The most valuable youngsters in world football: Jack Wilshere tops England's young players

Manchester United's Danny Welbeck, who revealed yesterday that Manchester City had rejected him as an eight-year-old trialist, has been rated at £11m in a table of the 30 most valuable young players in world football.

City, for their part, can boast only third-placed Mario Balotelli in the table of players aged 21 or under, which is compiled by Futebol Finance. They paid £24m for the Italian, though he is now rated at £25m. Arsenal's Jack Wilshere carries an £18m value in a table headed by Santos' Neymar, with Borussia Dortmund's Mario Götze second; Welbeck is in 20th place.

Welbeck, 21, said of his rejection: "City custard-pied me as a kid. My dad didn't tell me at the time, it was just before Christmas and he didn't want to break any bad news. Straight after Christmas I played in a tournament for my local side, Fletcher Moss, and that's where United picked me up. I went for a trial and have never looked back since. I was always a Red anyway."

Among the 21 most valuable youngsters in world football, six of them are English.

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