Marco Asensio named best U-21 player ahead of Dele Alli and Kylian Mbappe by L’Equipe

L’Equipe released the list on Friday, naming the top 50 players of the age group with the rules stating the player must have been born after January 1 1996.

Asensio beat Dele Alli and Kylian Mbappe in the top three with Ousmane Dembele and Gianluigi Donnarumma completing the top five.

The midfielder has broken into the Real first team following a loan with Espanyol in the 2015/16 season.

He scored in the Champions League final and then in both legs of the Spanish Supercup against Barcelona.

Manchester City’s Gabriel Jesus and Leroy Sane were named sixth and seventh respectively whilst Manchester United forward Marcus Rashford was ninth.

Elsewhere for English clubs Davinson Sanchez (Tottenham Hotspur), Alex Iwobi (Arsenal) and Andreas Christensen (Chelsea) were named 19th, 25th and 26th.

Celtic and Leicester City both had two players named with Moussa Dembele and Kieran Tierney picked for the Scottish champions and Kelechi Iheanacho and Wilfried Ndidi selected for the former Premier League winners.