Guardian's Next Generation 2021 revisited: only Hinshelwood and Gordon remain at their clubs as cohort scatters globe

From 80 prospects to 145 top-flight games

Five years after the Guardian's Next Generation 2021 list identified 80 teenagers destined for the top, the picture is one of scattering and survival. Of the 20 Premier League picks, astonishingly few remain with their original clubs: Jack Hinshelwood at Brighton and Kaide Gordon at Liverpool are the only two. The other 18 are dispersed across the globe, including stints in the United States, Qatar and Hong Kong.

Together, those 20 players have amassed 145 top-flight appearances — a respectable haul, though Hinshelwood alone accounts for almost half of them.

World talents find senior football

The 60 players drawn from beyond England have fared differently. Twenty-four have gone on to represent their countries at senior level. Youssoufa Moukoko stands on just two caps, some distance behind the likes of Julio Enciso and Gavi. Some have even switched allegiances: Livano Comenencia began with the Netherlands' age-group sides but has earned more than 20 caps for Curaçao and featured at this summer's World Cup.

Blake bets on the Eredivisie

Not every success story followed a straight line. Adrian Blake, with Watford in 2021, took a gamble by moving to the Netherlands with Utrecht in 2023 at the age of 17. “It hasn't been easy and a lots of ups and downs,” he told Football-oranje.com in 2025. “But now I am getting my rewards and showing why I made the right decision by moving here.”

Blake chose the Eredivisie, he said, “because it is a great league for young players” — offering chances that, in his view, simply do not exist in England. “For me it was a no-brainer.” At 21, with his whole career ahead of him, he is finally reaping the benefits.

As the Guardian notes of the entire class — Moukoko, Hinshelwood, Blake and the rest — they have already experienced a lifetime of football. “What will the next five years bring?” remains the open question.