La Liga: Young XI of the season
La Liga is undoubtedly the best league to produce young talents. With the amazing work of football academies and effort from clubs to nurture and develop young talents, La Liga has made a mark of itself.
And like every season, this season too we saw several young talents grabbing eyeballs with stellar performances. Hence, here we are, with our list of Best Young XI in La Liga.
*The views expressed in this article are those of the author and they do not necessarily represent the views of Sportskeeda.
GK: Jan Oblak
The Slovenian got his opportunity after Atletico Madrid’s first choice goalkeeper, David Moya, was ruled out due to injury. And since then, Oblak never failed to impress with his brilliant performances. The 22-year-old managed to keep 7 clean sheets in 11 Liga games he played and conceded just 6 goals.
Oblak, if not for Lionel Messi’s goal in round 37, could have managed to keep clean sheet in every home he played this season. Thus, whenever given an opportunity, Oblak has always been spectacular and one can surely look forward to an amazing next season from Slovenian.
RB: Daniel Carvajal
Daniel Carvajal is one of the most promising right backs in the world. He’s very strong in defence and also helpful in attack. His runs along the flank are always well-timed.
Carvajal has been a key player for his team and played 30 Liga games this season. The 23-year-old has won 71% tackles he made and recorded a pass accuracy of 87%, which is impressive for a player in his position.
The Spaniard’s ability to nullify the threats on flank is quite commendable and thus one can definitely put all their bets on Carvajal’s amazing performances next season.
CB: Aymeric Laporte
Aymeric Laporte has been amid the buzz, since his brilliant performances for Athletic Bilbao in the 2013-14 season. He was on the radar of various top clubs including the Spanish giants Barcelona and Real Madrid but the Frenchman ended all speculation by saying he desires to play Champions League football with Athletic Bilbao and thus, has no plans of leaving the club.
Laporte has been solid at the back and has proved his importance by performing in big games. His ability to contain attackers and protect the backline smoothly makes him one of the best defenders of young generation.
CB: Raphael Varane
It’d be safe to say that France, right now, has the best defense in Europe given that another Frenchman has made our list. The Real Madrid centre-back is touted to be one of the best young defenders of Europe and rightly so.
Varane is a beast when it comes to defending and rarely commits mistakes. His talent lies in nullifying the attacks and marking the attackers precisely.
He’s also very good in the air and has the ability to score some beautiful headers. Though, he was not a starter this season, his talent and skills still make him the best young defender.
LB: Jose Gaya
Just like France is a leading nation in producing brilliant centre-backs, the Spanish club Valencia CF can be safely called as the club with history of producing talented defenders.
Jose Gaya is among the like of Jordi Alba, Jeremy Mathieu and Alex Grimaldo who were also honed at Valencia.
Gaya, despite being so young, is a complete player and one can definitely trust him to start for top European clubs in big games. The youngster’s strength lies in going forward, linking up with attackers and tracking the wingers on left flank.
Gaya undoubtedly is the best young LB and it won’t be too long that we get to see him making a name for himself.