Ask anyone over 30 and they’ll tell you this century has been an age of lazy narcissism (read: Instagram, Facebook, mobile phones, the internet and Uber Eats)

But while our epoch is shaking off the last of the acne and applying for Newstart, some Australian teens are training seven hours a day and shipping overseas for a chance at footballing immortality.

The New Year means it’s been another 12 months since the golden generation illuminated our hearts and living rooms, but with more promising young Aussies then you can poke a selfie stick at, is another golden age on the horizon?

Every Socceroo fan is hoping that in a decade’s time, we look back at 2018 as the year that unearthed Daniel Arzani. What will 2019 be?

Ramy Najjarine

The most fruitful prospect in the footballing cornucopia that is Melbourne City football club, 18-year-old Najjarine has just begun to break through under Warren Joyce and so far we like what we see.

Rumoured to be internally regarded as an even brighter prospect than his former teammate Arzani, Najjarine possesses the same silky skills and excellent mobility as the Socceroo, but at 176 centimetres tall and weighing over 70kg, there’s a little more ‘rainy Tuesday night at Stoke’ to him as well.

Rahmat Akbari

When Akbari was first called up to the Joeys, his father laid out just how much it meant to the entire family, who emigrated to Australia from Afghanistan when the now-18-year-old was five.

“If we were still in Afghanistan or Pakistan this would never have happened,” he said. “Back there we couldn’t even go to a proper school or get educated.”

At 185 centimetres and still growing, Akbari is now another solid-built, naturally-gifted A-League wunderkind, product of Brisbane Roar’s youth system but right at home at Melbourne Victory.

Despite the Big V boasting one of the finest attacking lineups the competition has ever seen, Akbari already has five appearances this season. What he can learn from the likes of Keisuke Honda is mouth-watering…

Sebastian Pasquali

When Melbourne Victory fans sing ‘Stand By Me’ before A-League matches, they’re not just rousing emotion, they’re giving career advice. When Pasquali first burst onto the scene (remember that phenomenal performance against Juventus?) he was a 16-year-old attacking midfielder.

After three years with Jong Ajax – admittedly one of the greatest youth academies in the world – the 19-year-old is now playing largely as a centreback. Whether this is the shift he needs to break into Ajax, or any other first team, remains to be seen.

Pasquali clearly has quality to be playing for Ajax’s superstar conveyor belt, which is why 2019 bodes promisingly as the year he breaks through somewhere. But as a centreback? Really?

Perhaps post-match Victory fans should be a little more obvious and just start chanting ‘Should I Stay or Should I Go…’

Christian Theoharous

From one Big V prodigy to another, Theoharous’ departure to Borussia Monchengladbach is the latest in a long series of Aussie youngsters heading to the Bundesliga (Kwame Yeboah recently returned home after four years attempting to break into the same side).

Possessing excellent balance, a decent final pass and an uncanny ability to beat a fullback when the ball seems lost, Theoharous’ performances during Victory’s successful finals tilt last year suggested he’s a Socceroo in the making.

In the meantime, it’s likely the 18-year-old will be an extended work in progress in Germany...

Ajdin Hrustic

At 22, Hrustic is the oldest player on this list, but he’s also a one-cap Socceroo and a regular performer in the Eredivisie for Groningen. You get the feeling 2019 will be the year that makes or breaks Hrustic’s sterling potential.

The attacking midfielder – who came through the increasingly prolific Shalke 04 academy –needs to add direct contributions to his game. One assist all season and two goals in 39 Eredivisie appearances don’t exactly signal star potential.

But when you see Hrustic face up three Dutch defenders on the wing, pause, then charge directly through all of them, you realise if anyone’s really going to break through this year, it’s probably him.

Con Ouzounidis

A little left-field, but 19-year-old Ouzounidis is fighting through arguably the best academy in England at the moment with Everton, under England’s best youth coach in David Unsworth.

