Earlier this week Goal.com came out with their list of the 50 best teenagers in world football. The NXGN list as it is known, details the best teenagers and this year’s list covers anyone born on or after January 2006. Previous winners for best teenager includes familiar names such as Jude Bellingham, Rodrygo, and Chelsea’s own (for now) Jadon Sancho.
This year’s list is topped by Barcelona’s Lamine Yamal who is hands down the best teenager in world football but also might be a top 5 or 10 player period. The Spanish youngster is tearing up La Liga this year and has already been a key player in helping La Furia Roja win Euro 2024.
Chelsea fans will be delighted to see that the second ranked player is none other than Estevao Willian. The young Brazilian is still at Palmeiras on loan but is technically a Chelsea player and should be joining the Blues ahead of the 2025-26 season.
Estevao, nicknamed “Messinho” by his fans, was signed for an agreed upon fee of £29m ($37m) last June and he could be worth double that at this point. He has impressed for Palmeiras this year with 5 goals in 15 matches and is well on his way to surpassing his 15 goal-10 assist output in 2024.
The teenager is also already a full Brazilian international and is currently with the squad in the March international break. He did not play in their first game against Colombia but has a chance to do so on March 25th against rival Argentina. Perhaps Messinho will be able to face his namesake Lionel Messi when the two countries face off against each other.
While this list is no guarantee of success, it is amazing that Chelsea have one of the brightest young talents in world football already on the books. Much criticism has been levied at Chelsea's new ownership group for their new approach of signing every talented teenager they can.
Many believe that this is a scattershot approach where the Blues are essentially buying as many lottery tickets as possible and hoping to hit the jackpot. There is definitely more to it than that but a potential jackpot is brewing in Brazil with this special youngster. He has been touted as the next Neymar and if he is anywhere near as good as the Brazil legend, then Chelsea's transfer policy will have already paid dividends.