Out of the sixty best young talents picked from The Guardian, I present you all the players that I had on my watchlist before its release. There was a total of thirty-four players, some of them were mentioned way before on my X account.
Franco Mastantuono: After a weak U-17 WC he started playing for River first team and is still gradually trying to keep his place in the first team starting XI. He’s scored four goals and two assists so far this season. He’s played some matches in the Copa Libertadores and has still a chance to lift the trophy among his teammates.
Konstantinos Karetsas: He had a great season last year for Jong Genk, playing a lot and being a referent for the young team despite being one of the youngest of the league. This season he’s played some matches for the first team, claiming his spot in the starting XI.
Moisés Paniagua: He’s the youngest player in the Bolivian league and is one of the best players in the league. Although he hasn’t played a single match since September, he was a regular starter for Always Ready scoring three goals this season.
Gabriel Carvalho: He started playing for the first team in July in the Copa Sudamericana and Copa do Brasil from the bench and after those matches, he’s been playing in the Séria A as a starter every match helping Internacional go from tenth to sixth in the table.
Estevão: After an exceptional U-17 WC and Copinha, he was directly sent to the first team where he’s been a starter from almost the beginning of the season, crowning as one of the best in the league with ten goals and eight assists in just twenty-four matches. One of the best in this list, he’ll join Chelsea next season.
Luka Vuskovic: I discovered him when he was playing in the UEFA Youth League back in February 2023 against Shakhtar where he got a red card and scored a goal. He went on to be a starter for Hajduk Split. As he signed for Tottenham (to join in July 2025), Hajduk Split didn’t count on him, so he was loaned to Radomiak in January playing every match as a starter. Now he’s loaned in Westerlo where he’s also a starter and has already scored four goals and an assist as a defender in eleven games.
Chido Obi-Martin: He’s a natural goal machine now playing for Manchester United U-18 after a lot of trouble to sign from Arsenal U-18. Last season he scored thirty-two goals in only eighteen games, scoring in a single game seven goals against Norwich, five against West Ham and four against Crystal Palace and Fulham.
Kendry Páez: After a remarkable U-17 Sudamericano and WC he made his way to the first team eleven for Independiente del Valle and eventually to the senior NT playing as a starter in the Copa América. He’s also played in the Libertadores and Sudamericana as a starter. He’ll also join Chelsea in July 2025 after he turns eighteen.
Chris Rigg: Last season he was the youngest player in the Championship, playing especially at the end of the season for Sunderland. This season, he’s a key player for Sunderland on his way to promote the team to the Premier League.
Matias Siltanen: From the Liigacup back in January, he’s been an essential part for KuPS, winning the Veikkausliiga and the Suomen Cup as a starter for almost every single match adding up to forty-one matches this season. Apart from being one of the youngest in the league, he is the most valuable player.
Ayyoub Bouaddi: He’s a great player but he hasn’t still claimed his spot in the first team. He played last season some matches in the Conference League as a starter and this season played ninety minutes against Real Madrid in the Champions League winning that game.
Joane Gadou: He made a decent U-17 Euros and was a key part of PSG U-19 playing also in the Youth League. Then, he signed for RB Salzburg, but he isn’t having a lot of minutes, playing only two games as a starter this season.
Rayane Messi: He scored a goal in the U-17 Euros and played several matches across all the categories for Dijon. Now he plays for Strasbourg, starting a match for the U-19 side and played two matches for the second team.
Vakhtang Salia: He quickly began to start for Dinamo Tbilisi back in March, being the youngest player in the league at that moment. He’s also playing in the Youth League losing the second match against Podgorica despite scoring and being eliminated. He’s scored five goals and two assists so far in the Erovnuli Liga.
Viggo Gebel: He’s still in early development, playing in the U-19 Bundesliga for RB Leipzig and playing in the Youth League, losing both matches. He’s scored two goals across four games in the U-19 Bundesliga. Last season he won the U-17 Bundesliga in its region but lost in the final playoffs against Borussia Dortmund.
Charalampos Kostoulas: I made my first article about his brother, but Charalampos is also a great player on the making. He also won the Youth League with Olympiakos, the first ever international trophy from a Greek team, scoring five goals and two assists. He was also an important part of the second team to maintain in the Super League 2. This season he’s played four matches for the first team starting two of them and has scored five goals in two matches for the U-19 side.
Arkhan Kaka: He scored two goals in the U-17 WC achieving two draws. He’s the youngest player to feature in a match in the history of the Liga 1 Indonesia and is also the youngest scorer ever. He won the ASEAN U-19 Championship for Indonesia and plays in regular basis for PERSIS despite almost not starting a match for the team.
Mattia Liberali: He played some matches in the Youth League reaching the final against Olympiakos which Milan lost. He won the U-17 Euros winning every single match and scoring two goals. He played several matches across the youth departments of Milan. This season he’s trying to earn his spot in the starting eleven for the U-23 side playing in the Serie C.
Daniel Daga: He played every match in the U-20 WC being the youngest Nigerian ever in the competition and reached the quarter finals with Nigeria. He played almost every match for Enyimba Aba in the Nigerian PFL finishing third in the league. This season is being more difficult for him as he has only played three matches out of eight, at least he played the ninety minutes every match.
