Ranking the 5 best teenagers in European football for the 2025/26 season
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 Eur...








