{"id":82784,"date":"2026-04-23T17:38:52","date_gmt":"2026-04-23T17:38:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/the-gab-juls-draft-who-is-no-1-from-stars-born-in-2004\/"},"modified":"2026-04-23T17:38:52","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T17:38:52","slug":"the-gab-juls-draft-who-is-no-1-from-stars-born-in-2004","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/the-gab-juls-draft-who-is-no-1-from-stars-born-in-2004\/","title":{"rendered":"The Gab &#038; Juls draft: Who is No. 1 from stars born in 2004?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>It&#8217;s that time! The time when, in honour of the NFL draft, Juls and I try our hand at drafting the best players by birth year. We&#8217;re up to 2004, which makes this the fifth year of our draft and offers a nice opportunity to look back.<\/p>\n<p>We both made some bad picks (me, to be fair, more than Juls), but since we&#8217;re buying futures, we figured we&#8217;d treat these like stock portfolios, using Transfermarkt valuations (which aren&#8217;t perfect, but are a decent benchmark). Mine is basically flat (down 0.01%, largely because of my disastrous 2001 draft, when I foolishly put my faith in Mykhaylo Mudryk, Armando Broja and Nicol\u00f2 Fagioli), but Juls has pretty much killed it (he&#8217;s up 15.39%).<\/p>\n<p>Anyway, here are is our draft of players born in 2004. Note how there&#8217;s a bit of a drop-off after the top three, and the top eight picks are all midfielders &#8230;<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p><b>1. Juls: Jo\u00e3o Neves, MF, Paris Saint-Germain<\/b><br \/>&#8220;His football IQ is higher than anyone of his generation and higher than many more experienced players in his position.&#8221;<\/p>\n<aside class=\"inline inline-photo full\">\n<figure><picture><source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/a3.espncdn.com\/combiner\/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2026%2F0423%2Fr1648041_1296x729_16%2D9.jpg&amp;w=570&amp;format=jpg, https:\/\/a3.espncdn.com\/combiner\/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2026%2F0423%2Fr1648041_1296x729_16%2D9.jpg&amp;w=1140&amp;cquality=40&amp;format=jpg 2x\" media=\"(min-width: 376px)\"><source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/a3.espncdn.com\/combiner\/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2026%2F0423%2Fr1648041_1296x729_16%2D9.jpg&amp;w=375, https:\/\/a3.espncdn.com\/combiner\/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2026%2F0423%2Fr1648041_1296x729_16%2D9.jpg&amp;w=750&amp;cquality=40&amp;format=jpg 2x\" media=\"(max-width: 375px)\"><img class=\" lazyload lazyload\" data-image-container=\".inline-photo\" height=\"320\" width=\"570\"\/><\/source><\/source><\/picture><figcaption class=\"photoCaption\">Neves was Juls&#8217; top overall pick and it&#8217;s hard to argue given how indispensable he&#8217;s become for club and country at such a young age. PSG would be much worse without him.\u00a0<cite>Mustafa Yalcin\/Anadolu via Getty Images<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/aside>\n<p><b>2. Gab: Nico Paz, MF, Como<\/b><br \/>&#8220;A genuine number ten who combines athleticism, creativity and quality &#8230; Real Madrid have the option to bring him back &#8230;&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><b>3. Gab: Gavi, MF, Barcelona<\/b><br \/>&#8220;A regular for Barca at 17 and then hampered by injuries the last two seasons &#8230; I picked him high because I want him to go back to where he was: one of the best all-rounders in Europe.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><b>4. Juls: Aleksandar Pavlovic, MF, Bayern Munich<\/b><br \/>&#8220;He&#8217;s strong, he&#8217;s tall, he runs forever and he&#8217;s calm and composed on the ball &#8230; already a fixture for Bayern, one of the best teams in the world.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><b>5. Juls: Adam Wharton, MF, Crystal Palace<\/b><br \/>&#8220;I picked another defensive midfielder here. I love how he scans and dictates the pace of the game, I love his left foot. He&#8217;s going to move to a big club this summer for a lot of money.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><b>6. Gab: Carlos Baleba, MF, Brighton<\/b><br \/>&#8220;Last season he monstered the Premier League, though his play has dipped a bit this time around. But I&#8217;m playing the long game here &#8230; he can be a Mois\u00e9s Caicedo type.&#8221;<\/p>\n<aside class=\"inline inline-table\">\n<h2 class=\"table-caption\">Gab &amp; Juls draft: Players born in 2004<\/h2>\n<table cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" data-text-contract=\"-\" data-text-expand=\"+\" data-fix-cols=\"0\" data-behavior=\"responsive_table\" class=\"inline-table\">\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>PICK<\/th>\n<th\/>\n<th>PLAYER<\/th>\n<th>POSITION<\/th>\n<th>TEAM<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr class=\"last\">\n<td>1<\/td>\n<td>Juls<\/td>\n<td>Joao Neves<\/td>\n<td>MF<\/td>\n<td>Paris Saint-Germain<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"last\">\n<td>2<\/td>\n<td>Gab<\/td>\n<td>Nico Paz<\/td>\n<td>MF<\/td>\n<td>Como<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"last\">\n<td>3<\/td>\n<td>Gab<\/td>\n<td>Gavi<\/td>\n<td>MF<\/td>\n<td>Barcelona<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"last\">\n<td>4<\/td>\n<td>Juls<\/td>\n<td>Aleksandar Pavlovic<\/td>\n<td>MF<\/td>\n<td>Bayern Munich<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"last\">\n<td>5<\/td>\n<td>Juls<\/td>\n<td>Adam Wharton<\/td>\n<td>MF<\/td>\n<td>Crystal Palace<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"last\">\n<td>6<\/td>\n<td>Gab<\/td>\n<td>Carlos Baleba<\/td>\n<td>MF<\/td>\n<td>Brighton<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"last\">\n<td>7<\/td>\n<td>Gab<\/td>\n<td>Mateus Fernandes<\/td>\n<td>MF<\/td>\n<td>West Ham<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"last\">\n<td>8<\/td>\n<td>Juls<\/td>\n<td>Valentin Barco<\/td>\n<td>MF<\/td>\n<td>Strasbourg<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"last\">\n<td>9<\/td>\n<td>Juls<\/td>\n<td>Abdukodkir Khusanov<\/td>\n<td>DF<\/td>\n<td>Manchester City<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"last\">\n<td>10<\/td>\n<td>Gab<\/td>\n<td>Yankuba Minteh<\/td>\n<td>WING<\/td>\n<td>Brighton<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"last\">\n<td>11<\/td>\n<td>Gab<\/td>\n<td>Samu Aghehowa<\/td>\n<td>FW<\/td>\n<td>Porto<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"last\">\n<td>12<\/td>\n<td>Juls<\/td>\n<td>Lamine Camara<\/td>\n<td>MF<\/td>\n<td>Monaco<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"last\">\n<td>13<\/td>\n<td>Juls<\/td>\n<td>Joel Ordonez<\/td>\n<td>DF<\/td>\n<td>Club Brugge<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"last\">\n<td>14<\/td>\n<td>Gab<\/td>\n<td>Ernest Poku<\/td>\n<td>WING<\/td>\n<td>Bayer Leverkusen<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"last\">\n<td>15<\/td>\n<td>Gab<\/td>\n<td>Niccolo Pisilli<\/td>\n<td>MF<\/td>\n<td>Roma<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"last\">\n<td>16<\/td>\n<td>Juls<\/td>\n<td>Santiago Castro<\/td>\n<td>FW<\/td>\n<td>Bologna<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"last\">\n<td>17<\/td>\n<td>Juls<\/td>\n<td>Noah Sadiki<\/td>\n<td>MF<\/td>\n<td>Sunderland<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"last\">\n<td>18<\/td>\n<td>Gab<\/td>\n<td>Wilson Odobert<\/td>\n<td>WING<\/td>\n<td>Tottenham Hotspur<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"last\">\n<td>19<\/td>\n<td>Gab<\/td>\n<td>Alejandro Garnacho<\/td>\n<td>WING<\/td>\n<td>Chelsea<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr class=\"last\">\n<td>20<\/td>\n<td>Juls<\/td>\n<td>Andrey Santos<\/td>\n<td>MF<\/td>\n<td>Chelsea<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/aside>\n<p><b>7. Gab: Mateus Fernandes, MF, West Ham<\/b><br \/>&#8220;A metronomic passer who is comfortable in tight spaces and creative to boot &#8230; if West Ham stay up, he&#8217;ll be a big part of it.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><b>8. Juls: Valent\u00edn Barco, MF, Strasbourg<\/b><br \/>&#8220;One of the best players in Ligue 1, many big clubs are looking at him. He transitioned from left back to central midfield and has really impressed.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>9. Juls: Abdukodkir Khusanov, DF, Manchester City<br \/>&#8220;He is our first defender picked, and he probably deserves to be higher. After a shocking debut against Chelsea in the space of a year he has established himself as one of the best centerbacks in the Premier League.