The teenage soccer superstar is far from a novel concept, but the coherence of modern-day scouting networks and the exponential increase in accessible information mean more prospects are rising to mainstream prominence than ever before.
Before WyScout and Elon Musk’s ’X’, the FIFA World Cup was typically the sole stage for the sport’s young sensations to make themselves known to an international audience. Now, we can learn the eating habits of your favourite 18-year-old Paraguayan playmaker, and why Mexico’s next great hope must improve out of possession to thrive at the elite level.
There’s an abundance of teenage stars dazzling on our television screens weekly, and wild inflation means some of the most promising boast greater market values than the GDPs of small island nations.
Here are the ten most valuable teenagers in world soccer, according to the CIES Football Observatory.
10. Lucas Bergvall – $78.6 million
Our list kicks off with Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Lucas Bergvall. Spurs fought off interest from Barcelona to land the Djurgarden starlet, and the Lilywhites merely paid £8.5 million ($11.2 million) to acquire the teenager.
Within 12 months, Bergvall’s value has increased sevenfold. CIES rates him as the tenth most valuable teenage soccer star in the world, having enjoyed a breakthrough 2025.
It took a little while for the dynamic midfielder to adapt and adjust to north London life, but he came into his own amid a period of tumult for Tottenham. Ange Postecoglou had no choice but to trust the fearless Swede, who offered supporters hope during times of strife.
9. Endrick – $84.6 million
Cafu, Roberto Carlos and Rivaldo are among those to make the grade at Palmeiras before embarking on stellar journeys in Europe. Gabriel Jesus also followed suit, claiming multiple Premier League titles with Manchester City.
Endrick had been regarded as the club’s next great hope, and his impish talent was picked up by Real Madrid, who have had success harnessing the developments of Brazilian hotshots Vinicius Junior and Rodrygo.
The diminutive but powerful striker joined Madrid after turning 18 in July 2024, with reports suggesting Los Blancos struck a deal worth $69.4 million with Palmeiras.
Endrick appeared 37 times during his debut season, primarily off the bench, but has since seen his first-team opportunities limited by new manager Xabi Alonso. A loan to French club Lyon in January has been mooted, but the 19-year-old remains one of Brazil’s next great hopes.
8. Geovany Quenda – $92.7 million
Chelsea have already made their move for Sporting CP’s Geovany Quenda, who will join the Blues next summer after a £44 million ($57.8 million) deal was agreed between the two clubs.
Quenda’s breakthrough in Lisbon came under Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim, who briefly turned Sporting into Portugal’s dominant force. Things have been trickier for the Leões post-Amorim, but Quenda’s talent continues to shine.
He is Sporting’s youngest-ever goalscorer and, having impressed as wingback under Amorim, is now proving himself to be a reliable final third operator. Quenda is quick, brave and smart. He plays well beyond his years and is not someone Chelsea should merely be looking to turn a profit on.
7. Myles Lewis-Skelly – $98 million
Arsenal’s Hale End academy is starting to emerge as a juggernaut in the world of player development.
Much of the talk has focused on record-breaking 15-year-old Max Dowman this season, but it was Myles Lewis-Skelly who was on the tips of every tongue on the red half of north London last term.
A powerful central midfielder at youth level, Lewis-Skelly has primarily been used as a left back by Mikel Arteta. Encouraged to operate inside, Lewis-Skelly has showcased his remarkable ability to resist pressure and bypass defensive lines.
He’s shone on the big stage for the Gunners and is now a fully-fledged England international. Minutes have been harder to come by in 2025–26, but Lewis-Skelly has made the most of his opportunities in Europe.
CIES’ second most valuable teenage fullback is Feynoord’s Givairo Read ($32.2 million).
6. Ethan Nwaneri – $101.8 million
Lewis-Skelly was the big breakout star of Arsenal’s 2024–25 season, but that’s only because Ethan Nwaneri had already become known to those outside of Hale End circles.
The English playmaker made Premier League history in September 2022, when, at 15, he established himself as the youngest player to ever appear in the competition.
