McNeil named among best young players on planet

Ahead of this summer’s Under 20 World Cup, the French sports newspaper has ranked the best young talent on the planet, with the 19-year-old one of eight English players named.

Ajax captain Matthijs de Ligt is top of the pile, with Jadon Sancho second, and Kai Havertz third.

Only France has more names represented with 10, with Spain, Portugal, the Netherlands and Italy all with four.

McNeil was named 40th in the list, on the back of a season where he made 26 appearances in all competitions, including the Europa League, starting all of the last 19 games of the Premier League campaign.

He scored three goals and picked up a bagful of assists, going on to earn his first England Under 20 call up, and travelling with Paul Simpson’s squad to the Toulon Tournament this summer.

He was also called to train with the senior squad by Gareth Southgate while on Under 20 duty.

The full list is: 1 Matthijs De Ligt; 2 Jadon Sancho; 3 Kai Havertz; 4 Joao Félix; 5 Gianluigi Donnarumma; 6 Niccolo Zaniolo; 7 Moise Kean; 8 Vinicius Junior; 9 Declan Rice; 10 Ibrahima Konaté; 11 Mattéo Guendouzi; 12 Alban Lafont; 13 Callum Hudson-Odoi; 14 Dan-Axel Zagadou; 15 Ryan Sessegnon; 16 Evan Ndicka; 17 Justin Kluivert; 18 Andreas Skov Olsen; 19 Phil Foden; 20 Kik Pierie; 21 Reiss Nelson; 22 Pedro Porro; 23 Rafael Leao; 24 Ozan Kabak; 25 Samuel Chukwueze; 26 Boubacar Kamara; 27 William Saliba; 28 Rodrygo; 29 Yan Valery; 30 Mason Mount; 31 Gedson Fernandes; 32 Jonathan David; 33 Junior Traoré; 34 Diogo Dalot; 35 Ezequiel Barco; 36 Sandro Tonal; 37 Moussa Diaby; 38 Brahim Diaz; 39 Ferran Torres; 40 Dwight McNeil; 41 Alexander Isak; 42 Malang Sarr; 43 Fran Beltran; 44 Cucho Hernandez; 45 Arne Maier; 46 Hannes Wolf; 47 Giorgi Chakvetadze; 48 Yari Verschaeren; 49 Donyell Malen; 50 Erling Braut Haland.