Question of the Week: Who will be the Best Players of the Future?

[ShiftyPowers]

Juve is only a maybe and their lack of a striker is what is holding me back. Porto, yeah I can give you that one.

 

[Arnau]

Bayern, Barca, Real, Dortmund... and Shakhtar.

100% agree, but Barça and Madrid above the other 3.

 

[ShiftyPowers]

Bayern is better than Madrid, but not Barca.

 

[Sir Calumn]

Dortmund are so much better than Bayern

 

[ShiftyPowers]

Um... well it's an argument you can make most definitely. I'm terrified of them head-to-head, I'd much rather play Madrid.

 

[Sir Calumn]

How are Dortmund so good considering most of their players seem to have come out of absolutely nowhere?

 

[ShiftyPowers]

Good scouting and youth development combined with a smart coach who has created a great system for fresh young athletes.

 

[Sir Calumn]

Obviously the likes of Lewandowski and Reus would be quality anywhere but would the majority of that Dortmund side be so good if they were levered into other teams?

Also they dont seem to have been disrupted in the slightest by the loss of Kagawa.

 

[ShiftyPowers]

Well they replaced Kagawa with Reus.

And yes, the majority would. Subotic could play pretty much anywhere, and Hummels could literally play anywhere. Piszcek is a top right back, Gundogan and Bender would be prospects anywhere, Gotze is a star, and Błaszczykowski is pretty good too.

And they could probably survive the loss of everyone on the team. Perisic is a top prospect and so is Leitner. They'll probably just spend the funds they make on Lewandowski on a player of equal quality, but a bust there could really hurt them. They also probably can't lose Hummels.

 

[Sir Calumn]

Do a man-to-man comparison between Bayern and Dortmund.

 

[Sir Calumn]

And Hannover

 

[ShiftyPowers]

Haha, can't do Hannover

GK: Neuer/Weidenfeller - No question here. Weidenfeller is an older guy who isn't particularly talented, but gets by on veteran savvy, but Neuer is one of the best keepers on the planet.

DL: Alaba/Schmelzer - Alaba is better. Schmelzer has had every opportunity with the national team, but Low despises him for being bad. He's kind of like Weidenfeller, solid play, but not capable to play at the very highest level. Alaba is awesome, he stays in front of his man and bombs forward like few others with a great understanding with Ribery.

DR: Lahm/Pisczcek - This might be closer, but the advantage is to Lahm as the best fullback in the world. The Pole is pretty good though and was linked with Madrid.

CB1: Hummels/Dante - Hard to tell who the top dog is at Bayern, but Dante is the guy who has played the most games while Badstuber and Boateng rotate. Hummels is by far the best CB in the Bundesliga.

CB2: Subotic/Badstuber - I'd give it to Subotic who is a no frills defender like Vidic and also Serbian. Badstuber is young and talented, but more of a finesse defender.

DM: Gustavo/Kehl - I'd say this is even. Kehl is more experienced, Gustavo is younger and quicker.

MC: Schweinsteiger/Gundogan - Schweinsteiger is one of the finest MCs in the world, Gundogan is basically a developing version of him.

AMC: Kroos/Gotze - This is probably even because both are perfect for their team's style of play. I think Kroos is a better player, but Gotze does a lot of things better too.

AML: Ribery/Reus - Also close, but I give the edge to Ribery. There's some shuffling here in the Dortmund attack line, but I'm assuming Błaszczykowski is their first choice RW, which pushing Reus to the left (or center, but I'd put him even with Gotze in both of these comparisons). Ribery is just simply better. He's more Shifty*ble and more capable of assists. He's also more experienced and more the finished article.

AMR: Robben/Błaszczykowski - I'd also put Muller over Błaszczykowski, but Robben is much much better. Not even close.

ST: Gomez/Lewandowski - Lewandowski is better, but it's close. I hate Gomez, but he's effective and Lewandowski isn't quite in that elite category.

6 for Bayern, 3 for Dortmund, 2 draws.

 

[rhizome18]

John guidetti. Saying that cos he plays for city so I am biased, but also on the word of a work colleague who is a feyenoord supporter and raved about him all through 2011/12 season.

Am guessing he club see big things for him given the new 3 year contract he signed, although skeptical enough to also see that he fits in as a homegrown player.

 

[Sir Calumn]

Haha, can't do Hannover

GK: Neuer/Weidenfeller - No question here. Weidenfeller is an older guy who isn't particularly talented, but gets by on veteran savvy, but Neuer is one of the best keepers on the planet.

DL: Alaba/Schmelzer - Alaba is better. Schmelzer has had every opportunity with the national team, but Low despises him for being bad. He's kind of like Weidenfeller, solid play, but not capable to play at the very highest level. Alaba is awesome, he stays in front of his man and bombs forward like few others with a great understanding with Ribery.

DR: Lahm/Pisczcek - This might be closer, but the advantage is to Lahm as the best fullback in the world. The Pole is pretty good though and was linked with Madrid.

CB1: Hummels/Dante - Hard to tell who the top dog is at Bayern, but Dante is the guy who has played the most games while Badstuber and Boateng rotate. Hummels is by far the best CB in the Bundesliga.

CB2: Subotic/Badstuber - I'd give it to Subotic who is a no frills defender like Vidic and also Serbian. Badstuber is young and talented, but more of a finesse defender.