Nwaneri’s development has been smartly monitored by the Gunners, and injuries meant he played a bigger role than projected for Arteta’s side last term. However, the teenager’s talent almost always came to the fore. Capable out wide but more destructive from central zones, Nwaneri finished 2024–25 with nine goals in all competitions.
He possesses a wicked left boot, and many suspect he’ll be a protagonist in Arsenal’s mightily exciting future.
5. Warren Zaire-Emery – $106.7 million
Warren Zaïre-Emery may not have gotten much of a chance during Paris Saint-Germain’s UEFA Champions League run last season, but the French box-to-box midfielder is one the perennial French champions will want to have on their books for the next decade.
Manager Luis Enrique has spoken glowingly of Zaïre-Emery since joining the club, describing the then-17-year-old as "humble" and "very intelligent" back in September 2023.
He’s featured heavily in Ligue 1 under Enrique, especially last season when PSG cantered to the title, and it seems as if he’s taken a leap in 2025–26. "He's a leader, not with his words but on the pitch," the PSG manager recently said of Zaïre-Emery, who’s adding goals to his already pretty complete game.
4. Franco Mastantuono – $118.3 million
A promising 2025 Apertura for River Plate was highlighted by a 2–1 victory over eternal rivals Boca Juniors in Argentina’s ’Superclásico’, during which a 17-year-old Franco Mastantuono scored a stunning free-kick that will long live in River folklore.
The sequence arrived while Mastantuono’s hype was peaking in his homeland, with many expecting the silky left-footed playmaker to garner the attention of Europe’s elite.
And, of course, it was Real Madrid who came calling. Mastantuono teamed up with the Spanish behemoths after the Club World Cup in the summer, and has immediately been thrust into a role of significance by Xabi Alonso.
It’s no surprise that CIES values the young Argentine this highly, given that Madrid spent as much as $73.2 million to beat off stiff competition and ensure it is they who benefit from Mastantuono’s gifts.
3. Pau Cubarsi – $130.2 million
Barcelona’s Pau Cubarsí is the only centre back who makes the top ten. CIES rates the Spanish international as the third most valuable teenage player in the world, having established himself as a mainstay at the heart of Hansi Flick’s defence last season.
Cubarsí may have what you could describe as "rookie moments" in emergency defensive situations, but his passing ability is as impressive as anyone’s at the position.
The defender’s talent with the ball convinced Flick to partner him alongside veteran Iñigo Martínez, and the pair developed a complementary and telepathic relationship in an incredibly demanding defensive system, predicated on suffocating the opposition and catching them offside.
There have been more bumps in 2025–26, but Cubarsí’s ceiling is sky-high.
2. Estevao – $136.5 million
Endrick was thought to be Brazil’s next superstar, but perhaps it was Estêvão all along.
Another Palmeiras academy graduate, Estêvão, has rapidly assimilated in London after Chelsea officially confirmed his arrival in the summer for an initial £29 million ($38.1 million), which already looks an almighty bargain.
The winger boasts the self-assurance and electricity of samba greats from yesteryear, and a promising opening to his Blues career has supporters dreaming of the heights Estêvão could reach at Stamford Bridge.
Plenty have praised the teenager’s humility, and there’s already an expectation that he’ll dazzle at the 2026 World Cup in North America.
1. Lamine Yamal – $404 million
CIES value Barcelona sensation Lamine Yamal at what would comfortably be a world-record transfer fee. His talent is also rated higher than the economies of Palau, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Montserrat and Tuvalu.
So there’s that.
Lyrical has been relentlessly waxed over Yamal ever since he burst onto the scene as a record-breaking 15-year-old in April 2023. The subsequent preseason alerted a few more to his freakish gifts, similar to how the 2005 Joan Gamper Trophy enlightened great Italian coach Fabio Capello, then in charge of Juventus, to the otherworldly talent possessed by a shy Argentine with No. 30 on his back.
Parallels have been drawn between Yamal, now Barcelona’s No. 10, and Lionel Messi, but the world must allow the Spanish superstar to develop and evolve at his own pace.
This is a once-in-a-generation prospect we’re talking about here.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as The Most Valuable Teenagers in World Soccer—Ranked.
