5 under-19 strikers who will one day rule European football
Given the real shortage of strikers in Europe, young goalscorers are being hoarded much like Chelsea's youth model. Maybe not as vulgar as that sounds but the economic and urban development of Europe has led kids to train with academies rather than on the street and that's killing part of their talent.
Arsene Wenger predicted this a while ago and admitted that the situation is not ideal for everyday people but it encourages kids to adapt to the pressure and develop a sort of winning attitude.
There are a bunch of clubs all over Europe who continuously produce some incredible talents. Many of today's talented youngsters don the red and white of Amsterdam, or the red and white of Monaco, or the red and white of North London... and you get the idea. But strikers, those are the rare ones: the natural goalscorers, the ones with more desire in them than anyone else on the field and so on.
So, here's looking at five under-19 strikers who could come to rule European football in the years to come:
#5 Kasper Dolberg
The kind of strikers Ajax have had in the past only mean good things for the future and their future is the 19-year-old centre-forward, Kasper Dolberg. The Dane only broke into the first team at the start of the current season and has already put the ball in the back of the net twelve times.
Dolberg is the European centre forward cliché. He's great with the ball at his feet but usually enjoys feeding his wingers and attacking midfielders the chance to tuck away rather than going on his own, beating the line and scoring past the keeper.
He's already scored twelve goals this season so passing and key-passing aren't his only strength. He's got the pace and the timing to get past the defence and it's showing. Dolberg is tipped for the very top and is valued at around €20 million by the Amsterdam club and has admirers in Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool.