Hi, I’m Locky, the creator of the Soccer Stickers FC Blog and Instagram Page. I will be going through the top 10 cards to chase in the National Treasures set. The Top 10 is a regular segment I write on my blog. The aim of the Top 10 is to find the best investments in a given set. Things considered are the players career, their talent, position, age at the time of the set and whether the card is a rookie.

To make things interesting, I will be only going through the “base” cards listed in the set. Additionally, to follow this theme, I will be omitting the “big” names that everyone knows. For example, names such as Haaland, Messi, Mbappé and Ronado, to name a few, will not be included. I think this makes the list much more interesting and, also, gives the readers an insight into the other great players out there. Let’s be honest, its no revelation which cards are the very best. I think identifying the lesser-known prospects will be a better resource for the readers.

Let’s get started!

10) Facundo Pellistri #147 – Rookie Card
Pellistri, a Manchester United youngster, has been praised highly for his agility and technique. The young winger (20) has spent some time on loan at Spanish team, Deportivo Alves. He amassed 35 appearances for Deportivo over two seasons: plenty of experience for a man of his age. This season, Manchester United have decided to keep at the club after an impressive pre-season. It is looking likely that he will make his first-team debut soon, with Ten Hag suggesting he is one of the youngsters he could turn to. Currently, there is no concrete evidence that Facundo will be a good investment, but being a youngster at Manchester United, there is always a high ceiling!

 

9) Piero Hincapié #52 – Rookie Card
Piero (20) moved to Bayer Leverkusen in the 2021/22 season and became an instant first-team player in the centre of defence, playing 32 matches in the Bundesliga. He has also got experience in the Champions League. Aged 20, this is great for his development, I expect a bigger team to come knocking sooner rather than later. Currently valued around 22 million euros, if he continues the same trajectory, he will command a huge transfer fee.

 

 

8) Yusuf Demir #11 – Rookie Card
The young Austrian (19) had huge hype when he secured a loan move to FC Barcelona last season. The move was probably too soon, and he struggled for gametime in a struggling Barcelona. The highly technical winger returned to Rapid Wien at the end of his loan spell and this year signed for Turkish giants Galatasaray on a 4year deal. I think his development will be fast tracked in Turkey and will secure another big move in the coming years. I don’t expect he will get much gametime this World Cup, but I expect him to be a big player in the future, thus this rookie card could become very valuable.

 

7) Kim Min-jae #80 – Rookie Card
Kim has shot into stardom this season after signing for Napoli. Along with Kvicha, Min-jae has transformed the Napoli side into title favourites! Napoli sit top of the Serie A and topped their Champions League group. The signing from Fenerbahce is already being touted, by some, as the best centre-back in the world. This may be a bit premature; the rest of the season will give us a better idea. Centre backs are not usually a highly sort after investment, but with his meteoric rise, he is a player everyone is talking about. It should also be noted that Korean’s love collecting cards, thus the price of Korean players, traditionally, are sold at an inflated price.

 

6) Charles De Ketelaere #14
Charles recently secured a move to the Italian champions, AC Milan. The attacking midfielder, aged 21, has had a slow start to life at Milan, yet to register a goal so far this season. Despite this, I think he is an extremely talented player, and it is only a matter of time before he gets firing. Because of his slow start, he has begun to fall out of hype. This is a good opportunity to pick him up at a reasonable price. If he scores a couple goals in the World Cup, his stocks will rise.

 

 

5) Joško Gvardiol #33 – Rookie Card
Gvardiol has been on the radar of Manchester City. He is a ball playing defender that would suit Pep’s possession hungry tactics. Croatia will want a repeat of their previous World Cup campaign, and if they do have a successful tournament, Gvardiol will be key member of the team. He is only 20 but has built a reputation of a no-nonsense defender coupled with composure and technical ability. It is not often a defender makes it this high on the list, but I think given his age and the potential transfer fee, he could be a world record (a 90 million big was already rejected). If this were to happen, naturally there would be huge hype and big prices on his cards.

 

4) Yunus Musah #145
Yunus came from the Arsenal academy, Hale End. He decided to leave to seek first-team football and joined Spanish side, Valencia. The American has been nothing short of sensation in Spain. To date, Musah has had a stagging 70 appearances for Valencia ages 19 and has racked up 17 national team caps. The dynamic midfielder has emerged as one of the best American players and I expect him to have a big World Cup. With USA being such a huge market, naturally this card will become extremely valuable. If he continues of the same trajectory, I think, he can be one of the world’s best midfielders.
**Note the card shown is not Musah’s base card, it was unable to be found because the set is quite new**

 

3) Moisés Caicedo #51 – Rookie Card
Brighton took a risk signing Caicedo for around 4.5 million pounds, being relatively unknown in the Ecuadorian league. In hindsight, it looks like a bargain because he has been a revelation in the Premier League. Similar to Yunus, Caicedo is a dynamic midfielder in the centre of the park. He has adapted to the Premier League with ease and is being linked with the top teams in England for prices hovering around the 50-million pound mark; not a bad investment! It is likely that Ecuador’s World Cup won’t be very successful, but it is very likely Caicedo will move on from Brighton to bigger and better things. With that in mind, I think this card is a fantastic investment.

 

2) Cody Gapko #90 – Rookie Card
Gapko has been a man on fire this season. The only player to rival Haaland’s goal contributions. It must be noted that the eredivise is not the strongest league and PSV tend to smash opponents. Ironically, the same can be said about Manchester City, minus the weak league! That being said, his numbers are undeniable and definitely a big prospect. Prior to the season beginning, Gapko was linked to Arsenal and Manchester United. Cody is a big player to watch out for in the upcoming World Cup, he is a tall and powerful winger and can cause serious problems for any team! Additionally, Netherlands have been in flying form approaching the tournament and, by many, are considered dark horses for the title. If he has a big World Cup, expect this card to be very expensive.

 

1) Noah Okafor #137 – Rookie Card
Coming in at number 1 is Noah Okafor! I believe he has a chance of a big World Cup; Switzerland have been in fantastic form leading up to the tournament and Okafor is likely to be the main man leading the line. He has shown great form this season, especially in the Champions League, for Salzburg. They have been one of the best team’s in the World for pumping out talent with players such as: Haaland, Mané, and Keita to name a few. Maybe Okafor will be the next Salzburg player to take Europe by storm. I think everyone should be chasing this card and holding because it could pay huge dividends in the long term.

 

Summary
I hope you guys enjoyed my article. The 10 players listed are not the best cards in the set, but more of an outside of the box list to not be repetitive. If an obvious name has been left out, it is likely I have deemed the player too obvious for the list and decided to omit said player. If you want to see more lists like this, check out my blog, Soccer Stickers FC.

Thanks for reading and let us know your comments below.