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><b>10. Gab: Yankuba Minteh, WING, Brighton<\/b><br \/>&#8220;A hugely exciting winger who cuts in from the right and wreaks havoc. He&#8217;s already one of the top dribblers in the Premier League. If his finishing improves too &#8230; look out!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><b>11. Gab: Samu Aghehowa, FW, Porto<\/b><br \/>&#8220;Big, strong and fast, with an eye for goal. He was having a standout season until his ACL injury in February, but he&#8217;ll be back eventually and will be better than ever.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><b>12. Juls: Lamine Camara, MF, Monaco<\/b><br \/>&#8220;A box-to-box midfielder who has been very impressive this season. I&#8217;d expect him to move to a big club &#8212; he&#8217;s made for the Premier League.  Think Baleba, only right-footed.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><b>13. Juls: Joel Ord\u00f3\u00f1ez, DF, Club Brugge<\/b><br \/>&#8220;Another Ecuadorian defender, like Piero Hincapi\u00e9 and Willian Pacho. Versatile, very strong physically and good on the ball too.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><b>14. Gab: Ernest Poku, WING, Bayer Leverkusen<\/b><br \/>&#8220;Still a little raw, but he&#8217;s hard-working, lightning quick and can play anywhere on either wing. One of those low floor, high ceiling guys.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><b>15. Gab: Niccol\u00f2 Pisilli, MF, Roma<\/b><br \/>&#8220;I had to pick an Italian guy, but to be fair, Pisilli offers dynamism and quality in the middle of the park, as well as an eye for goal.&#8221;<\/p>\n<aside class=\"inline float-r inline-track\">\n<h2 class=\"img-title\">All of ESPN. All in one place.<\/h2>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" class=\"imageLoaded\" src=\"https:\/\/a.espncdn.com\/photo\/2025\/0813\/r1531432_1296x729_16-9.jpg\" width=\"100%\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Watch your favorite events in the newly enhanced ESPN App. Learn more about what plan is right for you. <b>Sign Up Now<\/b><\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p><b>16. Juls: Santiago Castro, FW, Bologna<\/b><br \/>&#8220;Still a bit raw, but there&#8217;s a great finisher there: he hit double figures in goals in his first two Serie A seasons. Great potential as a clinical and consistent goalscorer.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><b>17. Juls: Noah Sadiki, MF, Sunderland<\/b><br \/>&#8220;I was curious to see how he&#8217;d adapt from Belgium to the Premier League and he&#8217;s been very impressive, giving you workrate and physicality in front of the back four.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><b>18. Gab: Wilson Odobert, WING, Tottenham Hotspur<\/b><br \/>&#8220;An old school winger, who is technically exceptional, though didn&#8217;t really get a chance to show it at Spurs and, of course, his season ended with an ACL injury in February.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><b>19. Gab: Alejandro Garnacho, WING, Chelsea<\/b><br \/>&#8220;OK, he&#8217;s been disappointing for a while now. I get that. But he has a high ceiling and this low in the draft, I figured he was worth a shot.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><b>20. Juls: Andrey Santos, MF, Chelsea<\/b><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;At Chelsea maybe not so much, but with Brazil and with Strasbourg he was one of the best players in Ligue 1 last season. Maybe the context at Chelsea didn&#8217;t help him, but there&#8217;s a very good player in there.