February 14 – Dele Alli (Spurs), Renato Sanches (Bayern Munich), Christian Pulisic (Borussia Dortmund) and Gianluigi Donnarumma (AC Milan) top the rankings of the most experienced players in their year groups, according to a ranking drawn from the top 31 top division leagues in Europe.
The data, compiled by the CIES Football Observatory, looks at the top 20 players born in 1996, 1997, 1998 and 1999. Of the four year groups examined, Dele Alli by far leads the way.
The ranking is calculated “that takes into account the performance of national association representatives in European club competitions, the division of employer clubs at national level and results achieved by the latter during the semester in which matches were played.”
Of the 80 players ranked across the four year groups, 53 are playing in Europe’s Big 5 leagues. Eight of them are at Premier League clubs, 13 play in France’s Ligue 1, while 17 play in the Bundesliga.
See the full rankings at http://www.football-observatory.com/IMG/sites/b5wp/2016/176/en/
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