For many years, Don Balon, a former member of the prestigious European Sports Media which awards the Golden Shoe to the top scorer in Europe, used to publish the prestigious Top 100 Youngsters in the world.

The Spanish sports weekly folded up in September 2011 due to economic pressures and the arrest of the editor, Rogelio Rengel.

101 Great Goals has replaced Don Balon and on Thursday the website published a list of top 101 young footballers in the world, for players born on or after January 1, 1992.

Interestingly, four players who have Nigerian blood flowing in their veins were shortlisted - David Alaba (Bayern Munich), Ahmed Musa (CSKA Moscow), Ross Barkley (Everton ) and Kelechi Iheanacho (Taye Academy).

Kelechi Iheanacho, who is being monitored by teams in England, Greece and Spain, was praised for his contribution to the Golden Eaglets success at the 2013 Fifa Under 17 World Cup.

“Starred for Nigeria at the recent Under-17 World Cup where he was voted Most Valuable Player.

“Iheanacho scored six goals and bagged seven assists in a terrific personal tournament and has been heavily linked with Arsenal recently,” the editors of 101greatgoals.com said.

In addition, Ahmed Musa was hailed for his performance for CSKA Moscow especially during the start of the season, where he netted in three consecutive games played in August.

“A rapid forward who was great in Holland before a big money move to Russia.

“Went through a purple patch for goals in August which has slowed down but remains one of Nigeria’s most popular current players.”

Other youngsters that made the list include Bruma (Galatasary), Thibaut Courtois (Atletico Madrid) ,  Stephan El Shaarawy (AC Milan), Mario Gotze (Bayern Munich), Isco (Real Madrid), Neymar (Barcelona) and Romelu Lukaku (Everton).