Iheanacho makes 10 world’s best U-21 players

Nigerian international, Kelechi Iheanacho has been named among the top 10 world’s most valuable young players by Soccerex.

The Soccerex 20 U-21 report made use of Prime Time Sport’s football value index to rank footballers born on or after July 1 1995.

The Manchester City forward, however, is rated ninth on the list dominated by Manchester United’s Anthony Martial Martial with €47.150m as his valuation.

Leroy Sane of Schalke 04 occupies the second place with €37.132m as Renato Sanches of Bayern Munich follows with €34.550m.

Dele Alli of Tottenham Hotspur is fourth with €34.140m as Kingsley Coman of Bayern Munich takes the fifth with €30.694m.

Breel Embolo of Schalke 04 (€25.441m), Marcus Rashford of Manchester United (€22.509m) and Max Meyer of Schalke 04 with €21.644m valuations followed in that order.

Iheanacho is rated above Borussia Dortmund’s Julian Weigl who completes the 10-man list having been valued at €19.823m.

Iheanacho’s valuation of €20.066m is made bearing in mind both personal attributes and pitch performance, using his current personal information and the performances of both current season and the previous one.

Iheanacho, who emerged the Most Valuable Player of the 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup, was also ranked among the top ten emerging talents in the English Premier League last season.

The starlet finished the season with 14 goals in all competitions under former manager,  Manuel Pellegrini, a feat which earned him accolades from the Citizens chairman, Khaldoon Al Mubarak.

“We’ve had some good experiences this year with pushing some of our talents from the academy and Kelechi is a great example of that,” Khaldoon said of Iheanacho, who also clinched the award of being the best finisher with his record of a goal-per-minute ratio, a few months ago.