Three English U-17 Stars To Watch Out For Following The FIFA U-17 World Cup
It has been a memorable year for the England youth international teams. In the summer, the English U-21 side managed to retain the prestigious Toulon Tournament title, a day after which the U-20 side won the FIFA U-20 World Cup in South Korea. And more recently, the Three Lions’ U-17 side triumphed in the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup held in India, handing Spain a heavy 5-2 defeat in the finals.
The U-17 side put on a series of scintillating displays in India with a number of colts standing out, highlighting that the future is extremely bright for England. And here we pick out the three stand out players from the Three Lions’ U-17 side that impressed the most in the competition.
Phil Foden (Manchester City)
The youngster from Manchester City was easily the best player in the competition and was rightly awarded with the Golden Ball. Foden finished the tournament with three goals in total, two of which came on the biggest stage against Spain.
An attacking midfielder who can also play on the wings, the 17-year old is an extremely skilful player with a knack of scoring and creating goals in plenty. Blessed with great dribbling abilities and close control, Foden is highly-rated by club manager Pep Guardiola and judging by his performances in the mega event in India, he definitely looks destined for great things.
Rhian Brewster (Liverpool)
The Golden Boot winner of the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup, with 8 goals, Liverpool’s 17-year-old Rhian Brewster set the stage on fire in India, with his prolific goal-scoring.
The forward was the main protagonist for England’s success in the tournament, bagging hat-tricks in the quarter-finals and semi-finals against USA and Brazil respectively, before scoring one goal against the Spaniards in the final as well. A natural striker with all the qualities – pace, strength, intelligence and finishing, Brewster is definitely one to keep an eye out for in the coming years.
Jadon Sancho (Borussia Dortmund)
The winger has been in news all summer, following his transfer to Borussia Dortmund from Manchester City and Sancho showed in the World Cup why a host of clubs were interested in capturing him before he moved to Germany.
The 17-year old finished the competition with 3 goals to his name – a brace against Chile and a solo strike against Mexico, all coming in the group stages of the competition. He also assisted 2 goals in the tournament, but did not feature in the final as he had to leave the squad after being recalled by his club, for whom he made his debut. Sancho may not have featured in the final leg of the tournament, but he was exceptional in the games that he did play in and if these are the signs of things to come, then sky is the limit for this lad.