Rising Ballers

The voice of The Next Wave 🤝🏽 🌊

[Rising Ballers @RisingBallers_]

After you voted for him as your winner, it was only right to link up with the main man & hand him his award. Fresh off the back of scoring against City last night… The last year has been a crazy rise for him.

Bagged his first senior goals for his boyhood club. Won MOTM in the UCL. Secured his name amongst the most exciting talents in the world. Just a boy from North London & he’s still only just getting started. 17 years old.

Almost 20 thousand votes in total… Ethan Nwaneri is your Rising Baller Of The Year 2024. 🏆

[Rising Ballers @RisingBallers_]

This is sick… Ayyoub Bouaddi was spotted giving instructions to Ruben Dias in City’s UCL game the other night. 🗣️

18 years old and doesn’t think twice about instructing City’s club captain who’s over a decade older than him… crazy to see a young baller with such confidence and maturity at his age. 🧠

Gonna be the future of City’s midfield I’m so sure of it… what a talent. 🇲🇦

[Rising Ballers @RisingBallers_]

This was jokes… Odegaard’s performances for Arsenal recently reminded me of when his dad had to give written permission for him to be in Football Manager because he was still too young. 🤣

Had the world gassed to sign him on the new game after he made his Norway debut aged 15 but because he was under 16 he wasn’t actually able to be on the database.

The director of Football Manager said if he got parental permission he’d be able to put Odegaard in the game and Martin’s dad didn’t let the players down. 🙏🏽

The hype around him back in the day was actually insane… had every club in the world trying get him before he went to Real Madrid.

[Rising Ballers @RisingBallers_]

JJ Gabriel. UEFA Youth League debut. Hat-trick.

[Rising Ballers @RisingBallers_]

Imagine playing with your brother and assisting him twice… Jethro and Jephthah Medine got to experience this last night for West Ham U21s in the National League Cup. 😮‍💨

Beat Aldershot 3-0 and Jethro set up his younger bro for two of the goals… even picked up the assist for the third goal too. 🔥

At 19 and 17 they’ve been in different age groups for most of their journey through the West Ham Academy so seeing them share the pitch for the U21s now hits deeper. 🙏🏽

[Rising Ballers @RisingBallers_]

Adel Taarabt… the streets will never forget you. Just announced his retirement from football and the nostalgia came flooding back. 😮‍💨

Watching this guy ball out in the Prem for Spurs and QPR… don’t think I’ve seen anything like it since. Reminded everybody that football at its core is a game and meant to be enjoyed. 🙏🏽

Had fans off their seats on a weekly basis, could turn his comps into feature length films he was that good to watch. 🍿

The AC Milan days, Benfica, Genoa and a spell in the Middle East all followed and now Adel’s called time on his career.

One of football’s greatest ever entertainers… enjoy retirement bro

[Rising Ballers @RisingBallers_]

Tyrique George… our stocks are invested. 📈

[Rising Ballers @RisingBallers_]

Dastan Satpayev might actually be him… just came across this post from a Middlesbrough fan after they played Burnley in midweek. 🔥

Picked up Man of the Match in the game without even scoring so clearly impressed more than just this fan with his overall game. 😮‍💨

Been getting called the Kazakh Aguero recently… Chelsea might have a future superstar on their hands. 🇰🇿

[Rising Ballers @RisingBallers_]

From a Rising Ballers showcase game to the Championship… this one is deeper. 🙏🏽

We put you on to the story of Adrianno Morrison. Rejected by six academies up and down the EFL but what most won’t know is that he played in one of our showcase games in front of professional scouts. 👀

So sick to see the level of ballers that play in these games but not only that, it’s amazing the opportunities that potentially follow when the scouts in attendance see what they’re all about. 👏🏽

From RB to Wolves… still only the beginning for Adrianno. 🙌🏽

[Rising Ballers @RisingBallers_]

This is too cold… Mahdi Nicoll-Jazuli just dropped a photo on his IG story of Chelsea’s U21s doing the Joao Pedro celebration. 🥶

