Neymar and the 25 Top Teenagers in World Football

Already a global superstar, it is difficult to believe that Neymar is still in his teens. The Brazil striker does not turn 20 until next year.

His sharp rise is mirrored by young players all over the world who are getting the chance to impress at first-team level when they are barely out of school (or, in some cases, still there).

Here are 25 of the most promising teenagers in world football.

The Santos striker is already a superstar.

Having helped his hometown club to the Campeonato Paulista and the Copa Libertadores, despite turning pro just two years ago, he is constantly linked with moves to some of Europe's biggest clubs.

With eight goals from just 15 international appearances, the hopes of the host nation in the 2014 World Cup are already upon his shoulders.

The 15-year-old hit the headlines last weekend by scoring on his full debut for League One side Wycombe Wanderers.

The youngster—who reportedly interested Manchester United in the summer—scored an impressive solo effort his club's 2-1 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday.

That proud moment was slightly tarnished by the spoilsport referee, who booked Ibe for running to celebrate with his family in the crowd

Joachim Loew's Germany squad may have boasted the most young talents at the 2010 World Cup, but the youngest player at the tournament hailed from neighbouring Denmark.

Eriksen has won plenty of admirers for his performances in the middle of the park for both Denmark and his club, Ajax.

Last year when England arrived in Copenhagen for a friendly, all the talk was about Jack Wilshere, but Eriksen was the one who justified the hype on that occasion, despite Denmark losing 2-1.

Last season was the very definition of a breakout campaign for the Arsenal midfielder.

The teenager, who turns 20 on New Year's Day, played 50 games for the Gunners and won five caps for his country, and has already established himself as a key player for both.

In a bid to protect the youngster's future development, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger insisted he did not go to the European Under-21 Championships in the summer, the irony being that he has not played a minute this season after sustaining an injury in a preseason friendly for his club.

When Blackburn manager Sam Allardyce handed a defender who had just turned 18 his Premier League debut on Chelsea's visit to Ewood Park in 2010, many Rovers fans must have feared the worst.

However, after a commanding performance in the heart of the home side's defence, Blackburn came away with a 1-1 draw against the team that would end the season as champions, and a lot more people knew the name of Phil Jones.

Now a £16.5 million player following his summer move to Old Trafford, Jones has won plenty of praise for his full-blooded performances and surges forward with the ball at his feet, though there remain more than a few question marks about the more cerebral aspects of his game.

Despite being just 18 years old and having only one Premier League goal to his name, Wickham is a young striker who has got a lot of people excited.

The 6-foot-3-inch forward has already got an international tournament winner's medal to his name after he scored the winner in the final of last year's European Under-17 Championship. 

Ipswich manager Paul Jewell warned against the prospect leaving Portman Road too early, but Wickham moved to Sunderland this summer for £8.1 million, scoring his first goal for the Black Cats last weekend, a well-taken effort in the 2-2 draw Aston Villa.

Not be be confused with the Liverpool water carrier Lucas Leiva, Lucas Rodrigues Moura da Silva is another Brazilian tipped for big things at the 2014 World Cup.

The attacking midfielder is causing quite a stir in Brazil with his performances for Sao Paulo, where he has scored 10 goals in 38 appearances in the Campeonato Brasileiro.

Lucas has already appeared 10 times for Brazil since making his debut earlier this year, and even went to Argentina as part of Mano Menezes's squad at the Copa America earlier his year. He further endeared himself to the public by netting his first international goal, the opener in a 2-0 win over Argentina in September.

Another Brazilian prodigy who is already making his mark in Europe, Philippe Coutinho is currently in his second season at Inter Milan.

He was actually signed by Inter in 2008 when just 16 years old, but stayed at boyhood club Vasco de Gama on loan until he was 18.

While the attacking midfielder has not yet established himself fully in the Inter first team (not a bad thing given the team's current travails), he has impressed when given the chance and earned his first senior cap for Brazil last month.

The son of former Sheffield Wednesday and Portsmouth winger Mark Chamberlain, the 18-year-old seems set to Surpass his father's eight caps for England.