DM: Gustavo/Kehl - I'd say this is even. Kehl is more experienced, Gustavo is younger and quicker.

MC: Schweinsteiger/Gundogan - Schweinsteiger is one of the finest MCs in the world, Gundogan is basically a developing version of him.

AMC: Kroos/Gotze - This is probably even because both are perfect for their team's style of play. I think Kroos is a better player, but Gotze does a lot of things better too.

AML: Ribery/Reus - Also close, but I give the edge to Ribery. There's some shuffling here in the Dortmund attack line, but I'm assuming Błaszczykowski is their first choice RW, which pushing Reus to the left (or center, but I'd put him even with Gotze in both of these comparisons). Ribery is just simply better. He's more Shifty*ble and more capable of assists. He's also more experienced and more the finished article.

AMR: Robben/Błaszczykowski - I'd also put Muller over Błaszczykowski, but Robben is much much better. Not even close.

ST: Gomez/Lewandowski - Lewandowski is better, but it's close. I hate Gomez, but he's effective and Lewandowski isn't quite in that elite category.

6 for Bayern, 3 for Dortmund, 2 draws.

Interesting. Bayern wins out but a lot seems to be experienced players like Robben and Ribery being more complete than their opposite numbers, but they are also aging - maybe Bayern are the better team but on the decline and Dortmund on the up?

 

[ShiftyPowers]

No I don't think that is the case because Bayern has the best depth in the world with Muller, Shaqiri, and Martinez, not to mention the money to buy whatever star that could complete the team in the future.

 

[Mandieta6]

The shame about Dortmund is that they don't have depth. Their first 11 is awesome, and they have 3-4 great guys who can come off the bench, but Bayern have around 8-9, maybe more. It's especially noticeable in defense. If Hummels or Subotic miss a game, it's who? Santana? They've been losing a key player every year and if they could keep them and bring one talented up-and-coming German star a year they'd be awesome. I'd like it if they raided German clubs like Bayern do and got 1-2 players for the defence and maybe another striker. Jung or Jantschke and Wollscheild would be great depth additions, especially as Piszczek and the CBs are likely to leave at some point relatively soon. All the good German strikers are old (maybe Volland?) but they could always just get someone off some midtable team, too. Hoffenheim have got a few good ones, I like Derdiyok and Joselu is supposedly pretty good too. Ibisevic is 28 but he's class, Bas Dost, De Jong, Diouf, Rudnevs... The Bundesliga is filled with talented players for Dortmund to steal. I mean, they're top of their tough-as-**** CL group, surely people are gonna start noticing them?

I'm really hoping that Schalke and Dortmund have good CL runs this year, I'd like to see even more money pumped into the Bundesliga.

 

[ShiftyPowers]

Volland is a good shout. Derdiyok is too inconsistent for a top team. Leverkusen let him walk for a reason.

 

[Mandieta6]

I was honestly shocked when I checked now and saw that he was just 24. I think I remember him from Germany 06 or Austria 08, and he has generally been good on the international stage.

 

[ShiftyPowers]

High highs and low lows. He scores hat tricks like an elite player, but it looks like he has sucked at Hoffenheim this year.

Volland was an FM discovery by me. Back when he was at 1860 he rose through the ranks and tortured my Bayern team. A good 2 or 3 years ago I think.

I feel really bad for 1860 though, they have had some really really awesome youth products leave in the last several years. Benders are the highest profile.

 

[Pogba4Now]

Interesting. 2018 is 5 plus years away, so I'd look at players between the 19-24 year old age group, who will be 24-29 by then. Sure, some players will still be worldclass at 30-32 or more, and some will be at 18-23, but any player who is currently 25 or older is probably there already, and anyone younger than 19 is generally too hard to tell. Some will make it, some won't. As Shifty pointed out in his PM with the question, some of the worldclass players of that year are probably 15-16 but generally, we have probably already heard of some of these players.

Lots of young stars will probably get there by then, or even sooner, assuming they keep training hard. The whole hype regarding Hazard and Oscar is what they could achieve if they develop together. They will both be 26 in 2018, and will probably be two of the best players in the world by then. Gotze, Reus, Kroos and several other young, fantastic German talents will definitely be up there.

Arnau will probably say Isco.

Although all of those are kind of unfair, having already demonstrated top tier talent at a young age. I think Josh McEachran will be up there. I had never been as excited with a youth player as I was with him, and although the last two seasons have not seen him develop as much as I'd like, next year he will probably be playing in the Prem and by 2018, assuming he hits his ceiling, he'll be top. I'll be extremely disappointed if he doesn't make it, moreso than with Kakuta, since McEachran had the footballing brain of a top player when he was 18 and it's just a matter of polishing his play.

Courtois will be the best keeper in the world by then.

Leitner also strikes me as someone who could become worldclass in the future, and other than him I can't think of any young player who has impressed me that much and isn't related to Chelsea off the top of my head.

Oh, Bannan. I'm gonna stick to it. Kid has it, he'll get there. Already a regular and crowd-favorite at Villa, just a matter of getting the move to a better club with better coaches who can get him that extra bit to really stand out.

Barry Bannan now plays for Sheffield Wednesday in the Championship.