Anthony Martial
Does Manchester United's Anthony Martial make the cut of the best wonderkids in Football Manager 2017? Getty Images

For the casual player, flashing the cash in a desperate bid to draw Lionel Messi, Sergio Aguero or Cristiano Ronaldo to your club is part and parcel of the wish-fulfilment fantasy that drives Sports Interactive's Football Manager series, and FM17 is no different.

More seasoned dugout dwellers, however, know that there is more gratifying path: scouting teams from across the globe to find the players with the highest Potential Ability, the upcoming generation of world class players - the "wonderkids".

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Here we countdown the top ten wonderkids for each position - Goalkeeper, Defense, Midfield and Striker/Forward – based on their current ability level weighed up against their starting value, availability and hidden potential ability stats.

Some may seem obvious, others less so, but they could all happily fit into your starting XI and go on to become bona fide club legends.

To find all of those listed make sure you selected the "big" database when starting a new game, and be aware that each player's growth will depend on random factors and your own decisions as the seasons go by.

While we cannot guarantee any of the U23 players below will flourish into world class champions in real life (see also: Freddy Adu, Cherno Samba, Justin Georcelin...), these starlets are all worthy additions to your team in the world of Miles Jacobson.

Football Manager 2017 Wonderkids - Top Ten Goalkeepers

Gianluigi Donnarumma - AC Milan

Predrag Rajkovic - Maccabi Tel-Aviv

Alban Lafont - Toulouse

Christian Früchtl - Bayern Munich

Alex Meret - Udinese

Bartłomiej Drągowski - Fiorentina

Simone Scuffet - Udinese

Ederson - Benfica

Bingourou Kamara - Tours FC

Rubén Blanco - RC Celta de Vigo

Football Manager 2017 Wonderkids - Top Ten Defenders

Jonathan Tah - Bayer Leverkusen (DC)

Alessio Romagnoli - AC Milan (DC)

Daniele Rugani - Juventus (DC)

Aymeric Laporte - Athletic Bilbao (DC)

Andreas Christensen - Chelsea (DC)

José Giménez - Atletico Madrid (DC)

Marquinhos - Paris Saint-Germain (DRC)

Felix Passlack - Dortmund (DR/WBR/MR/AMR)

Alejandro "Álex" Grimaldo - Benfica (DL/WBL)

Rubén Duarte - Espanyol (DL/DC/WBL)

Football Manager 2017 Wonderkids - Top Ten Midfielders

Ousmane Dembélé - Dortmund (MRL/AMRLC)

Marco Asensio - Real Madrid (M/AMRLC)

Lincoln - Gremio (MC, AMLC)

Kingsley Coman - Juventus (MRL, AMRLC)

Julian Brandt - Leverkusen (MRL, AMRLC)

Christian Pulisic - Dortmund (ML, AMLC)

Dele Alli - Tottenham (M/AMC)

Renato Sanches - Bayern (DM, M/AMC)

Adrien Rabiot - Paris Saint-Germain (DM, MC)

Thiago Maia - Santos (DM)

Football Manager 2017 Wonderkids - Top Ten Strikers / Forwards

Anthony Martial - Man Utd (ML, AMRL, ST)

Domenico Berardi - Sassuolo (AMRL, ST)

Gabriel Barbosa Almeida - Inter (AMR, ST)

Gabriel Jesus - Palmeiras (AMRL, ST)

Divock Origi - Liverpool (AML, ST)

Paulo Dybala - Juventus (AMC, ST)

Kelechi Iheanacho - Man City (ST)

Andrea Pinamonti - Inter (ST)

Maximilliano Romero - Velez (ST)

Johannes Eggestein - Werder Bremen (ST)

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