Player Focus: 2009/10 Top-Rated Youngsters - Where Are They Now?

Football scouts are charged with scouring the globe for the latest and greatest in talent each country has to offer. Particularly when it comes to youth, they can find the best value around and discover players worth investing in. So many youngsters are touted as the 'next big thing' and the vast proportion fail to live up to the billing, falling off the pace at the higher levels.

How great it is to see, though, when one does indeed come good and make it to the top. Even better when you were there to see them at a tender age and predicted their rise. While watching a player gives one perspective on a player's ability, WhoScored ratings are a fantastic and objective alternative. Here, we take a look at the top 20 youngsters (aged 20 or under on the opening day of the season) according to our ratings in the 2009/10 season, to see where they have ended up, with a view later to this season's rising stars and who might end up stars of the future.

2009/10

The most instantly striking thing about a list of WhoScored's highest rated youngsters from 5 seasons ago is the staggering heights that the majority have reached. Toni Kroos, on loan at Bayer Leverkusen at just 18 years of age, was already a Bundesliga regular, operating primarily on the left side of midfield - unable to oust a certain Arturo Vidal in the centre - and standing out as the best youngster in Europe's top 5 leagues (average rating 7.53). Already creative and a goal threat from midfield (9 goals and 9 assists in 33 appearances), Kroos registered his best tally in each to date but he has now developed into a midfield general who controls proceedings more. His stats in terms of shooting, chance creation, tackling and intercepting have remained, for the large part, fairly constant, but he is now almost twice as involved in play, making 72.3 passes per game (91.6% success) compared to 37.2 in 2009/10 (82.2% success).

Five of the top eleven in our list - including Kroos - went on to contest the Champions League Final between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund last summer, either developed or poached by the bigger teams in Europe. Javi Martínez starred at Athletic Bilbao aged just 20 five seasons ago, playing the holding midfield role well enough to only narrowly miss out on the WhoScored La Liga team of the season, behind the experienced Xavi and Xabi Alonso in central midfield. It is testament to those players that Martínez still struggles to topple them for a place in the Spain starting XI, but the Bayern man is, incredibly, still one for the future.

Mesut Özil won a move to Real Madrid with his performances at Werder Bremen in the 09/10 season, as he led the Bundesliga for assists despite still being so young. Dribbling dominated his game back then (2.3 per game compared to 0.8 in his final season at Madrid) but he has since developed his game to be the creative hub at Arsenal after his record-breaking move last summer. He constantly looks for the ball and now averages 63.8 passes per game compared to just 34.9 five seasons ago, showing clear signs of maturing. Criticised for a lack of defensive contribution, he has never really worked back and that has been a consistent downside to his game throughout his career.

Nuri Sahin and Gareth Bale have both experienced periods of doubt in their careers, but have followed up on promising performances in 2009/10 to make it to the top, but Alexandre Pato, WhoScored's sixth-highest rated youngster that campaign, has gone off the boil.

The Brazilian is now on loan from Corinthians - with whom he managed just 9 goals in 30 appearances last season - at Sao Paulo ahead of the new Brasileirão season. With 12 goals from 57 shots five seasons ago, he continued to build a growing reputation as a future Milan legend but he has fallen from grace and is now back in Brazil attempting to save a failing career. His work rate has dropped and he seems to have lost motivation - he made just 5 tackles and 3 interceptions in 30 games last season compared to 29 in 23 appearances in Serie A in 09/10.

Alexis Sánchez has followed through on the potential he hinted at whilst with Udinese, now a regular at Barcelona, while Marko Marin's early career antics at Werder Bremen won him a move to Chelsea, though he is now a bit-part player at Sevilla. Mario Balotelli's career is threatening to go either way; he goes through vast peaks and troughs of form and his vastly unpredictable temperament could scupper the chances his undeniable talent has presented him with. 

While Alba, Hazard, Pjanic and Subotic are all fulfilling their potential, the rest of the list is then made up of players that may end up wondering what could have been. Insúa can't get in the Atletico team, Gonalons is still awaiting the big-money move he has fairly consistently been linked with, Asenjo is a somewhat middle-of-the-road goalkeeper for Villarreal, Mattioni is barely getting a game for Espanyol, while persistent injury problems are threatening to ruin Badstuber's career. Of course, each still has plenty of time to turn things around, but the stark contrast with some of the other top youngsters from 2009/10 highlights how a pair of promising careers can diverge so vastly.

2013/14

The current season's list consists of some better-known names such as Julian Draxler, who has been linked with the Premier League, Chelsea's Romelu Lukaku, who has been dubbed the next Didier Drogba and Sassuolo's Domenico Berardi, who netted an incredible hat-trick against Milan earlier this season. There are also, however, a lot of players who remain relative unknowns, but their performances this season suggest great things may be afoot.

Mainz' Johannes Geiz could well become a midfield enforcer for a bigger side once he develops, while Hakan Calhanoglu is a future Turkish star who strikes the ball with a natural cleanness that has turned plenty of heads. Raheem Sterling looks set to star at the World Cup this summer, Aymeric Laporte, at just 19 years old, looks a centre-back who will go on to great things and Emre Can has shown remarkable versatility since moving to Leverkusen after giving up on first team chances at Bayern. Juan Iturbe has lit up Verona's season, Nicola Murru has developed no fewer than 5 statistically calculated strengths through his performances for Cagliari and a price tag for as much as £30m has been slapped on Southampton's 18-year-old left-back Luke Shaw.

The list of WhoScored's current top 20 youngsters is full of talent who boast huge potential. Who knows, in five years time we might just look back at this list and see a bunch of world beaters.

From WhoScored's top 20 youngsters in 2013/14, who do you think will go on to the biggest things? Let us know in the comments below