World Cup Best Young Player Shortlist

July 9th, 2010 | by: Daryl | View Comments

As well as the shortlist for Best Player at World Cup 2010, FIFA today announced an even shorter shortlist for Best Young Player. The deal with the best young player nominees is that they have to have been born either on or after January 1st 1989, which puts the upper age limit for this honour at [thinks...] about 21 and a half years old.

The FIFA technical study group announced just three names for consideration, and those names (and the reasoning for theor selection according to FIFA) are as follows…

Thomas Mueller (GER): Thomas Mueller’s rapid rise through the senior football ranks has been nothing short of remarkable. A fringe player with his club, Bayern Munich, just two seasons ago, and with a first international cap coming only in March of this year (presciently, a friendly against Argentina), the 20-year-old striker has captured the imagination of fans everywhere with his pulsating approach play and vital goals (4) and assists (3).

Giovani Dos Santos (MEX): Still only 21, Giovani Dos Santos is one of the most famous faces in the Mexico squad. “Gio”, who played much of the most recent club season on loan to Turkish side Galatasaray, burst on to the scene aged 16 when he showed prodigious technique and vision in helping Mexico to victory in the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Peru in 2005. The super-nimble young forward has become a key cog in the attractive Tricolor team and looks sure to be around for years to come.

Andre Ayew (GHA): The son of Black Stars legend Abedi Pele, ”Dede” Ayew is used to living his young life in the footballing spotlight and he has handled the attention with great poise. He already became a world champion with the U-20s in Ghana last year. As an attacking midfielder, Ayew has become an important part of Ghana’s playing system with a successful pass rate of 85 per cent.

I was really pleased to see Ayew do so well, mostly because I love it when players of famous fathers manage to earn respect on their own terms. Dos Santos was exciting every time he got the ball, with more than one of us (I think in one the Mexico liveblogs) noting his physical and playing similarities to the 2005 era Ronaldinho. Headband and everything. Dos Santos’ performances were double impressive given the drama before the tournament involving his younger brother Jonathan’s exclusion from the Mexico squad.

Last but not least… Thomas Mueller. I half expected to see him on the list of Golden Ball nominees, but now expect him to take this award, if only because Mueller went deeper into the tournament than the other two players, scoring in the quarterfinal. I’d also argue that while Dos Santos and Ayew both looked exciting and promising and so on, Mueller’s output at World Cup 2010 (the 4 goals and 3 assists) was the real deal.