7 teenage strikers who could be future stars
On transfer deadline day, Manchester United was a very busy club as it had a plethora of outgoing transfers. However, the biggest headline was for a transfer in and it was one that came as a surprise to many as the Red Devils parted with £36m to land 19-year-old French striker Anthony Martial from AS Monaco.Martial’s transfer made him the most expensive teenager surpassing the record previously held by two of his current teammates, Wayne Rooney and Luke Shaw, at a certain point in time. His transfer to United is a huge gamble and it is one that the club is familiar with.Eleven years ago, the club rolled the dice when they paid £26m to land an 18-year-old Wayne Rooney and it was a gamble that paid its dividends as Rooney went on to score 233 goals for the club, which currently puts him third in the club’s all-time leading goal scorers.Martial is very lucky to be at a club like Manchester United at such a young age and just like the Frenchman, there are many other promising teenage strikers who are waiting to be picked up by the big clubs. In some cases, they swoop has already happened. So here are seven highly talented teenage strikers like Anthony Martial you should know about.
#1 Kelechi Iheanacho
Age: 18
Club: Manchester City
The Nigerian caught the eyes of clubs across Europe when he helped his country to the final of the 2013 African U-17 Championship where they lost to Ivory Coast on penalties. Later that year he won the Golden Ball award at the U-17 World Cup after helping his side lift the trophy.
He scored six times, including once in the final, and provided seven assists in seven games during the tournament. To add to his glory, he was also named as Confederation of African Football’s most Promising Talent of the year in 2014 – an award previously won by players like Mohamed Salah, Kwadwo Asamoah, Salomon Kalou, John Obi Mikel and Obafemi Martins.
Iheanacho has been described as a player with excellent close control but is not the fastest of players. The Nigerian is also very good with both feet and has scored several goals with his right foot despite being a left-footed player. Another key trait of his is his versatility; he is capable of operating as wide forward, a centre forward and as an attacking midfielder.
He was signed by Manchester City in 2014, but he could only join the club once he turned 18. The player still went on tour with the club for the pre-season in 2014 and scored in consecutive games against Kansas City and AC Milan.
Manuel Pellegrini seems to have faith in the 18-year-old as he is currently the third choice striker at the club behind Sergio Aguero and Wilfried Bony. So the teenager will get a number of chances to prove himself. Recently, he came on as an 89th minute substitute for Wilfried Bony in a league game against Crystal Palace with the score level at 0-0, and then scored the winning goal minutes after he came on to help City extend their perfect winning start to the season.