland (35) and Mohammed Salah (33) – have managed more goal contributions in all competitions.
