As the 2021-22 season begins to heat up across Europe, clubs must find the balance between ensuring they meet this season’s objectives and giving their brightest youth prospects enough time to develop. As many young players look to breakthrough into their respective senior teams at their clubs, some have already made their mark and are playing key roles as the season progresses to a close.
Total Football Analysis will take a look at those young players that are making their mark across Europe domestically, continentally, and even internationally in some cases. As the historic careers of greats such as Gianluigi Buffon, Toni Kroos, and Thomas Muller begin to come to a close, the stage is set for the next generation of players to carry forward the torch.
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Total Football Analysis Future Five-A-Side
As TFA takes a look at those young stars of the future, there’s no better place to begin than on the five-a-side pitch.
GK – Anatoliy Trubin (20)
With Six UEFA Champions League appearances so far this season, including the qualification phase, alongside 12 Ukrainian Premier Liga appearances for Shakhtar Donetsk, Anatoliy Trubin has made his mark in the 2021-22 season. Six clean sheets in all competitions for Donetsk has seen many sit up and take notice of the young Ukrainian Goal Keeper.
With height on his side at an imposing 6ft 5in, matched with impressive reflexes and shot-stopping, Trubin looks to have all the requirements to succeed at the top. His club level successes have seen him rewarded with an International Debut aged 19 in a friendly fixture versus Bahrain, followed by a World Cup qualification appearance under Head Coach, Andriy Shevchenko. Trubin is a safe pair of hands between the TFA sticks.
| Club | Competition | Position | Appearances | Clean Sheets | Goals Conceded |
| Shakhtar Donetsk | Premier Liga | GK | 12 | 5 | 5 |
| Champions League | GK | 6 | 11 | 1 |
DEF – Mitchel Bakker (21)
Bayer Leverkusen left-sided full-back Mitchel Bakker has made waves across Europe with two of the continent’s biggest names on his resume already. After making his way through the famed Ajax academy, Bakker made his senior debut in a 7-0 cup rout of Te Werve in 2018. Bakker would not go on to make a league appearance that season but would sign for Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer at the expiration of his contract on a four-year deal.
At PSG, Bakker would make just the one senior league appearance in his first season but would make the top 20 shortlist for the European Golden Boy individual nominations later that season. His true breakthrough came in his second season where he went on to make 26 league appearances, and 40 in total across the season, following injuries to Juan Bernat and Layvin Kurzawa. This included making 10 Champions League appearances as PSG fell short in the Semi-Finals to eventual runners up Manchester City.
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Within a busy Summer transfer window for PSG, the fight for necessary game time looked difficult and so a transfer to a promising Bayer Leverkusen was concluded in July 2021, albeit including a buy-back option reportedly included for PSG should they wish to re-sign the youngster. Bakker has continued to make strides in his development making 21 appearances so far this season, including four assists and a goal.
| Club | Competition | Position | Appearances | Goals | Assists |
| Ajax | KNVB Cup | LB | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| Paris Saint-Germain | Ligue 1 | LB | 27 | 0 | 2 |
| Coupe de France | LB | 7 | 0 | 0 | |
| Champions League | LB | 10 | 0 | 0 | |
| Bayer Leverkusen | Bundesliga | LB | 17 | 1 | 3 |
| Europa League | LB | 3 | 0 | 1 | |
| DFB-Pokal | LB | 1 | 0 | 0 |
MID – Eduardo Camavinga (19)
After rising through the Stade Rennes ranks as a youth player, Eduardo Camavinga looked set for the top as he broke into the senior side in 2019. He would become the youngest player to ever feature for the Rennes first team at just 16 years old, and quickly established himself as an ever-present after a man of the match performance against French giants Paris Saint-Germain. Camavinga went on to make 71 league appearances for Stade Rennes in Ligue 1 and four outings in the Champions League, both of which contributed to a first France national team call up in August 2020 from which he has made three appearances for his country already in a stacked French roster.
His successful breakthrough for Rennes eventually earned him a transfer to Real Madrid for a reported release clause of around £30,000,000 where he is beginning to regularly feature for Los Blancos. After making a goalscoring debut in a 5-2 win against Celta Vigo back in September 2021, Camavinga has gone from strength to strength making over 25 appearances in all competitions, including five appearances in this season’s Champions League, as Real Madrid close in on another La Liga title.
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| Club | Competition | Position | Appearances | Goals | Assists |
| Stade Rennes | Ligue 1 | CM | 71 | 2 | 4 |
| Europa League | CM | 4 | 0 | 0 | |
| Champions League | CM | 4 | 0 | 1 | |
| Coupe De France | CM | 5 | 0 | 0 | |
| Real Madrid | La Liga | CM | 18 | 2 | 0 |
| Champions League | CM | 5 | 0 | 1 | |
| Copa Del Rey | CM | 3 | 0 | 0 |
MID – Jamal Musiała (19)
German-born, Jamal Musiala grew up in London, England, where he was part of the youth setups for both Southampton and Chelsea. Aged 16 however, Musiala would leave Chelsea before signing a professional contract or making a senior appearance and signed for German serial winners Bayern Munich. `
After becoming the youngest player to appear for Bayern Munich following his debut in June 2020 against Freiburg, the attacking midfielder opened his scoring account early the following season in an 8-0 league win against Schalke. Musiala has since gone on to make over 60 appearances in all competitions with German Bundesliga, and Club World Cup wins in his CV already and has represented his country Nine times to date. With his versatility of being able to play in various positions showing game intelligence beyond his years, paired with an eye for goal, Musiala looks destined to reach the summit of European football.
| Club | Competition | Position | Appearances | Goals | Assists |
| Bayern Munich | Bundesliga | AM | 50 | 9 | 5 |
| DFB-Pokal | AM | 3 | 2 | 1 | |
| Champions League | AM | 12 | 2 | 0 |
FWD – Jens Petter Hauge (22)
After coming through the ranks at his home club Bodø/Glimt, Norway born Jens Petter Hauge signed his first professional contract at 16 years old in 2016. Just the following day he would make his senior debut and a convincing one at that. Hauge left supporters in no doubt of his emerging talent as he eased to a debut hat-trick in a 6-0 cup thrashing of IF Fløya.
With 27 goals in over 100 appearances for his home club and a club who recently knocked Celtic out of the new UEFA Europa Conference League, this had earned him a move to Italian and European stalwarts AC Milan.
After a solid first season after stepping up to Serie A with some promising performances, he returned Five goals in all competitions helping Milan to qualification for the UEFA Europa League in 2020. Hauge, a goal minded winger with excellent technique, then moved to promising Bundesliga side Eintracht Frankfurt for development and minutes following AC Milan resigning Swedish maverick Zlatan Ibrahimovic. Hauge has done well within his loan spell with Six goals so far this season from the wing and spearheads our TFA side.
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| Club | Competition | Position | Appearances | Goals | Assists |
| Bodø/Glimt | Eliteserien | RW | 57 | 21 | 12 |
| NM-Cup | RW | 9 | 8 | 3 | |
| Europa League | RW | 3 | 3 | 2 | |
| AC Milan | Serie A | RW | 18 | 2 | 2 |
| Europa League | RW | 5 | 3 | 1 | |
| Italy Cup | RW | 5 | 3 | 1 | |
| Eintracht Frankfurt | Bundesliga | RW | 18 | 2 | 1 |
| Europa League | RW | 6 | 1 | 0 |
