Charleston Battery’s Fidel Barajas named a top-60 best young player in world by The Guardian

By: Battery Media

Fidel Barajas can officially add another accolade to his impressive inventory of accomplishments for his young career. The 17-year-old Battery No. 11 was named to The Guardian’s Next Generation 2023 on Wednesday, which is the British newspaper’s annual report of the top 60 young soccer players across the globe.

Barajas is the first Battery player to make the list and he becomes the first active USL Championship player in league history to be named to it. Barajas is featured alongside young talents from European giants such as Barcelona, Arsenal, Chelsea, Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain, among others.

Journalist Jon Arnold praised Barajas for being among the assists leaders in the league all year, stating, “with [Barajas’] superb vision and wicked left foot it is easy to see why.”

He joins a prestige group of past North American players to make the list, including Christian Pulisic (2015), Alphonso Davies (2017), Diego Lainez (2017), Tim Weah (2017), Gio Reyna (2019), Gianluca Busio (2019) and Marcelo Flores (2020), all of whom have made names for themselves playing in Europe and/or for their respective national teams.

The inclusion on Next Generation 2023 comes on the heels of Barajas’ banner year for club and country.

Barajas started 2023 by winning the Concacaf U-17 Championship with Mexico, where he scored three goals and added five assists in the tournament. With the Battery, his first full season as a professional, Barajas has a team-leading nine assists along with four goals. He has been among the top assist providers in the league throughout the year, one off the pace for the league lead, and is a three-time Team of the Week selection in 2023.

Focus for Barajas and the Battery shifts to finishing the regular season strong ahead of the commencement of the USL Championship Playoffs on Sun., Oct 22, at Patriots Point.

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