Chelsea duo and Liverpool teenager included in list as Lionel Messi names his top 10 wonderkids to watch

Lionel Messi has named the 10 players he sees as future stars, with youngsters from Chelsea and Liverpool getting the nod. As part of an Adidas campaign, the Argentine icon was asked to name the prospects he deems the next big thing in the game.

It’s not the first time that Messi has picked his 10 future stars in football, having done so for Adidas in 2024 to coincide with the release of the ‘Messi+10’ F50 football boot. Lamine Yamal, Antonio Nusa, and Kenan Yildiz were among the top 10 the five-time Ballon d’Or winner mentioned in his Messi+10 team.

The Inter Miami talisman has done the same thing this year, partnering once again with Adidas Football for the ‘Messi+10: Season 2’ campaign. Four out of Lionel Messi’s top 10 youngsters were Premier League players, with two of the youngsters being from Chelsea and one from Liverpool.

Liverpool sensation Rio Ngumoha was featured on the list. The 17-year-old, who came through the ranks at the Merseyside club, scored on his senior team debut in August.

Chelsea midfielder Andrey Santos was one of the two Blues players namechecked by Messi, while the other player is Kendry Paez, who is currently on loan at Ligue 1 side Strasbourg. Brighton & Hove Albion midfielder Brahan Gruda completed the Premier League contingent.

The other prospects include Nico Paz (Como), Rodrigo Mora (Porto), Mika Godts (Ajax Amsterdam), and Kader Meite (Stade Rennes). The remaining two are female players—Barcelona’s Clara Serrajordi and Olympique Lyon’s Lily Yohannes.

Each of the abovementioned players will undoubtedly get a confidence boost from being recognized as football’s future stars by one of the greatest footballers of all time. However, young talents getting mentioned by Lionel Messi hasn’t always translated to them having great careers.

In 2015, La Pulga picked out 10 players, and they didn’t turn out to be football greats as he envisaged. The 10 he chose were: Accursio Bentivegna, Marcos Lopes, Kenedy, Maxwel Cornet, Jeremie Boga, James Wilson, Timo Werner, Gyasi Zardes, Khiry Shelton, and Aleksey Miranchuk.

Lionel Messi creates new tournament; invites Chelsea and one other PL team

Lionel Messi on Tuesday, October 14, announced a brand-new tournament called the 'Messi Cup,' a competition scheduled to be held in Miami this December among the U-16 sides of select teams.

The inaugural edition of the tournament will run for just one week between 9 and 14 December. 18 matches will be played in total and will feature eight clubs. The clubs include Inter Miami, Barcelona, River Plate, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Atletico Madrid, Newell’s Old Boys, and Manchester City.

The competition will feature two groups of four teams, with participants facing each other in a round-robin-style phase over the first three days of the competition. A playoff match will follow to determine final positions before the third-place match, and the final will be subsequently played at Inter Miami’s home ground, Chase Stadium.

Chelsea’s inclusion in the tournament, however, came as a surprise to many, who felt Lionel Messi has no affiliation with the west London club. In 2014, Messi was linked with a move to Stamford Bridge, but nothing materialized. Surprisingly, the Blues are one of the two Premier League clubs that Messi is currently following on Instagram.

Edited by Ezekiel Olamide