The list of the world’s best wonderkids has been released and Newcastle United target Ivan Fresneda has been recognised as one of the stars worthy of a place on the list.
The NXGN list of players under 19 years old has been released by GOAL.com today and amongst the 50 contenders is Real Valladolid’s right back Ivan Fresneda who has been on Newcastle‘s radar for a while now.
This year instead of ranking the list and crowning an overall winner, the NXGN judges chose nine players from the list as winners. Last year the award was won by England’s Jude Bellingham.
Ivan Fresneda has been recognised as one of the world’s best youngsters
GOAL said of Ivan Fresneda: “Given the speculation that surrounded Fresneda during the January transfer window, it’s amazing that he remains a Real Valladolid player, though that is unlikely to last much longer.
“The right-back was linked with a host of top European clubs over the winter, including Arsenal, Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund, with reports suggesting that the 18-year-old could cost up to €30million to prise him away from the Spanish strugglers.
“He will most likely move on in the summer, with his new club set to inherit a player who particularly caught the eye when he was able to shut down Vinicius Junior when Valladolid took on Real Madrid in December.”
Fresneda missed out on the final nine, but it’s still a huge achievement to be nominated.
Newcastle brought in Harrison Ashby from West Ham in the January window as a long-term replacement for Kieran Trippier, but they will no doubt still be keeping an eye on Fresneda with Trippier now the wrong side of 30.
Fresneda was interested in a move to Newcastle in January
Eddie Howe has said from day one that he wants two players competing for every position, so while Newcastle have right-back covered for now, Trippier can’t play forever. Therefore, there’s still scope for Newcastle to go shopping in the right-back market again this summer, and Fresneda ticks a lot of boxes.
Not many players can say they’ve had Vinicius Jr in their pocket, and definitely none that are only 18-years-old.
Fresneda was said to be interested in a move to Newcastle in January, but nothing ever came of it and now the Magpies will face competition for Europe’s top sides.
It will be a tough deal for Newcastle to do now with interest from Real Madrid, Arsenal and Borussia Dortmund, but as I said, we do have Harrison Ashby, so all is not lost if we do miss out.