A much-coveted talent during his formative days at Southampton, it seemed that Arsenal had a fight on their hands from Manchester United in order to sign him, only for the versatile and powerful forward to plump for the Emirates Stadium rather than Old Trafford.

The move already looks to be the right one. He has scored two goals in his four senior Arsenal appearances, including a strike against Olympiacos, which made him the youngest-ever goal scorer in the Champions League.

There seems to be something in the water in Belgium at the moment that is causing the nation to consistently produce such exciting young players.

The outstanding pick of those Belgians still in their teenage years must be Lukaku, who scored 14 goals in 24 league games for Anderlecht when he was just 16 years old.

That put him on the map internationally and sparked plenty of interest from all over Europe. With his appearance and muscular physique, he was dubbed 'the new Drogba,' so it was no surprise when it was Chelsea who won the fight to sign him last summer.

Germany just cannot seem to stop the conveyor from churning out a procession of future world stars, and they do a particularly good line in attacking midfielders.

Exhibit A is Goetze, already a Bundesliga superstar despite not yet turning 19. The versatile playmaker claimed an exceptional 15 assists last season as Borussia Dortmund won the title, and he has already scored for his country.

With plenty of big clubs circling, Dortmund have remained adamant that there is no possibility of them selling their star youth product. It would be a tragic waste to see him sat on the bench at another club.

Much is expected of the latest in a long line of Manchester United youngsters who is just starting to get a sniff of first team action.

Morrison scored in both the semifinal and final of United's victorious FA Youth Cup campaign last season, and the 18-year-old is threatening to add a lot more appearances to the two Carling Cup run-outs he has had in as many years.

Earlier this year he was spared a sentence after admitting two counts of witness intimidation. If the talented midfielder can stay in the straight and narrow, then he surely has a bright future.

If the future of English football truly lies in players getting a more rounded, continental education at a young age, then McEachran has got it in spades.

The midfielder appeared in all six of Chelsea's Champions League group matches last season, making his full debut away at Zilina.

The 18-year-old has been capped for England at four different youth age groups, and many see him as the long-term replacement for Frank Lampard. High praise indeed.

One of the many graduates of Barcelona's now-closed La Masia academy, Ceballos has had to look elsewhere in order to forge a career as a skillful, creative midfielder, a commodity not exactly in short supply in Catalonia.

After a trial with Chelsea did not work out, the teenager tried his luck elsewhere in London with Tottenham Hotspur, who signed him up despite already having the under-utilised Giovani dos Santos another ex-Barca forward, on their books.

Ceballos has trained with the first team on numerous occasions but has been placed within the Spurs reserve ranks in order to best integrate him into English football.

Athletic Bilbao are one of the grand old clubs of Spanish football. Eight-times champions, never relegated from the top flight, and with a proud tradition of only selecting players from their own Basque region.

So for a young player to emerge last season and become both their youngest-ever player (making his full debut aged 16 years, seven months and 11 days) and their youngest-ever goal scorer (achieved just a week later) takes some doing.

Step forward Iker Muniain. The diminutive attacker has already become a fixture in the Athletic team, starting all 10 of the club's league games so far this season, scoring two goals to add to the five he bagged last term, when he also won the European Under-21 Championship for Spain. He's certainly a fearsome prospect.

He may be just 18 years old, but Noble-Lazarus made his first appearance in senior football more than three years ago.

At the age of just 15 years and 45 days old, Noble-Lazarus came on as a substitute in Barnsley's Championship match at Ipswich Town in September 2008, making him easily the youngest-ever player to playing the Football League. He was so young that he was not legally allowed to be paid for his appearance.

The young striker has occasionally been brought back into the first-team picture, and scored his first goal for the Tykes in a 1-0 win over Millwall last May.

Typically for a club of limited means, Everton put plenty of stock in their youth development. It's a policy that has benefited the club hugely both in terms of producing their own players (Seamus Coleman, Leon Osman and Jack Rodwell are three current examples) and selling on future superstars (e.g. some kid called Wayne a few years back). 

