The 20 Argentina youngsters with the most potential

FT Desk

• Updated: 23 Oct 2022 23:09 BST
• 4 min read

Argentina are one of the most successful nations in football history, having won two World Cups and a record 15 Copa Americas.

In Diego Maradona and Lionel Messi, Argentina have a strong argument for having produced two of the greatest players of all time, both of whom were given the platform to shine at an early age.

Argentines are lucky that many of their best young players today are still plying their trade in the domestic Primera Division, but some players aged 21 and younger have started to follow Messi and Co. to Europe.

First among those is Benfica midfielder Enzo Fernandez, who was reportedly a target for Liverpool just a matter of weeks after leaving River Plate for Portugal. His SchiSports potential skill maxes out at 110.7.

The highest-rated domestic player is Racing Club's Carlos Alcaraz - not to be confused with the Spanish tennis player of the same name - who already has 18 senior club appearances to his name despite his tender 19 years.

Rounding out the top three is Boca Juniors' Alan Varela, another central midfielder who, along with Fernandez and Alacaraz gives Argentina an embarrassment of riches in the position for years to come.

The next player playing outside of Argentina on the list is Thiago Almada, who cost an MLS-record $16 million (€16.2m) when he swapped Velez Sarsfield for Atlanta United in February.

The Argentina FA should be keeping a close eye on Nico Melamed, meanwhile. The Catalonia-born youngster plays for Espanyol and, thus far, Spain up to under-21 level, but he remains eligible to switch allegiances.

How is the SciSkill ranking calculated?

SciSports explains how our development ratings are gathered:

"Among others, a positive development could be boosted by more playing time, playing time on a higher level or better performances on the pitch.

"A negative development could be due to the player being active on a lower level than he used to play, bad performances or the fact that he does not play that often as he used to do.

"A SciSkill Development of 0.0 could indicate that a player is performing exactly like our algorithm expects him to do. Another reason could be inactivity (e.g. a long-term injury or suspension)."