The_Guardian_-_2016-12-29

this season. Juventus do not have a great record of bringing young players through but Kean could be
different, a centre-forward who scored 24 in 25 games for their youth team last season. Perhaps Juve
were just being pragmatic in giving him an early debut: his agent is Mino Raiola. NM
Andre Dozzell ( Ipswich Town, 17)
History repeated itself – to an extent at least – in April when Dozzell made his senior debut for
Ipswich at Sheffield Wednesday and, aged 16 years and 350 days, promptly scored. His father, Jason,
is still the youngest-ever goalscorer in England’s top flight after making a spectacular bow of his own
in 1984 but the early evidence suggests Andre can go further than his father, whose career never quite
bloomed after a big-money move to Tottenham. Dozzell is in some ways an old-fashioned playmaker,
with an uncanny ability to make time on the ball and with a killer eye for a pass, and has a happy
knack of scoring from free-kicks. He can cover ground in the way the modern game requires, though,
and it seems only a matter of time before he is phased into Mick McCarthy’s Championship side more
regularly. A first start of this season came in a 3-2 win on 17 December at Wigan; Dozzell, who has
captained England’s Under-17s, has largely been insulated from a scrappy and frustrating campaign
but his natural ability is making a persuasive case and perhaps Ipswich fans will have to enjoy him
while they can. Liverpool have been strongly linked and there is a sense that were it not for Jason’s
guiding hand and love for the Suffolk club, he might already have gone. NA
Pablo Maffeo (Manchester City, on loan at Girona, 19)
Manchester City have invested plenty in their academy over recent years, which is now starting to
bear fruit, at what could be an opportune moment for Pep Guardiola. With Pablo Zabaleta and Bacary
Sagna ageing and fading, the emergence of the exciting 19-year-old right-back Pablo Maffeo is most
convenient. Maffeo made his first-team debut this season and was particularly impressive in City’s
EFL Cup defeat by Manchester United, part of a substantially changed City side in which not many
other players did much to recommend themselves. “He was amazing – fighting with Marcus Rashford
and Paul Pogba, he won almost all of his duels,” said Guardiola of his fellow Spaniard, whose agent
is the manager’s brother, Pere. Maffeo will spend the first six months of 2017 on loan at Girona in the
Spanish second division and it will be interesting to see how he fares. NM
Malang Sarr (Nice, 17)
Nice’s ascent to the top of Ligue 1 has caught many by surprise and the fact they have done it with a
17-year-old centre-back adds to the achievement. Not that Sarr is in any way a weak link; on the
contrary, it would be hard to find another young defender in Europe who has performed with his
consistency and he appears well on the way to mastering a position that usually privileges
experience. Sarr was born in Nice and having joined the club aged five, has them and the city in his
blood; that was further evident when, after scoring on his league debut against Rennes in August, he
dedicated his goal to the victims of the terror attack in his home city a month previously. Evidence of
his flexibility on the pitch is the fact that he has looked equally comfortable when Nice have switched
to a three-man defence; such a quality, along with his speed and strength, will not have gone unnoticed