23. AC Milan and Italy forward Stephan El Shaarawy
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One of the most exciting young players in world football at the moment is undoubtedly Stephan El Shaarawy. The 20-year-old Italian has made great progress with AC Milan this season and looks very much like the next Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo in waiting.
His fine form has already attracted strong interest from Manchester City, who are prepared to pay around £34million for this world class talent. There’s no doubt he would end up being worth it, as he looks like becoming a legendary attacking player for many years to come.
El Shaarawy made his debut in Serie A when he was just 16 years old, in his days at Genoa, and after impressing on loan for Serie B side Padova, he was snapped up by giants AC Milan. He featured regularly in 2011/12, scoring four goals, but it was not until this season that he truly started to stand out as one of the club’s best players.
With the sale of Zlatan Ibrahimovic to PSG, El Shaarawy was entrusted as being the club’s main attacking player, and has perfected his role as a wide forward this season, often cutting in from the left to score some memorable goals with his powerful right foot. He has also weighed in with six assists, showing his all-round capabilities upfront.
His talents have also attracted the attention of the Italian national team, and the youngster has already managed 8 caps for the senior side, and one goal. There will surely be many more to come from the player, who could also have represented Egypt on his father’s side.
He was voted Serie A’s Young Player of the Year this season, and if he stays with Milan he will likely collect many more of those awards, as well as senior ones in the future. Though he could also find even more success elsewhere, if he chooses to move somewhere like Manchester City, as Milan are currently struggling to deal with the dominance of Juventus in Italy.
Wherever he ends up, he is sure to be a star, and is already one of the best players in the world even at this young age.