2 Croatians on The Guardian’s 60 Best Young Talents in World Football

David Čolina & Michele Šego (Photo: HNS)

One of the UK’s leading newspapers, The Guardian, has released their annual list of the best young football talents in the world.

The Guardian identifies 60 of the best players in the world born in 2000, with a number of Croatians making the list in previous years. This year’s list – Next Generation 2017: 60 of the best young talents in world football – features two.

17-year-old Hajduk Split and Croatan youth international Michele Šego and fellow international and Dinamo Zagreb defender David Čolina made this year’s list.

“A small, fast and furious striker with an elite-level dribble and great spatial awareness, Sego is the premier product of the recently revamped Hajduk Split academy. He has a knack for creating chances both for himself and for team-mates. This season he has been introduced to senior football via the club’s reserve side that play in the second division, with his appearances carefully weighed. Sego has been talked about for years and if he continues to develop the way he has, he could grow into a classy, versatile and modern forward, Aleksandar Holiga wrote for The Guardian, before saying this about Čolina.

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“Dynamic, tactically sound in defence and attack, possessing a very good sense of space and a killer shot, Colina may be the worthy successor in the left-back position to Robert Jarni that Croatian football has been desperate for since Colina was a toddler. He has been a mainstay for Dinamo Zagreb’s and Croatia’s youth teams, and his golazo against Spain – a powerful stunner from outside the box – provided a silver lining to the otherwise bleak Croatia home performance at this year’s European under-17 championship. After that clubs such as Arsenal and Manchester City allegedly came calling. Colina cites Real Madrid’s Marcelo as his role model but dreams of playing in the Premier League “because that’s where the play is the fastest and the best.”

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The Guardian’s list features a number of top young talents from around the world, including Vinicius Júnior, who has already signed for Real Madrid, and also ‘the Romanian Donnarumma’ Ionut Rus.

Check out the full list here.