Move over City & Liverpool! Madrid & Barcelona building wonderkid super teams

Martin Macdonald

• Updated: 19 Mar 2022 21:19 GMT
• 5 min read

At the moment, the two favourites to win the Champions League are Premier League sides Manchester City and Liverpool.

They are generally considered the two best football sides in the world, in large part due to their managers, Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp.

Of course, the playing staff play a massive part in that too, as Man City and Liverpool boast such world superstars as Kevin De Bruyne, Mohamed Salah, Raheem Sterling, Virgil van Dijk, Ruben Dias and Sadio Mane.

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In terms of young superstars, they have two of the best around in Phil Foden and Harvey Elliott.

However, it is in this area that they are running a risk of falling behind two European juggernauts - Real Madrid and Barcelona.

Barcelona are in the middle of a complete squad overhaul under new head coach Xavi, while Real Madrid will likely undertake a similar overhaul this summer.

It is highly likely that world superstar Kylian Mbappe will finally complete his long-awaited move from Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer.

Meanwhile, both Barca and Madrid are heavily linked with another young star in Erling Haaland, though it seems the latter will need to do battle with Man City for the Norwegian.

The pair have been tipped to become the new Lionel Messi-Cristiano tandem of the next decade now that the iconic duo are in the twilight of their respective careers.

La Liga, again, would hold a strong argument for having the best two players in the world plying their trade in Spain.

Real Madrid and Barcelona are already the targets of jealousy due to the young talent they have at their disposal, and should Mbappe and Haaland arrive, that will only increase.

Let's look at the young stars currently with the Clasico sides and why sides in the Premier League should be concerned about La Liga becoming a dominant force again.

Real Madrid's best young players

Vinicius Junior naturally took time to adjust to Spanish football after moving at such a young age, he has now emerged as one of Real Madrid's key players.

He was previously the victim of some harsh criticism from the Madrid faithful, largely due to his final ball, but that has clearly been worked on and he can now be devastatingly effective. In the 2021/22 campaign he has 17 goals and 10 assists in all competitions. Could he form a triumvirate with Haaland and Mbappe in the future?

Eduardo Camavinga is widely recognised as one of the top talents in the world, but he has had to be very patient since his move from Rennes in the summer.

It will take someone special to break into the famed trio of Luka Modric, Toni Kroos and Casemiro, but the Frenchman has the talent to do so, even if it takes a couple of years.

Federico Valverde, like Camavinga, has had to play second fiddle to the aforementioned trio, but he undoubtedly has what it takes to become an important player for Los Blancos.

Still just 23-years-old, Valverde improves every season, though he may have to definitively decide what his role and playing style will be in the team. Does attacking, defending, or box-to-box suit him best?

Rodrygo is still a very talented winger, but with Mbappe set to arrive, he will need to fight hard to display his quality.

Barcelona's best young players

Pedri has emerged as one of the most exciting young talents in the world since breaking into the Barcelona team following a move from Las Palmas in 2020.

Basically nobody in Europe played as much football as him last season, as he featured for Barcelona in La Liga, the Champions League and the Copa del Rey, and for Spain in qualification matches, the European Championship and finally the Olympic Games.

Gavi broke into the Barca first-team thanks to Ronald Koeman, who largely had to rely on younger players as he wasn't backed in the transfer market for big-money deals. It has worked out, though, as Gavi has played plenty under Xavi, too, and crucially can play in a number of positions In September of 2021, he became Spain's youngest ever player at the age of 17 years and 62 days

Nico hasn't had the impact that Pedri and Gavi have enjoyed, but he remains a fine young La Masia player and could have a role to play similar to that of Sergi Roberto over the years. If he improves, though, he could very well emerge as Sergio Busquets' successor.

Ronald Araujo has been with Barcelona since 2018, featuring for Barcelona B before eventually making the step-up to the first team. Eric Garcia was signed to partner Gerard Pique last summer, but it is Araujo who has emerged as first-choice at Camp Nou, so much so that the club are desperate to offer him a new deal to fend off Chelsea and Man Utd.

Ferran Torres only joined Barcelona in January of 2022, but he has already made a positive impact on the club.

His signing was the first-ever 'Xavi signing' and for that reason, he should be considered as the future of the club alongside the names mentioned above.