These are my 2021 Player Rankings. They encompass the 2003-2007 Age Groups. All feedback is welcome. There’s a good chance any questions/comments may be answered in my 10 point explanation below of my rankings.
1. The basic format is that I will rank the 100 best players in the 2003 age group, the 80 best players in the 2004 age group, the 60 best players in the 2005 age group, the 40 best players in the 2006 age group, and the 20 best players in the 2007 age group. I will also combine all the age groups for a top 50 list of the best players regardless of which age group they are in. 2. These rankings are based entirely on my own opinion. I don’t base it on how other people rate players, what others tell me, what I hear from the agents, parents, friends, coaches of these players. I have managed to develop some sources for info on the youth game through this website, but this is purely my own opinion on these players. I wish all our players well and hope everyone succeeds. 3. If a player isn’t listed it doesn’t mean that I think they are bad, especially for the younger age groups. I will not rank a player I have yet to see play, so that could be why a player isn’t listed. I am reasonably confident that I have watched all the top players in the 2003, 2004, and likely also the 2005 age group. I am less sure about the 2006 age group, and I am almost sure there are a few top players I have yet to see in the 2007 age group. 4. The number of viewings ranges from one viewing to 70+ viewings. The players I have only seen once I am taking a more conservative view on their game than if I had seen that level of performance over the course of a lot of viewings. The majority of these players I have seen play 3-4+ times, and have seen play at least once at some point during the 2021 calendar year. There are some players who I haven’t seen play this year. I tried to make sure I was able to watch every player on this list play this year, but it wasn’t possible. I have listed the total number of MLS NEXT academy games I watched during the Spring and Fall season, along with the number of times I watched the main academies for transparency reasons. If there’s a good player isn’t listed in an academy that isn’t listed, there’s a chance I have yet to see that player play, and thats the reason they aren’t listed. 5. I will list the clubs of each player, and provide a full list of how many players per organization. If I get a few of these clubs wrong, please correct me. Some players will have made moves to other clubs that aren’t readily apparent, so if you have some news that I’m wrong about the club listed, please correct me. There are a few unattached players on the list. I think I know where the majority of them will be playing their soccer next, but I’ll let them break their own news of where that’ll be. I don’t watch college soccer, so I have not seen any of the players listed with a college during their college season. I have listed their colleges though that they are currently playing for as opposed to prior academy they were affiliated with. I tried to keep the contract status of players out of the designations. There are some players that are academy players, others signed to the reserve team on a pro contract, and others on first team contracts. In most instances I stuck with the first team they are affiliated with. 6. The lack of roster info has made getting information on players a lot more difficult. This would be a lot more accurate of a list had MLS decided to allow the public to view all the rosters of the clubs for their new leagues, but they haven’t. I know people at the league office read this website and probably this section of the website. If MLS wants to promote their product in building MLS Next along with their new reserve league, it’s a bad idea to make it hard for the public to know who the players are. This is not a hard thing to list. They know this. Now it’s up to them to start publicizing it. 7. Like always, I am always open to knowing about players I should’ve listed. Please tell me so by replying to this thread or via PM, if there are new players I should watch for next year’s list. I am open to any suggestions or disagreements. If there’s any comments you’d like to add, please do so by replying here. I know some people also don’t like to reply on the forum, so you can also send me a PM to do that. 8. I have had to make a subjective judgment about which dual-nationals to include. I have decided to include all those that I believe there’s a real chance could play for the USA. 9. My main methodology for formulating rankings is based on potential. However, current ability and pathway does factor in. I try not to place a huge amount of weight on what level of football these players currently play at because they are all young players and the best players should eventually rise to the top, regardless of where they are currently playing their football, but it does factor in, a little. I generally believe players who play up the center of the field are more valuable than those who play in wide positions, but I don’t weight it too heavily. I will list their positions as any positions I think they project to play at on a regular basis starting with my preference for their position, and I might list some positions afterwards that they don’t currently play or have never played that I think they can. I do not factor in any off field stuff that occurs with these kids into my rankings, but off-field problems can impact the career of any of these players. 10. My process for making this list was that I watched a lot of the academy leagues from around February-July, I tried to watch the main names in USL on a weekly basis throughout the USL season, and then I went back to watching the academy leagues the last few months. I have a big list of players for each age group that I whittle down to get to each number for each age group. I do not look at prior lists in making this one. I try to avoid recency bias, but I can’t promise it. If you want to see my thoughts on a specific player or how they’ve evolved, you can always put their name and my poster name in the search function, and sort through it that way. I document most of my viewings on this website.
What are your opinions on Diego Lopez, Javen Romero, Gavin Turner, and Axel Perez, I would have guessed them to be listed; also iirc you said you haven't seen Kristian Fletcher before, is that why he isn't listed?