The latest in that prolific production line is Barkley, a strapping young lad who has already shown the potential to be a real force after just six appearances for his hometown club.

Despite not turning 18 until this December, Barkley would already have got plenty more appearances under his belt were it not for an accident during an England Under-19 match a year ago that left him with his leg broken in three places. His gutsy, dynamic displays since finally making his debut this season show that he is eager to make up for lost time.

Over in the red half of Liverpool, those in the know at Anfield have got their own young midfielder to get excited about in the form of 16-year-old Sterling.

The Jamaica-born left winger was signed from QPR last year for a hefty £600,000 fee, which could rise to as much as £5 million, but it would be a small price to pay if the lad becomes as good as many believe.

While he is yet to make his first-team bow for the Reds, he has been given a squad number and has taken his place on the bench on occasion. While it is in defence where most of Liverpool's young talent has found success, Sterling may yet eclipse them all.

At just 17 years old, in his first season as a professional, the catchily-named Polo is already attracting plenty of attention.

His dazzling pace and eye for goal have led to him being dubbed "the new Aguero," most likely by his agent, who claims that his client will be playing in Europe next season.

Where the talented Universitario de Deportes striker will ply his trade seems to be a question of either England or Germany, with Arsenal and Liverpool battling it out with two Bundesliga sides for his signature. Either way, we'll be seeing a lot more of him.

The Derby County youngster was born on July 15, 1996, exactly a month after Paul Gascoigne scored his dazzling goal for England against Scotland at the European Championships. So he's rather young, it is fair to say.

Still, that did not stop Rams manager Nigel Clough throwing the forward into first-team action at Middlesbrough on October 22 of this year at the age of just 15 years and 99 days, becoming the club's youngest-ever player. He has already made two more appearances since then.

He would have made his debut earlier, on an away trip to Reading, but Clough decided that the return trip would see them arrive back home too late for the kid, who had school the next day.

Having a surname as unique and famous in world football must bring with it plenty of pressure. Pity the likes of Jordi Cruyff, Paul Dalglish and Stephen Clemence, who all failed to live up their dads' reputations.

As the son of Zinedine Zidane, a World Cup winner and former World Player of the Year, Enzo has plenty to live up to.

The 16-year-old, however, is in good hands at the Real Madrid academy and has already impressed the first team players when he has trained with them.

Fiorentina may have just unearthed a defensive gem in the form of the Serbian 18-year-old Nastasic.

The 6-foot-2-inch centre-back has made his first two Serie A appearances this season, starting in home wins over Bologna and Parma. La Viola kept clean sheets in both games.

With the great Nemanja Vidic recently announcing his retirement from the international scene, there may just be an opening in the national team that Nastasic could fill nicely. 

Continuing the long tradition of exciting young footballers being nurtured in the Netherlands, Labyad is making waves at PSV Eindhoven.

The diminutive attacker, who can play out wide, behind the striker or up front himself, has scored two goals in his 10 Eredivisie appearances so far this season after making his mark last season, netting two in five at the back end the campaign.

After representing Holland at Under-17 level, Labyad has turned out for the Under-23s of Morocco, the country of his parent's birth, and may well choose to win his first senior cap for them instead.

Few clubs in world football embrace a youthful striker as their new messiah as enthusiastically as Boca Juniors.

The Argentinian club, which has seen the likes of Diego Maradona and Carlos Tevez work wonders at La Bombonera, now has a new hero in Araujo. 

The 19-year-old made his debut for the Buenos Aries side in December 2009, and since then, he has been pegged as another potential hero.

"The future of Austrian football" may not be a phrase you hear too often, but in Alaba the alpine nation can genuinely point to a player who could be a star for them.

After spending his formative years at hometown club Austria Vienna, Alaba moved to Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich in 2008, and at 19 has already made more than 60 club appearances and eight for his country.

After impressing in a loan spell at Hoffenheim last season, Alaba scored his first goal for the Bayern first team last month. He shows enough promise to excel at either left-back or on the wing at the Allianz Arena.