Weekend wonderkids: Ousmane Dembele and Arsenal target Nicolo Zaniolo make list

Without further ado, here’s our five picks from last weekend’s action.

KYLIAN MBAPPE, PSG – three goals, one assist in 9-0 victory v Guingamp

Key stat: Treble took Mbappe to 50 career league goals (from 94 appearances)

After all that – we start with Mr. Obvious. We’ve taken into account that it’s PSG, and they’re playing against vastly inferior position, but Guingamp were one of two sides to have beaten the impossibly rich Parisians this season. Nine goals later …

There can be no disputing though that Mbappe is getting better, a fact made all the more remarkable by the fact that his 20-year-old body has barely had a break since the start of last season. He’s already scored as many goals – 21 – for PSG in this campaign as he did last season, and we’re not even in February yet.

It helps, of course, when you’re playing with Neymar, but the duo’s connection is reaching telepathic levels. For his first he stroked a clever one-two with the Brazilian into the corner. Some Edinson Cavani hustle and good fortune set up the second, but it still required great balance to poke past the Marc-Aurèle Caillard.

In the second half, Mbappe picked out Neymar amid some admittedly pathetic defending, before rounding out his treble with a tap-in having ghosted into the box. Not bad, is he?

NICOLO ZANIOLO, ROMA – goal in 3-2 win v Torino

Key stat: 90 per cent pass accuracy

No.10s are as fashionable as double-denim at present but Nicolo Zaniolo, Roma’s would-be heir to Francesco Totti, is making his new threads work.

The 19-year-old’s switch got lost in the details of the Radja Nainggolan deal that took the Belgian to Inter Milan yet he’s arguably enjoying the better season.

The finished product? Not in the slightest, but Zaniolo never fails to get involved. While his touch was a little unsure at times against Torino, the lean-bodied midfielder – who at 6ft3in is a full eight inches taller than Nainggolan – uses his long limbs to protect the ball in the final third. That helped when scoring the opener, as he did well to corral his rebounded shot before a swivel and blast past Salvatore Sirigu.

In the build-up that led to Aleksandar Kolarov’s penalty, the rumoured Arsenal target also made a subtle run that flat-footed the covering midfielder and opened the space for Rick Karsdorp to find Stephan El Shaarawy in the penalty area.

There’s a lot to like here – and he’s only 17 games into his Giallorossi career.

AARON MARTIN, MAINZ – assist v Stuttgart

Key stat: Five key passes from left-back in 3-2 win

Digging a little deeper, there’s a young Spanish left-back in the Bundesliga very much worth keeping an eye on.

Martin, signed on loan with a permanent option from Espanyol in the summer, revels in width – whether he’s got the ball or not. It noticeably gave Mainz’s marauding forwards in Jean-Philippe Boetius and Jean-Paul Boetius the freedom to attack the central spaces against Stuttgart in what was an impressive away victory.

Indeed, a little like the Marcelos and Marcos Alonsos of this world, Mainz channelled much of their play through him as he took 77 touches – a full 20 more than any of his team-mates.

One fine dribble early on – he made seven successful ones in total – sparked the Boetius opener, while the 21-year-old also whipped in the corner for the third goal and essentially the game winner by Alexander Hack.

Stuttgart staged a late rally and Martin, much like Marcelo and Alonso can, looked lackadaisical defensively at times and was outmaneuvered by Anastasios Donis before the Greek’s shot hit the post.

Still, he pitched in with two tackles, three interceptions and seven clearances. A decent night’s work.

OUSMANE DEMBELE, BARCELONA – goal v Leganes

Key stat: 11 successful dribbles in 3-1 win

The good news is that Ousmane Dembele continues to be on the right side of the dazzle to despair ratio. The bad news is that the mercurial forward is back in the Barcelona’s medical department.

The France forward’s ankle injury is likely to keep him out for the next four games and Barca are likely to miss his thrust, even if some of his decision-making has not yet fallen into line with the Blaugrana way. With him in this form, it’s OK just to enjoy the ride.

The thing with Dembele is that you don’t know where he’s going – and neither does he at times. The 21-year-old is so adept at switching the ball between feet of equal brilliance that defenders may as well just flip a coin over which way they should move.

That was apparent in his opener at the Nou Camp, bamboozling on the right before switching the ball to the left, then opening up his body to redirect Jordi Alba’s slide-rule pass into the very corner of the net’s right corner.

He went on to complete 11 dribbles – the most of any player in a single La Liga game this season – before his ankle got the better of him with 20 minutes to go.

Yes, he’s a little pig-headed, resistant to change and likes a lie-in … but is that just part of his beauty?

KELVIN AMIAN, TOULOUSE – man of the match v Nimes

Key stat: 11 clearances in 1-0 draw

Back to Ligue 1 and the Toulouse back-line, where a Golden Boy nominee you may have missed is coming into his own.

Amian, 20, has been tasked with shoring up a leaky rearguard as a centre-back in a three over the last two months, despite right-back being his natural position.

Listed at 5ft10in, he is probably too short for that positional switch to become a permanent one and he’s naturally had a turbulent time –  conceding five fouls in a 2-1 defeat to Caen last month.

Against Nimes, however, the France Under-21 international was a clearance machine. But it was sumptuous assist that provided a peek into the future.

Tucked just inside his wing-back, Amian bent the ball around three helpless Nimes defenders and into the path of Yaya Sanogo who simply could not miss.

Stats compiled from whoscored.com