NXGN 2025: Top 20 English teenage wonderkids in football

Being an England football fan has rarely felt so good. While the Three Lions' search for a first tournament win since 1966 goes on, the way in which Sir Gareth Southgate was able to lead a young group of players to two European Championship finals and a World Cup semi-final highlighted the level of talent that is now being produced by one of world football's perennial underachievers.

From Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden to Cole Palmer and Bukayo Saka, England now have a core group of players who still have their best years ahead of them, and with Thomas Tuchel about to take charge of his first games since replacing Southgate, hopes are high that 50 years of hurt will be ended at the 2026 World Cup in North America.

The cupboard isn't about to run dry, either. GOAL's annual countdown of the top teenage footballers in the world, NXGN, featured nine English players in 2025 - more than any other country - and there were plenty of others under consideration too.

Here, then, are the 20 best English players born on or after January 1, 2006 to keep an eye out for in future England squads...