10 Best Young Mexican Football Players

Club: U.N.A.M. Pumas
Position: Outside Back
Age: 22

The young wide back has moved up the ranks of Mexico’s youth teams at every level. He debuted for his club team at the age of 18 and has been one of the most consistent bright spots for an otherwise inconsistent Pumas team.

What you get with Van Rankin is a player who will join in the attack without forgetting about his defensive duties. He’s a quality one-on-one defender and will be one of Mexico’s most important players as they begin their journey to defend their gold medal at U23 level at the 2016 games in Brazil.

Club: F.C. Pachuca
Position: Outside Back
Age: 21

The young Mexican right-back made his debut for the national team at the age of 20. A daring right back with speed and quickness aplenty. He’s an outside back that likes to join the attack and take players on in the opponent’s side of the field.

He plays his trade at Puchuca who have formed a base of young and exciting Mexican talents by giving them heavy minutes in important games.

Club: Chivas Guadalajara
Position: Centre-back
Age: 21

The young left footed centre-back has flourished in his first season in Mexico after Chivas bought back their youth talent from Major League Soccer’s Real Salt Lake. The towering Salcedo is a great ball winner in the air, as well as a threat on set pieces. For his size (6 feet 2 inches), he also has the speed to recover in the back. He doesn’t pose the pinpoint passing and vision of Mexican legend Rafael Marquez, but a smart player on the ball who won’t beat himself with mistakes and unforced error.

A fun fact, in his four appearances for the senior team of Mexico, El Tri have yet to be scored against with him on the pitch.

Club: F.C. Pachuca
Position: Forward
Age:19

Another product from Pachuca, Lozano has already appeared in over 50 matches for Pachuca before even turning 20 years of age. Lozano is a forward who’s at his best when he’s in the open space and taking defenders at speed. He uses the field well to open space for himself and his ability to use both the right and left foot gives him the option of playing on all sides of the field. He also has a willingness to give the ball a good smack from outside the box and has scored a share of lovely goals from that.

Club. F.C. Atlas
Position: Midfielder
Age: 20

Debuting at the age of 17 for the first team in Atlas, Gonzalez might be the next great player from the academy that has produced the last two Mexican captains in Rafael Marquez and Andres Guarado. He won the U17 World Cup with Mexico and has also won a senior squad cap for El Tri.

The left footed midfielder makes up for a lack of height with his passing, ability to find open space, and ability to play both the right and left midfield. His touch on the left makes him a danger to produce a killer ball on set pieces and makes him a threat on goal from a dead ball situation as well.

Club: C.F. Pachuca
Position: Midfield
Age: 20

Another player who’s been given the chance to shine at Pachuca, Erick Gutiérrez is a left footed central midfielder. Captain of Mexico’s U20 team over the summer, he also made Mexico’s 35 man preliminary roster for this summer’s Gold Cup.

Gutierrez, or “Guti” never looks like he’s playing at full speed. A natural deep lying box to box midfielder Guti is at his best when he’s controlling the game from the middle. Linking up play and always looking for quick one passes to keep the ball flowing. He reads the game well and will never be a flashy player like teammates Pizzaro and Lozano. He’s the type of player who you might not notice when he’s on the field, but feel the lack of his presence when he isn’t.

Club: Leon
Position: Forward
Age: 21

Bueno has moved up the Mexican ranks little by little and has shown to be one of the best young talent Mexico has as a forward. He’s represented and won the World Cup with Mexico at the U17, U20, as well as in the U22 this summer in Toulon and in the Pan-American games. The which will make up the base of players to represent Mexico as they try to defend their Olympic gold medal.

He had a breakout year at the club level on loan from Pachuca (there they are again) to Toluca. He uses his six (6 feet ball) and his areal ability to hold up play for his teammates and win balls in the air. He also has a right footed shot that makes him a threat once he’s able to create space. He isn’t as athletic as Mexican forward Raul Jimenez, but possesses a bit more quality on the ball which is a nice mix given his size.

Club: Olympiacos
Position: Forward
Age: 24

So we might be cheating here a bit with Pulido since he has just signed with Olympiacos, spent a few weeks with Levadiakos of Greece, and made the Mexican World Cup roster but things aren’t that clear cut with him. He was the last player left out of Mexico’s Olympic gold medal team, with Mexico opting for Raul Jimenez instead. Also, after the World Cup he didn’t play any matches until March of this year because of a transfer saga with club team Tigres. With the player wanting to leave and the club not allowing it, the drama dragged on for months leaving the kid in limbo.

Now the 24 year old has the potential to be a breakout star for the Greek giants. In his first game with the senior national team he scored a hat-trick. A player who finds space between defenders well, and also has the skill to create his own shot, you can expect a player full of confidence and someone creating plenty of chances.

Club: Club America
Position: Defensive Midfielder
Age: 23

One of the few bright spots of an otherwise bad Mexican team at this summer’s Copa America, Guemez had a breakout summer for himself. Along with playing well for Mexico he completed a move to Club America, the most successful Mexican team of all time.

Guemez isn’t your new modern day deep lying midfielder, instead he’s a throwback to a true defensive midfielder. Someone who gets stuck in, shields his backline, breaks up the other team’s attack, and isn’t friend to get a little rough. An excellent player who can be that backbone your midfield needs. He covers space well and has shown that he can hold his own in the middle if your team needs to press players higher in the attack.

Club: Tigres U.A.N.L.
Position: Wing
Age: 22

Possibly the best of everyone on the list, Jurgen Damm is a Mexican gem of a player to keep your eyes on. Coming out of the Pachuca youth product and playing over 67 games with the Mexican club he has the experience of top flight soccer for some time under his belt now.

His speed and quickness out on the wing, along with his 6’2 height gives him a dazzling combination of pace and size. Willing to take players on in the open space and create chances with his passing ability Damm has made a name for himself as a bright talent for years to come for Mexico.

Over the spring he made his National team debut, and over the summer there were reports that the likes of Roma were after the services of the youngster. That was put to rest when Mexican side Tigres paid 8 million American dollars for him. Chicharito was bought by United for a reportedly 6 million dollars. Just to put things into prospective.