Every year the NXGN Best 50 Wonderkids in World Football list is updated and the new list has just been published and it now contains a Newcastle United player.
Last year when Goal.com published the NXGN Wonderkids list there were a few names that had been linked to Newcastle United as transfer stories and this year is no different in that respect, but this year we have our very own entrant and he's not someone we've gone out and bought. You probably know who it is already, but we'll not say it just yet.
The list, published on Goal.com yesterday, highlights 50 of the most incredible talents to have been born after January 1, 2005 actually kicks off at number 50 with a Sunderland player if you can believe it.
Jude Bellingham, who topped the NXGN list in 2022 sees his brother, Jobe, currently plying his trade on Wearside, as the first name on this year's list. As sickening as that may be as Newcastle fans, it's a good thing for North East football at least. Isn't it?
Our entrant comes in at number 19, breaking into the top 20 and it is, of course, Lewis Miley.
Miley made his first-team debut for Newcastle in the final game of last season against Chelsea and impressed Eddie Howe enough that he kept him with the first-team for pre-season and he has gone on to make 26 appearances for the Magpies in all competitions this season, including the Champions League.
Miley has never looked out of place mixing it with the big boys and despite his boyish looks, as a footballer he looks mature far beyond his years, a fact that is pointed out by every commentator who has watched a Newcastle game in which he's been involved this season.
The write-up about Lewis Miley on Goal has Miley down as being the centrepiece for Newcastle's ambitious project.
"Lewis Miley has long been tipped for the top by those who have followed Newcastle’s under-age teams in recent years, but nobody could have foreseen the immediate impact the 17-year-old has made on the first team this season.
"An almost ever-present since making his first Premier League start in November, Miley’s “brilliant brain” has been hailed by manager Eddie Howe, and he was exceptional during the Champions League group stages, most notably in the draw with Paris Saint-Germain at Parc des Princes. He is already Newcastle’s youngest-ever Premier League goal-scorer and, after signing a new long-term contract in January, Miley should become the homegrown centrepiece of the Magpies' ambitious project in the coming years."
Huge congratulations to Lewis Miley for being recognised as one of the hottest prospects in the world. I mean, 19th seems a bit low to us, but we may be slightly biased. Let's just say that the list is in no particular order, that way we can deal with Kobbie Mainoo being so much higher than Miley in 7th.
PL | GD | PTS | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Liverpool
|
14 | 18 | 35 |
2 |
Chelsea
|
15 | 17 | 31 |
3 |
Arsenal
|
15 | 14 | 29 |
4 |
Manchester City
|
15 | 6 | 27 |
5 |
Nottingham Forest
|
15 | 1 | 25 |
6 |
Aston Villa
|
15 | 0 | 25 |
7 |
Brighton
|
15 | 3 | 24 |
8 |
Bournemouth
|
15 | 3 | 24 |
9 |
Brentford
|
15 | 3 | 23 |
10 |
Fulham
|
15 | 2 | 23 |
11 |
Tottenham Hotspur
|
15 | 12 | 20 |
12 |
Newcastle United
|
15 | -2 | 20 |
13 |
Manchester United
|
15 | 1 | 19 |
14 |
West Ham United
|
15 | -8 | 18 |
15 |
Everton
|
14 | -7 | 14 |
16 |
Leicester
|
15 | -9 | 14 |
17 |
Crystal Palace
|
15 | -6 | 13 |
18 |
Ipswich
|
15 | -13 | 9 |
19 |
Wolves
|
15 | -15 | 9 |
20 |
Southampton
|
15 | -20 | 5 |