Ranking the next generation of footballing sons 🧒 | OneFootball

We may never truly understand why footballing talent so often runs in the family.

Is it pure genetics? Or does being the offspring of a professional player give you a leg-up in the game?

It’s probably a bit of both and here, in order, are the best U23 stars currently following in their fathers’ footsteps.

Daniel Maldini

Son of Paolo and grandson of Cesare, Daniel became the third generation of Maldinis to play for AC Milan when he came off the bench in the dying stages of Sunday’s 1-1 draw with Hellas Verona.

But unlike his defensive forefathers, the 18-year-old is an attacking midfielder who has made a name for himself by scoring a hatful of goals for the Rossoneri at youth level.

Timothy Weah

Another AC Milan legend with strong footballing genes is George Weah, whose son Tim burst onto the scene when he made his debut for Paris Saint-Germain towards the end of the 2017/18 season.

The 19-year-old forward was born in New York and he has so far been capped eight times at senior level by the United States men’s national team.

Last summer, following a loan spell at Celtic, he joined Lille and he is expected to return from a five-month injury lay off in mid-February.

Justin Kluivert

Like his dad Patrick, Justin came through the youth system at Ajax and went on to score 13 goals for the Dutch giants before joining Roma in a €17m deal in the summer of 2018.

The two-cap Netherlands international winger has been hampered by injuries this season yet he’s still managed to score five times in all competitions, the most recent of which came in a win over Hellas Verona in early December.

Marcus Thuram

If it feels like Marcus has been around for a while already, it’s because he has.

The son of Juventus and France legend Lilian made his senior debut for French side Sochaux way back in March 2015 and at the age of 22, he already has 143 senior appearances under his belt.

Thuram joined Borussia Mönchengladbach in the summer and has so far scored 10 goals in 28 games for the Bundesliga title chasers this season.

Giovanni Reyna

With just four senior appearances to his name so far, 17-year-old Reyna is the least experienced name on this list, but arguably the most exciting.

His dad Claudio may have played Premier League football for Sunderland and Manchester City and been capped 114 times by the United States, but he never scored a goal anywhere near as good as Giovanni’s for Borussia Dortmund against Werder Bremen on Tuesday …

That strike was his first professional goal and made him the youngest goalscorer in the history of the German Cup.

And Reyna’s mum also turned out five times for the USWNT!

Ianis Hagi

From the least experienced to the most experienced.

Ianis – son of Barcelona great Gheorghe Hagi – is still only 21 yet he’s already racked up an astonishing 114 senior appearances at club level and been capped 10 times by the Romanian national team.

After struggling for game-time at Belgian side Genk, the attacking midfielder joined Rangers on loan last week, where he will hopefully learn some useful tools of the trade from Steven Gerrard.

Speaking about his son’s move to Ibrox this week, father Gheorghe said: “I want to point out why he is now a star in his own right. During Romania’s match against Spain in November, I was in the stands and a boy came up to me and asked for my autograph,

“When I gave him it, he was delighted because he told everyone he had just got an autograph from Ianis Hagi’s father!

“That made me happier than anything.”

Erling Braut Haaland

What more can we say about this guy?

Since his January move to Dortmund, he has scored eight times in just 180 minutes of football.

For the mathematically challenged among us, that’s an average of four goals a game!

Of course, the 19-year-old son of former Leeds and Manchester City midfielder Alf-Inge won’t keep up that strike-rate forever, but he undoubtedly has all the tools to be one of the star strikers of the future.

His movement his exceptional, he can finish superbly with both feet and if that weren’t enough, he’s a big lad as well.

Erling Braut Haaland is the truth.