Thursday 21 July 2016 20:19, UK
Which Premier League youngsters can expect to make the big breakthrough in 2016/17?
This time last year Dele Alli had only played in League One and Marcus Rashford was yet to make his professional debut.
Here, we pick out five players for whom it could be a similarly big year ahead…
Josh Onomah (Tottenham)
The 19-year-old midfielder has fine pedigree having been part of the England squad that won the European Under-17 Championship in 2014 and is enjoying himself with the Under-19 squad too.
Onomah captained Tottenham to the semi-final of the FA Youth Cup in 2015 and made eight Premier League appearances last season - albeit all from the bench.
He did get starts in both the FA Cup and Europa League, however, and signed a four-year deal in February. The man who says he models his game on team-mate Mousa Dembele already has his own chant - to the tune of Mah Na Mah Na, made famous by The Muppets - and can expect more opportunities to win over the White Hart Lane crowd this season.
Ben Chilwell (Leicester)
The 19-year-old left-back has already shown he's good enough for the Championship during a loan spell at Huddersfield last season with their manager David Wagner describing Chilwell as "a great English talent". But it's at the top level that the player's future surely lies. So far he's been restricted to a couple of FA Cup games against Tottenham in January.
Having been given a watching brief as Leicester's miracle season reached its conclusion, Chilwell can expect greater involvement in the forthcoming campaign with Leicester competing on four fronts.
He's been heavily linked with a transfer to Liverpool but wherever Chilwell plays his football, there's a good chance that 2016/17 will be his breakthrough year.
Jerome Sinclair (Watford)
It was less than a week after Sinclair's 16th birthday when he made his Liverpool debut in a cup win over West Brom but the forward is still waiting to really come of age at senior level.
His Premier League debut came in 2015 and he scored on his first start in an FA Cup tie with Exeter in January. But by that stage there was already frustration building at Anfield.
The player's contract situation was not resolved and Sinclair signed for Watford earlier this summer. Now 19, he has the pace to make an impact on the Premier League and can expect opportunities at Vicarage Road. While Jurgen Klopp has questioned whether Sinclair can "survive" against physical defenders, it'll be no surprise if he seizes the chance.
Ashley Fletcher (West Ham)
The 20-year-old striker was highly thought of at Manchester United, scoring regularly for the youth team and was part of the squad that won the Under-21 Premier League. At that stage, he was ahead of Marcus Rashford in the pecking order and West Ham fans will be hoping for a similar impact following his transfer from Old Trafford on a four-year contract.
They are a club built on traditions of giving youngsters a run and hopefully I can get my chance.
There were positive signs during a loan spell at Barnsley in which he scored nine times, most memorably netting the opener in the League One play-off final against Millwall. With the Hammers shaking up their forward line this summer and the Europa League bringing opportunities to rotate the squad, he can expect time on the pitch.
Jeff Reine-Adelaide (Arsenal)
The 2015 signing from Lens won admirers at Arsenal during the Emirates Cup last summer, drawing gasps from the crowd after coming on as a substitute in a win over Lyon. Arsene Wenger was quick to acknowledge that Reine-Adelaide was "something special" but still stressed that there would be no rush to get the player, then 17, involved in the first team.
So it proved with the Frenchman restricted to substitute appearances in FA Cup victories over Sunderland and Hull. But there are reports that Reine-Adelaide, now 18, has been moved up to the first-team squad for this season and with the talent to make an impact, the signs are there that he'll get a real opportunity to impress this term. That could be all he needs.
