It’s not easy to step right in and be a star in one of the top five leagues in European football before you’ve turned the age of 23, let alone before turning the age of 21…or 20, for that matter.
Lamine Yamal’s success at Barcelona may be leading some to unrealistic expectations of what young players can do, because the 18-year-old’s success in his first two seasons as a full-time starter – and Barca’s most crucial player on a team filled with stars – has been nothing short of extraordinary. Not even the two GOATs, Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, were playing at this level before they even became legal adults.
But for the most part, the wider world of football fans understand both how special Yamal is and how difficult it is for anyone to even start at the highest levels of European football as a teenager.
Here are five players to watch during the 2025/26 season who have yet to turn 20 and are already among the most talented players in the league, with the quality to play crucial roles and elevate their teams in the grueling campaign to come.
5. Arsenal AM Ethan Nwaneri
Arsenal have such high hopes for Ethan Nwaneri that they actually balked on signing Eberechi Eze from local rivals Crystal Palace in order to make sure that Nwaneri can get more minutes.
It won’t be easy for the left-footed right winger to get adequate playing time in that position, as Arsenal already have one of the best players in the league in that role in Bukayo Saka – and they even snagged right winger Noni Madueke from Chelsea this summer for good measure, too.
Nwaneri, though, can get minutes spelling Martin Odegaard in the attacking midfield. And God forbid something were to happen to either Odegaard or Saka, but the duo did get injured in the first half of the 2024/25 season with a significant impact on Arsenal’s title hopes.
Even if Nwaneri doesn’t get to start a ton of games in his first full season as a key part of the franchise, any amount of action will be beneficial to the Gunners, and just having him as quality depth for the club’s two most important players is a big deal in and of itself.
Nwaneri already showed last season that he has the quality with his dribbling skills, awareness, and even end product to be a starting-caliber player in the Premier League at the age of 18, and I think you can make a case that alongside Estevao Willian, he is one of the two highest potential players in the whole Premier League.
4. Tottenham CM Lucas Bergvall
For now, a rival player, Tottenham Hotspur center midfielder Lucas Bergvall, gets the edge on his list because of how important he was to Spurs in their Europa League-winning campaign.
Bergvall was missed while recovering from an injury late in the 2024/25 season, but he didn’t miss a beat in the Premier League season opener on Saturday against Burnley, helping Spurs win 3-0.
The Swedish international is already one of the best box-to-box midfielders in the Premier League when you watch him play. He is an exceptional athlete, tireless, physically strong, and adept technically when it comes to carrying the ball and even displaying end product as a creator and shooter.
Even bigger clubs than Tottenham, namely Real Madrid, have been eyeing Bergvall has a possible swoop just a year or so after Spurs beat La Liga giants Barcelona to his signature, and that’s a testament to how brilliant he has been already.
You can make a strong case that Bergvall is Spurs best midfielder right now, and even if Tottenham are able to sign Eberechi Eze from Palace, it’s not inconceivable that within a year or two, he will be a more touted player than the England international, too.
3. Chelsea RW Estevao Willian
Estevao Willian was an even bigger standout for Palmeiras than Endrick, who received more hype and an earlier move to a European powerhouse in Real Madrid. But Chelsea have spent a little bit less for Willian and have gotten a player with a higher game IQ, better creativity, and more skill on the ball.
Anyone who has watched Willian find space between the lines, dribble circles around defenders, or strike venomous shots from range into the postage stamp of the goal can attest that he is a truly special prospect and legitimately one of the most talented players ever brought in to Stamford Bridge.
We honestly haven’t seen a raw talent this good join Chelsea since Eden Hazard, and while that may seem outlandish to say, especially since Cole Palmer is putting up Hazard-esque numbers just a couple of years after signing, nobody expected Palmer to be this good while he was at Manchester City.
Meanwhile, Willian comes to Chelsea as a teenager with a weight of expectations and the chance to start right off the bat, which he is already doing for legendary manager Carlo Ancelotti over with the Brazil national team.
Willian has shown on several big stages for Palmeiras and Brazil that the moment is not too big for him, and the synergistic relationship between the skillful left feet of Palmer and Willian, as well as with Jamie Bynoe-Gittens on the opposite flank, could form one of the strongest attacking nuclei in world football for a decade to come.
2. Barcelona CB Pau Cubarsi
It is even harder for center backs to break through at this young age than an attacking player, since so much of what a center back does is based on guile, experience, and knowing how to read the best attackers in the world.
Leny Yoro and maybe a couple of others could have merited consideration on this list, but Cubarsi is the only teenage center back who is proven at the Champions League level.
Cubarsi is one of the best center backs in world football at any age, particularly from a ball-playing perspective. The 18-year-old completed a jaw-dropping 94 percent of his passes in La Liga last season, and it’s crazy to think that at his age, he’s already in the top five of the best center backs in the world on the ball.
He and Inigo Martinez formed one of the best partnerships in Europe – and certainly the best in Spain. Cubarsi is only getting better with experience, and as a Champions League semifinalist, his goal in the 2025/26 season is to step up even more as a leader and help lead Barcelona to a final without any last-gasp defensive collapses.
Cubarsi plays a demanding position in the aggressive, highly attacking Hansi Flick system, but he has the combination of intelligence and physical tools to succeed. Given what he has accomplished in world football already, you wouldn’t bet against Cubarsi stepping up even more next year.
1. Barcelona RW Lamine Yamal
What Lamine Yamal is able to do with the ball at his feet is simply unreal, and the reigning European Champion and La Liga winner has been even more spellbinding to the age of 17 than either Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi were.
To this point in a player’s career, we haven’t seen someone like Yamal. You have to go beyond the goals and assists – which will fly out the ketchup bottle soon enough, mind you – to fully appreciate the unselfish work Yamal does play after play on the ball to carry possession and take players on.
Yamal’s willingness and ability to progress play from deeper, win one-on-twos, and deliver the pass before the assist or shade the defense to his side is so essential to all the goals that Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha score.
Without Yamal, those two’s productivity would be in the gutter, and you only have to look at Barcelona’s awful run in the Fall when Yamal was out with an overload injury to see just how profoundly he impacts his team.
That a player on a star-studded team is this important and this impactful before even turning 18 is historic in every sense of the word, and that he’s doing it as the savior of Barcelona, raising the tide of the club back to being the best in La Liga, says everything about the legacy he’s already building. Yamal isn’t just the best teenager in the world. He’s the best player in the world.
Joe Soriano is the editor of The Trivela Effect and a FanSided Hall of Famer who has covered world football since 2011. He’s led top digital communities like The Real Champs (Real Madrid) and has contributed to sites covering Tottenham, Liverpool, Juventus, and Schalke. Joe’s work has appeared in ESPN, Bleacher Report, and Sports Illustrated. He also helped manage NFL Spin Zone and Daily DDT, covering the NFL and pro wrestling, respectively.