Ricardo Pepi is officially one to watch! USMNT star included on list of world's best young centre-forwards alongside Man Utd's Rasmus Hojlund and Real Madrid signing Endrick

A report from CIES Football Observatory has put together a 270-strong list of players who are 20 and under and looked at how much playing time they've had in 2023. A rising star is given an 'experience score' out of 100, which is calculated on the number of minutes they have played for club and country. And 20-year-old U.S. starlet Pepi, who plays for PSV Eindhoven, is at number 10 on the striker list with a score of 73.4 and 2,521 minutes of game time. Manchester United forward Rasmus Hojlund, 20, tops the list at 88.9 and 3,298 minutes, Brighton's Evan Ferguson, 19, is second with 88.4 and 2,831 minutes, and Real Madrid-bound Endrick, 17, is seventh with 73.4 and 2,766 minutes.

CIES points out that early experience of top-level adult football is no guarantee of a great career but it is a stepping stone towards one. It adds the 270 players on this list are in an 'excellent position' to one day play for the world's 'top clubs and leagues'. Moreover, youngsters such as Jude Bellingham, Pablo Gavi, and more, have been on these lists before and are shining on the world stage.

Pepi started his career at FC Dallas before moving to FC Augsburg in 2022 and then onto PSV a year later. The young Texas striker, who has also had loan spells at North Texas SC and FC Groningen, has scored 10 goals in 22 games for his country.

Pepi is likely to next be in action for PSV, who have won all 16 games in the league this season, on January 13 in the Eredivisie when they host Excelsior. He could feature for the U.S. a week later against Slovenia in an international friendly in Dallas.