@ussoccer97531: Just want to pass along my appreciation for all the work you've done on this. Like @Boysinblue, to me it's a Christmas present. I'm not particularly knowlegable about young players, and probably watch less soccer on tv than 95% of the posters in these forums, so I don't feel qualified to comment on many topics, but will enjoy reading your posts. I'm grateful that so many on these boards share their knowledge, insights, opinions and emotions — often subjecting themselves to criticism. It's pretty cool to come here and benefit from their contributions, including yours. I say this as someone who grew up in the 60s and 70's, and there was little to no soccer news or analysis to be had in the US. How times have changed.
I second this opinion. You put yourself out there knowing you are likely to be criticized or disagreed with. I rate your opinion highly because I don't see an agenda behind it. You are truly excited to see the explosive growth of young soccer and the emergence of special players. Thank you for the considerable time you spend evaluating and compiling your lists. Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year to you sir!
We have a lot of differing opinions on players but I have a tremendous amount of respect for someone who also puts in the work of watching the upcoming prospects. It’s the best hobby out there
Fletcher, I meant to list and simply forgot. There’s always one or two names I’m going to forget. I hope that’s the only one, but I thought I might’ve also forgot one of the 2007’s. That one hasn’t come to me yet though. Fletcher would’ve been 5th among the 2005’s and 33rd overall. I went back and watched two games he played from the Spring. This is what I thought. Diego Lopez, I simply don’t see what some others do. For me, he’s a midfielder that lacks any holes, but doesn’t do anything at better than an average level. Good enough for a chance at a pro career, but not much better than that. I’ve been wrong before though. Romero, I don’t mind him, but his ceiling isn’t high enough to make top 40 in a deep age group. If I had to make the 2006 for next year right now (top 60), I don’t anticipate he’d make the list either. Mostly average tools (size, defense), one slightly above average (passing), one slightly below average (quickness). Certainly could develop, but not that close to making the list. Turner, he was the next player onto the 2007 list. Someone always has to be the last cut. 2006’s I found the hardest to leave off those last few players, but 2007’s are obviously hard when the list is half the size. I think the reason why he’s not here when you might’ve expected him to (and I probably would’ve months ago, as well) is because I’m not convinced about how he projects to the pro game. He’s small, quickness is no better than average, and his skills for a CAM aren’t too great. Best skill is soccer IQ. It’s the same type of concern as someone like McGlynn or Moreno. If the IQ doesn’t play at higher levels as it does at lower levels, the other tools aren’t good enough to make up for deficits. I also think DC has done him and Braxton Hayes (another ‘07) a huge disservice by how they utilize them. They should each play a team lower (U-15 for Hayes and U-16 for Turner). Perez, another player I liked what I saw of, but I have no clue what’s happened with him. I tried to mostly regard what I’ve seen this year with making this list. I cut a number of players from it that a year or two ago would’ve been very high on it. Unless you are the second coming of Lionel Messi, if you go off the grid completely for a year at such a crucial age, I can’t make a good argument for including this player. Doesn’t mean I haven’t liked what I saw a year or two ago or that he’s not doing great stuff somewhere in some secretive league I know nothing about.
Happy Holidays/Merry Christmas. This is a formidable piece of research. Your work is surely a major factor in the increasingly transparent and evolving youth soccer development landscape in this country, and no doubt responsible for the discovery and promotion of previously unknown US youth talent. Congratulations and thank you for all your hard work.
Nice job, ussoccer97531. Whatever I or anyone else thinks of individual rankings, and I'm sure there will be disagreements, the larger point is that you devoted yourself to taking on a nearly impossible task. The fun now is seeing all these players develop.
I just picked a kid at random, whom I've never heard of, from one of the lists above and googled for a film clip. I saw a better free-kick play and goal from an academy team than I've seen in years from the US Men. https://www.mlssoccer.com/video/goa...delphia-union-mls-next-cup-2021-u15-semifinal
As someone who you can see on the sidelines of that match, that free kick was filthy as was Bajung’s second goal
A heads up to everyone. I am making a twitter account. I feel like I'd be doing a disservice to the wider understanding of the YNT player pool (that very few of us actually follow) to not expand the reach of my opinions. Still going to post my opinions here. However, it's time to expand. My twitter handle will be @ProspectsUsmnt.
Blown away that you picked up over a thousand Twitter followers in under an hour. That had to surprise you that the following was so broad?! Great work on these US youth lists! Very impressive that you took the notes and research on so many players !
I just hope you keep posting your own content and sharing other twitter content here since I don't do twitter. I rely on people to share tweets here.....