5 Young Starlets To Look Out For At The World Cup

The World Cup is fast approaching and the world’s best club teams will have their scouts out in force to try and pick out the up and coming talent that will be on show. Here, Easyodds.com’s football tipster Tom Powell highlights five hidden gems to look out for in Brazil along with the World Cup betting markets to also look out for…

#5                           Ogenyi Onazi
Nation:                 Nigeria
Club:                      Lazio
Age:                       21
Bet:                        Nigeria Top African Team @ 4/1

Ogenyi Onazi has burst onto the scene in the Serie A this term, playing 37 matches for Lazio and now he has established himself as a key member of the Super Eagles squad heading to Brazil. The central midfielder isn’t much of a goal scorer (finding the net just twice this season) but he will help form a formidable partnership with Chelsea’s Jon Obi Mikel in the centre of the park and will give Nigeria every chance of making it out of Group F. Bosnia and Iran are there for the taking as all three sides vie for second place behind Argentina and Onazi could be key in helping to see Nigeria through.

#4                           John Brooks
Nation:                 USA
Club:                      Hertha Berlin
Age:                       21
Bet:                        USA Top North American Team @ 13/8

After a rocky couple of seasons Hertha established themselves as a midtable club in the Bundesliga this season and perhaps some of that is down to the calming influence of young centre back John Brooks who has racked up a number of appearances for his side this season. The German born youngster has played just three times for his country but that was enough to earn a call up to Jurgen Klinsmann’s preliminary squad and there aren’t many around him playing at such a high level. Brooks should get some game time in Brazil and it’ll be interesting to see how he fares against the German and Portuguese attacks.

#3                           Granit Xhaka
Nation:                 Switzerland
Club:                      Monchengladbach
Age:                       21
Bet:                        Switzerland To Qualify From Group E @ 17/25

It hasn’t taken tough tackling midfielder Granit Xhaka long to establish himself in the Bundesliga with the man dubbed ‘young Schweinsteiger’ having played 32 matches for Monchengladbach this term. He isn’t one to shy away from a tackle with 12 yellow cards and one red to his name this season but that’s exactly the kind of bite Switzerland will need if they are to advance from a group containing France and the vastly underestimated Ecuador. He may do a lot of the dirty work but Xhaka is vital to this Switzerland outfit.

#2                           Saphir Taider
Nation:                 Algeria
Club:                      Inter Milan
Age:                       22
Bet:                        Top Algeria Goalscorer @ 20/1

Admittedly we may not see too much of Algeria beyond their three group matches but that should be plenty of time for the world to become accustomed to midfielder Saphir Taider. He has netted three times for Algeria in just nine outings with two of those goals helping Algeria to qualify for the finals. He’s been a bit part player for Inter Milan this season with just 15 appearances but that’s been enough to adhere himself to the San Siro faithful and he’s sure to get a few admiring glances during the summer as well.

#1                           Memphis Depay
Nation:                 Holland
Club:                      PSV
Age:                       20
Bet:                        Top Holland Goalscorer @ 16/1

I actually think Holland will struggle at this World Cup given they face Spain and Chile in their group but their ageing side could mean PSV’s pacy forward Memphis Depay will offer something different to the side. Depay helped himself to 12 goals in the Eredivisie this term and has been involved in Louis Van Gaal’s Dutch set up before with four caps to his name already. Holland do prefer to operate with wingers cutting in from the flank so he could be the perfect foil to Arjen Robben on the right hand side and could even be a decent option to top score for his nation if he gets enough game time.

You can find all the best World Cup odds at Easyodds.com…