Beat Bristol Rovers on penalties in the EFL Trophy and Mahdi even picked up an assist during the game. 🔥

Joao Pedro bagging on the first game of the season and now the U21s pulling out his cele… the present and future of Chelsea is bright. 😮‍💨

[Rising Ballers @RisingBallers_]

This is football heritage… Brentford having a fullback pairing of El Hadji Malick Diouf and Michael Kayode is so Barclays. 😮‍💨

Thoughts go out to opposition defenders having to deal with those crosses and long throws all game… could be a long day. 😅

Think this is such a sick signing… do you agree? 👇🏽

[Rising Ballers @RisingBallers_]

Jack Hinshelwood might be the most versatile young baller in the game right now… only 21 years old and he’s already played pretty much everywhere. 🤯

Put in a shift in both defence and midfield and I can’t lie I don’t think I’ve ever seen him really look out of place on the football pitch. 😮‍💨

Versatility is such a crazy important skill in the game right now… much be a manager’s dream. 👀

[Rising Ballers @RisingBallers_]

Imagine scoring a brace on your first start in professional football… Joshua Ajala did that last night for West Ham against Southampton. 😮‍💨

Been tearing it up at U18 and U21 level for a while now so the fact that he’s hit the ground running in the first team really doesn’t surprise me. 🔥

‘This is something I’ve been dreaming of for a long time, so it’s just a surreal moment that it actually happened to score twice on my first start, so I’m just buzzing.’

Given the manager something to think about now, defo won’t be the last time we see him score for the first team this season. 👀

[Rising Ballers @RisingBallers_]

Abdul Abdulmalik just dropped this statement on his IG story… can't lie this transfer saga is actually one one of the craziest I've ever seen in the National League.

Apparently Boreham Wood have rejected 3 bids from Djurgardens up to £1.5m... would make Abdul the record sale for a non-league side too. 🤯

Got to rate how he backs himself to reach the top and like he says in the statement, there's no guarantee in football that opportunities like this come around twice especially at that level.

Djurgardens were literally in the Conference League two seasons ago... insane move if Abdul goes from the fifth tier of English football to fighting to qualify for Europe. 😮‍💨

[Rising Ballers @RisingBallers_]

‘Sávio’ is back… officially changed his name back and now I’m fully convinced he’s running it back to the Girona days. 😮‍💨

Ran with ‘Sávio’ on his shirt when he was at PSV and Girona but changed to ‘Savinho’ when he joined City a couple of summers ago. 👀

Said he made the change because the Brazilian national team printed ‘Savinho’ on his shirt when he first got called up so decided to stick with it for good luck at City. 🇧🇷

If the name change helps him get back to his Girona form… Spurs have a serious baller on their hands. 🔥

[Rising Ballers @RisingBallers_]

Mohamed-Ali Cho’s story is actually so inspiring… swapped Everton and England youth teams for a pathway in France and now it looks like he’s finally made it to the Premier League. 🙏🏽

Was at Everton from 2015-2020 but made the move to Angers to become the second youngest player in France to ever sign a professional contract. 🤯

Went from playing for England U16s to declaring for France too and has worked his way up to play for the U21s. 🇫🇷

Then moves to Real Sociedad and Nice followed and now he’s on the verge of a move to the Prem will Hull… just proves that not every pathway to the top is the same. 🙌🏽

[Rising Ballers @RisingBallers_]

Still can’t get over the fact that JJ Gabriel is only 15… 🤯

[Rising Ballers @RisingBallers_]

Thierno Barry is too funny man… editing himself as Thierry Henry’s iconic statue and then auditioning to take free kicks on his story. 🤣😭

Football needs more characters like Thierno.

[Rising Ballers @RisingBallers_]

This is wholesome… Elliot Anderson and Alex Scott shared a moment in the tunnel together after their game yesterday. 🙏🏽

Part of that insane England U21 team that won the Euros a few years ago… technical level in that team was an absolute joke. 😮‍💨

So sick to see them both balling out in the Prem… would love to see them play together again one day for club or country. 👀