On Sunday, the month-long European Championship came to an end, and after that, the performances of each football player and team were finally evaluated. Ben Smith, working for Outside90, decided to highlight the three most outstanding young players in this European Championship, all of whom are no older than 23 years old.
Renato Sanches (Portugal)
The 18-year-old, who signed with Bayern, celebrated a series of excellent performances in the Portuguese national team, earning him the title of the best young player of the tournament. Playing with an unusual confidence for his age and having enough weapons to attack the opponents' goal, Sanches was without a doubt the most talked-about young player in France.
Arriving at the European Championship as the youngest player in Portuguese history in the final stage, he confirmed all the buzz around him, becoming the best player of the match against Croatia, despite entering the field from the bench. He also performed well in the match against Poland, scoring the equalizing goal and confidently converting his penalty kick, contributing significantly to the team's journey to the next stage.
Although he was not the most outstanding player in the final, his team's victory added another record to Sanches's collection - on Sunday, he became the youngest player to win the European Championship.
Samuel Umtiti (France)
It is hard to believe that the best young center-back of the tournament made his debut for the national team only in the quarterfinals of the European Championship, but that's exactly what happened in Umtiti's case. After a good season at Lyon, the 22-year-old player managed to secure a spot in Didier Deschamps' squad for the European Championship.
Despite not getting a chance in the friendly matches and not stepping on the field in the group stage, Umtiti got his opportunity in the quarterfinal match due to Adil Rami receiving a second yellow card and being disqualified. He showed his class in the semifinal duel with the Germans, forming an unstoppable duo with Laurent Koscielny and demonstrating such confidence and composure in defense that was worthy of the title of a match player, completely shutting down Germany's striker Thomas Muller.
Soon after the European Championship, it was announced that the defender was moving to Barcelona for 25 million euros.
Marko Pjaca (Croatia)
Arriving at the European Championship as a relatively unknown player in his country, Pjaca didn't wait long to announce his abilities to the whole of Europe. The fact that a player who played just over 100 minutes in the championship is now on the radar of clubs like Juventus or Milan proves that talented players don't need much time to shine.
After playing only one minute before Turkey, Pjaca got his chance in the match against Spain. Taking advantage of this opportunity, he played a great game, making life difficult for Jordi Alba, one of the best left-backs in the world.
After such a performance, many were surprised by the coach's decision to place Pjaca on the bench in the quarterfinals against Portugal. His attacking skills would have been valuable in the slow and low-chance match, but Ante Cacic gave his young player only ten minutes on the field.
Although the Croats were eliminated from the European Championship in the quarterfinals, Pjaca's performance was enough for the 21-year-old player to have all the opportunities to move to one of the strongest European leagues this summer.
Also worth mentioning: Raphael Guerreiro (Portugal), Joao Mario (Portugal), Adam Nagy (Hungary), Bartosz Kapustka (Poland), Alessandro Schopf (Austria).