A ball-playing centreback with a knack for scoring goals, Ouzounidis has also been drawing high praise. Short-lived Toffees defender Ramiro Funes Mori played one match with the teen last year and walked away raving about the youthful Aussie: “I think he’s got a really good future.”

“I feel like I’ve came on a lot over the past year,” Ouzounidis said after signing a professional contract.

“I got injured, which was a blow, but I was in the gym a lot with the physio so that helped me develop physically. Coaches like [Under-18s boss] Paul Tait and Unsy [David Unsworth] in the Under-23s have helped me out a lot, too.

"Unsy used to be a centre-half and he’s been there and done it for the first team, so he knows what it takes to get there. I just have to take what he says on board and put it into my game.”

Ben Folami

A striker, a striker, our kingdom for a striker.

If losing Daniel Arzani, Aaron Mooy, Martin Boyle and possibly Matt Leckie and Tom Rogic from the Socceroos Asian Cup campaign has been good for anything – and obviously it has – then Chris Ikonomidis’s sudden importance could finally signal a new Socceroos striker.

But Ikonomidis isn’t naturally a striker; even at Perth Glory he’s been playing as part of a front two. One day, his partner in crime may just be Gbenga Tai Folami – but just call him Ben.

Like Ikonomidis, Folami is a Sutherland Sharks alumni and the 19-year-old has already racked up four Championship appearances for cellar-dwellars Ipswich Town. He’s highly rated by the Tractor Boys and, by the sounds of things, that’s saying something.

“It’s a lot more cutthroat there,” he told AAP. “If they don’t think you’re up to it, or good enough, you’re gone.”

Denis Genreau

If you thought Paris was a romantic honeymoon destination, turns out Parisians think the same thing about ol’ Sydney. Who could have guessed traffic jams were so damned attractive?

Parisian-born Genreau emigrated to Australia as a child when his parents fell in love with the Harbour City and after picking up the round-ball sport, may have assumed finding opportunities Down Under would be a little easier than in Europe.

Turns out, he was better off heading back. After making five appearances over two years at Melbourne City, Genreau secured a loan move to PEC Zwolle in the Eredivisie.

Suddenly the 19-year-old is a regular for an Eredivisie club: that’s more than Trent Sainsbury and Aziz Behich can say.

“If you don’t fit the coach’s style, you don’t play,” he explained to The Daily Football Show. But now Genreau faces his sternest test, impressing a new coach with Zwolle on the verge of relegation.

If he can retain his place in the lineup through this, the Socceroos may prove a cakewalk.  

Trent Buhagiar

With a phenomenal 50 A-League appearances by 20 (and it could have been 60 had he not torn his ACL before a ball was kicked this season), Buhagiar already boasts more professional matches than any other footballer on the list.

Even more than Hrustic, and he’s two years older.  

The most exciting thing about Buhagiar – other than his electric pace – is the importance Steve Corica appeared to place on his role in the team this season. Without Buhagiar’s ability to drive behind opposition defences, Sydney's frontline looked lost at times.

But that importance is also concerning. Given the transfer window is now open, Corica’s already announced his intentions to sign another forward and the Sky Blues have an international slot open, it seems one of the few youth to get an extended chance in the A-League may soon be back down the pecking order.

If he can earn back his place, watch this space.

John Iredale

It’s early days yet so don’t get too excited, but we may have just saved the best for last.

Now that the  Socceroos’ desperate striking requirements are well-established, what if we told you that there’s a 19-year-old who bagged 10 goals in 13 appearances for an Eredivisie youth team last season.

We’re guessing you’d ask when he’s going to get injured. Yep, he broke his foot last month and he’ll be out until May. But for the sake of our collective sanity, let’s look past the Socceroos curse and focus on the future, just like Iredale is.

“(My coach) has me in his plans,” he recently told The World Game. “Basically it’s keep working hard and be ready. It’s definitely good to know he’s thinking of how to use me this season.

"It helps me to be able to play, not worrying about whether he’s thinking of going to use me.”

Here’s hoping all of these promising youngsters can do just that: play.