&#8221;<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<h2>PAST DRAFTS<\/h2>\n<h3>Players born in 2003<\/h3>\n<p><b>Gab&#8217;s picks:<\/b> Florian Wirtz, Milos Kerkez, Benjamin Sesko, Xavi Simons, Alejandro Balde, Liam Delap, Harvey Elliott, Giorgio Scalvini, Levi Colwill, Raul Asencio<br \/><i>Transfer value: 466m when drafted, 479m today (+2.79%)<\/i><\/p>\n<p><b>Juls&#8217; picks:<\/b> Jamal Musiala, Jude Bellingham, Rayan Cherki, Antonio Silva, Fermin Lopez, Marc Casado, Jhon Duran, Pablo Barrios, Emanuel Emegha, Hakon Haraldsson<br \/><i>Transfer value: 520m when drafted, 608 today (+16.92%)<\/i><\/p>\n<p><b>Guys we missed out on:<\/b> Alvaro Carreras, Rasmus Hojlund, Wesley, Matias Soule, Malo Gusto<\/p>\n<aside class=\"inline inline-photo full\">\n<figure><picture><source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/a.espncdn.com\/combiner\/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2026%2F0306%2Fr1624355_1296x729_16%2D9.jpg&amp;w=570&amp;format=jpg, https:\/\/a.espncdn.com\/combiner\/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2026%2F0306%2Fr1624355_1296x729_16%2D9.jpg&amp;w=1140&amp;cquality=40&amp;format=jpg 2x\" media=\"(min-width: 376px)\"><source data-srcset=\"https:\/\/a.espncdn.com\/combiner\/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2026%2F0306%2Fr1624355_1296x729_16%2D9.jpg&amp;w=375, https:\/\/a.espncdn.com\/combiner\/i?img=%2Fphoto%2F2026%2F0306%2Fr1624355_1296x729_16%2D9.jpg&amp;w=750&amp;cquality=40&amp;format=jpg 2x\" media=\"(max-width: 375px)\"><img class=\" lazyload lazyload\" data-image-container=\".inline-photo\" height=\"320\" width=\"570\"\/><\/source><\/source><\/picture><figcaption class=\"photoCaption\">Musiala has become one of the best young players in the sport and should do big things with Germany at this summer&#8217;s World Cup.\u00a0<cite>Stefan Matzke &#8211; sampics\/Getty Images<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/aside>\n<h3>Players born in 2002<\/h3>\n<p>NOTE: Ryan O&#8217;Hanlon and Tor-Kristian Karlsen joined us in this draft and they were picking too, hence why you don&#8217;t see the likes of Pedri, Josko Gvardiol and Nico Williams among our choices.<\/p>\n<p><b>Gab&#8217;s picks:<\/b> Cole Palmer, Simon Adingra, Ryan Gravenberch, Ansu Fati, Jarrad Branthwaite, Pape Matar Sarr<br \/><i>Transfer value:<\/i> \u20ac220 million when drafted, \u20ac317m today (+44.09%)<\/p>\n<p><b>Juls&#8217; picks:<\/b> Eduardo Camavinga, Bradley Barcola, Nuno Mendes, Riccardo Calafiori, Enzo Millot, Otavio<br \/><i>Transfer value: \u20ac275m when drafted, \u20ac283m today (+2.91%)<\/i><\/p>\n<p><b>Guys we missed out on:<\/b> Hugo Ekitike, Morgan Rogers, Elliot Anderson, Meghnes Akhliouche, Amad Diallo<\/p>\n<h3>Players born in 2001<\/h3>\n<p><b>Gab&#8217;s picks:<\/b> Bukayo Saka, Enzo Fernandez, William Saliba, Goncalo Ramos, Gabriel Martinelli, Mykhailo Mudryk, Manuel Ugarte, Armando Broja, Anatoliy Trubin, Nicolo&#8217; Fagioli<br \/><i>Transfer value: \u20ac580m when drafted, \u20ac459m today (-20.86%)<\/i><\/p>\n<p><b>Juls&#8217; picks:<\/b> Khvicha Kvaratskehlia, Rodrygo, Moises Caicedo, Jurrien Timber, Khephren Thuram, Benoit Badiashile, Manu Kone, Santiago Gimenez, Michael Olise, Amadou Onana<br \/><i>Transfer value: \u20ac530m when drafted, \u20ac633m today (+19.43%)<\/i><\/p>\n<p><b>Guys we missed out on:<\/b> Joao Pedro, Willian Pacho, Micky Van de Ven, Anthony Gordon, Igor Thiago<\/p>\n<h3>Players born in 2000<\/h3>\n<p>NOTE: We only chose 10 players in our inaugural draft<\/p>\n<p><b>Gab&#8217;s picks:<\/b> Phil Foden, Vinicius Jr, Jonathan David, Dusan Vlahovic, Sandro Tonali<br \/><i>Transfer value: \u20ac370m when drafted, \u20ac380m today (+2.7%)<\/i><\/p>\n<p><b>Juls&#8217; picks:<\/b> Erling Haaland, Alphonso Davies, Aurelien Tchouameni, Antony, Sven Botman<br \/><i>Transfer value: \u20ac338m when drafted, \u20ac395m today (+16.86%)<\/i><\/p>\n<p><b>Guys we missed out on:<\/b> Vitinha, Dominik Szoboszlai, Julian Alvarez, Antoine Semenyo, Marc Guehi<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It&#8217;s that time! The time when, in honour of the NFL draft, Juls and I try our hand at drafting the best players by birth year. We&#8217;re up to 2004, which makes this the fifth year of our draft and offers a nice opportunity to look back. We both made some bad picks (me, to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":82785,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_daextam_enable_autolinks":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-82784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football-transfers"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/r1648041_1296x729_16-9.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}