Sebastian Olderheim: Alongside Spiten-Nysaeter he’s the youngest starter in the OBOS Ligaen this season. He’s played almost every match in the league for Stabaek this season and has scored six goals and six assists in twenty-three games. He also scored three goals in four cup matches.
Oskar Spiten-Nysaeter: Alongside Sebastian Olderheim he’s the youngest starter in the OBOS Ligaen this season. He’s played several matches in the league for Stabaek this season and has scored nine goals and two assists despite being injured for five matches. He scored two goals and an assist in the Norwegian Cup.
Adrian Przyborek: Last season he began playing some matches for Pogon Szczecin and by March he started playing as a starter. Sadly, this season is struggling to find his spot in the starting eleven and has only played three games as a starter.
Rodrigo Mora: He reached the final of the U-17 Euros scoring five goals and two assists, losing the final against Italy. He also reached the semi finals of the Youth League losing against Milan having scored seven goals in nine matches. He played twelve games for Porto’s second team as a starter and sixteen from the bench. This season has debuted for the first team in the Europa League and in the Liga Portugal. He also played five matches for Porto B and scored a goal so far.
Geovany Quenda: He reached the final of the U-17 Euros only making an assist in the tournament. He played almost every match for Sporting CP U-23 scoring nine goals and seven assists in twenty-three matches. This season he’s made a step further playing six out of eight matches as a starter for Sporting CP in Liga Portugal making an assist and has debuted in Champions League playing two matches as a starter.
Talal Haji: He won the WAFF U-19 Championship for Saudi Arabia scoring a goal in the final. Last season he played nine matches for Al-Ittihad in the Saudi Pro League, six of them from the bench, but the last two matches of the season he played the ninety minutes and scored a goal and three assists. Sadly, as Roberto Mancini said, only fifty to sixty per cent of Arab players in the NT play in the SPL, which is the case of Talal as he still hasn’t played a single match this season.
Mihajlo Cvetkovic: He reached the semifinals of the U-17 Euros for Serbia scoring four goals and an assist losing against Portugal. Last season he started eight games in the Super Liga Srbije and two in the Conference League as Cukaricki was already eliminated. This season he’s played six matches in the starting eleven and six more from the bench scoring two goals so far.
Andrija Maksimovic: He reached the semifinals of the U-17 Euros for Serbia making two assists. He played twenty matches in the starting eleven for Graficar in the Prva Liga scoring six goals and an assist and all the matches in the group stage of the Youth League for Crvena Zvedza U-19. This season he started playing for Graficar but has made the jump to debut for Crvena Zvedza playing five matches of Super Liga Srbije, two of them from the bench and even debuted in the Champions League against Inter Milan. He also debuted for the senior NT in the Nations League.
Marc Bernal: He started twenty-three matches for Barça Atlètic in Primera RFEF scoring two goals and three assists, taking the club to promotion playoffs but losing the final against Córdoba. Under Flick, he debuted with the first team and was starting to be a key part of the team, but he had ACL so now he’ll miss the rest of the season.
Pau Cubarsí: I discovered him in the U-17 WC where he was monstrous in the defence, he only conceded two goals and one of them was against the champions. After the tournament, he left Barça Atlètic to join the first team and started playing as soon as he came in. He went on to play eighteen matches as a starter in LaLiga and played three more in the Champions League. He was almost called up to the Euros but was finally dropped off in the last moment. That made him go to the Olympic team where he played every match, except for the loss against Egypt, and ended up lifting the trophy. This season he’s also being a key part of the team playing in the starting lineup every match, except from one he started from the bench.
Lamine Yamal: He’s the best player on this list and currently one of the best players in the world. I discovered him after his magnificent U-17 Euros back in 2023 where he made four goals and two assists in just five matches. After his great tournament, Xavi trusted him, and he started almost every match for Barcelona in LaLiga scoring five goals and seven assists and Champions League earning him a spot in the senior NT. With Spain he won the Euros being a key player making an astonishing goal against France and assisted four times. This season he’s scored four goals and six assists in ten matches in LaLiga. He broke so many trophies I would need an entire article just to mention them.
Jonah Kusi-Asare: He’s still in early development having played last season five games as a starter in the U-19 Bundesliga before he got injured and was ruled out from thirteenth April to thirtieth August. Now that he’s back he’s made two assists in four matches in the Regionalliga Bayern for Bayern München II and scored a goal in one of the two matches of Youth League.
Marvin Akahomen: Last season he started in twenty-four matches for Basel U-21 in the Promotion League finishing sixteenth in the league and played five matches in the Youth League. This season so far has appeared in seven matches in the Promotion League.
Kyrylo Digtyar: He was the captain of the U-17 Ukrainian team in the Euros scoring a goal as a defender and appeared eleven minutes in the U-19 Euros. He started in twenty matches for Metalist Kharkiv in the Persha Liga making five assists and two goals. This season he’s appeared in eight games, two of them from the bench.
Christian McFarlane: He featured in the U-17 Euros for England making an assist. Between July and August, he started four matches for NYCFC in the MLS which drew all four of them, then he went to play in the Leagues Cup reaching the quarter finals and starting every match in the competition. Recently, he almost hasn’t played, adding up to fifty-five minutes in three matches since September.
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