While most of the big names of football (Christiano Ronaldo, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Gareth Bale etc.) were expected to amaze the world, during the Euro 2016 football tournament, it was actually many of the young, emerging stars were able to shine and make a name for themselves by scoring goals and causing upsets.
Renato Sanches is a Portuguese national who plays for the Portugal national team and Bayern Munich, he is also one of the youngest players to participate in the Euro’s at just 18 years old. He scored the goal against Poland in the quarter finals to push the game to penalties which allowed Portugal to win and to go on to win the whole tournament. The UEFA website wrote about him saying that he was ‘Rewarded with a start against Poland, the spotlight was focused on him. With his country reeling having conceded the second-quickest EURO goal ever, it was not the likes of Ronaldo or Nani who got Portugal back into the game but Sanches.’ Sanches is also the youngest winner of the Euro’s and is the third youngest scorer. He won the SOCAR Young Player of the Tournament at UEFA EURO 2016.
Another emerging star that comes to mind is Antoine Griezmann. Griezmann plays for Athletico Madrid and for the French national team. He led the French team through most of their victories by scoring many goals and setting up a few others. Even though France lost to Portugal, Griezmann was still named Player of the Tournament and received The Euro 2016 Golden Boot. He also gained 1.6 million followers in the space of seven days up to the final. Griezmann’s performance this season, with Athletico and the French national team, has enabled him to be in the talks of possibly edging out Lionel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo for the Ballon d’Or. Although Griezmann doesn’t think he’s cut out to beat the two yet, telling ESPN: “No, it will come if it has to come,” Griezmann said. “Am I still in with a chance of winning? Cristiano Ronaldo won the biggest competitions. I think that that’s it — it’s done.”.
Hal Robson-Kanu is another name that has to be mentioned as an emerging star from the Euro’s. He is of Welsh and Nigerian decent but plays for the Welsh national team and last played for the English club team Reading before becoming a free agent. He scored twice in the Euro’s, first against Slovakia in the group stages and second against Belgium in the quarter finals. His second goal was a strong contender for goal of the tournament. He is now the subject of many bids since his performance at the Euro’s. Teams such as Hull City, Two Chinese Super League clubs and one Abu Dhabi club are in talks to buy him. With the Chinese clubs offering £5 million a year wage to Robson-Kanu! Many people talk about Robson-Kanu now going into his prime. Steve Bruce (the manager at Hull City) told the Guardian: “I think Hal is a good age, has had a sort of rebirth, if you like, of playing through the middle, because before that he has played wide most of the time,” said Bruce. “He is big, strong, powerful, quick and somebody who runs the other way, in football terms.”.
