Finding the top young players in LaLiga is the easiest job in football.
Let’s start with Barcelona, who have a youngster on the wing named Lamine Yamal. At 17, he is probably already one of the top five players in the world.
In midfield they have Pedri, 22, and Gavi, 20, who already have 47 caps for Spain between them.
Down at Real Madrid, we have Jude Bellingham, Arda Guler and Endrick. With a combined age of 58, they have the talent to dominate the world game for more than a decade.
Unfortunately, you can count the number of Premier League clubs who could afford these players on one hand, with fingers to spare – assuming their current clubs would ever consider selling them.
Luckily for those clubs who have to make their money go a little further, there are plenty of prospects within their price range in Spain’s top division.
LaLiga is a division blessed with some of the finest young talents in global football – including 2024 Kopa honouree Lamine Yamal
Real Madrid have their fair share of gifted youngsters, such as Endrick (left) and Arda Guler
Here, Mail Sport shines the spotlight on some of the best.
Pau Cubarsi
Age: 17
Club: Barcelona
Country: Spain
Position: Centre back
To have one 17-year-old in the first team is unusual. If they are already world class, that is extremely rare. Yet Barcelona, remarkably, have two generational talents in their starting XI and neither has yet turned 18.
The whole world knows about Lamine Yamal thanks to his stunning displays for club and country and his global profile means he does not belong in this list. Yet Cubarsi is not far behind.
Most top teenagers are attacking players but Cubarsi is a centre back playing as though he has 460 club games behind him, not 46.
Players for the elite clubs know their mistakes will be examined far more closely than those who make errors for lower-profile teams. Cubarsi has a simple answer for this: he doesn’t make mistakes.
He is already carrying the battle scars of high-level competition. Cubarsi needed 10 stitches after taking a boot to the face when Barcelona beat Red Star Belgrade in the Champions League in November. He seemed to take the whole experience in his stride – much like everything else.
Barca have suffered financial difficulties and should a player need to be sold, there would be plenty of takers for Cubarsi.
Possible landing spots: Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United, Liverpool, Chelsea
Pau Cubarsi is one of a number of La Masia graduates Barcelona are lucky enough to call upon
Nico Williams
Age: 22
Club: Athletic Bilbao
Country: Spain
Position: Left winger
Spare a thought for Inaki Williams. For years the Athletic forward was one of the most impressive and consistent players in La Liga.
He put together 251 consecutive league appearances for a single club – an incredible achievement and a La Liga record. Just when he seemed ready to take the next step, along comes his kid brother to steal his thunder.
Whereas Inaki declared for Ghana, the country of his parents, after never being capped by Spain in a competitive international, Nico is now a key man for La Roja and scored the opening goal when they beat England 2-1 in the Euro 2024 final.
Thanks to Yamal, Williams and Real Madrid and Brazil star Vinicius Junior, wingers are fashionable again. As he tears past his full back on the outside, Williams is one of the most thrilling sights in the game.
Barcelona could not quite push a deal over the line for him last summer – and their loss may be the Premier League’s gain.
Possible landing spots: Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United
After a blistering run in Spain’s Euros-winning side, Nico Williams found himself the subject of multiple advances from European giants
Fermin Lopez
Age: 21
Club: Barcelona
Country: Spain
Position: Attacking midfielder
Many of us have a preconceived idea of the modern Spanish midfielder. Small, technically gifted, able to weave pretty passing patterns even in the tightest of spaces.
Rarely do we associate these players with late, Frank Lampard-esque runs into the box. Until Fermin Lopez came along, that is.
Just study the numbers. According to data from FBRef Stathead, in the last 12 months Lopez is among the highest-ranking midfielders in Europe’s top-five leagues for shots taken per game, touches in the opposition penalty area and progressive passes received.
Lopez was a star of Spain’s victorious Olympic team at Paris 2024, scoring six goals in the tournament, and has the potential to set the gold standard for attacking midfielders.
There is still work to do. He has only 17 career starts at club level and needs to prove he is durable enough to play regularly in numerous competitions. But he has all the tools – and, significantly, belongs to a global agency with huge influence in English football.
Possible landing spots: Tottenham, Aston Villa, Brighton
Fermin Lopez (left) played a starring role in Spain’s Olympic gold-winning football team
Yarek Gasiorowski
Age: 19
Club: Valencia
Country: Spain
Position: Centre back
If Yarek – as he is known at Valencia – reaches the top, he owes a little to divine intervention. When Yarek was just five, the priest in his home town of Polinya del Xuquer spotted him playing in a local game. Don Antonio asked Yarek’s mother, Rosario, her son’s name and alerted a Valencia scout.
A decade and a half later, Yarek has made his breakthrough season after helping Spain win the European Under 19 title in July.
With his hairstyle and imposing presence, Yarek was occasionally mistaken for Sergio Ramos as he walked around host city Belfast in his Spain tracksuit – even though there are 19 years between them.
‘In the coming years we expect Yarek to be ever more influential and decisive at the top level,’ Valencia sporting director Miguel Angel Corona told Mail Sport. ‘He is a player for the future but also the present.’
Possible landing spots: Aston Villa, Man United, Arsenal
Yarek Gasiorowski (right) has at times been mistaken for Sergio Ramos on and off the pitch
Orri Oskarsson
Age: 20
Club: Real Sociedad
Country: Iceland
Position: Forward
Another jewel of the FC Copenhagen system, Oskarsson was rated more highly than Rasmus Hojlund in the club’s youth setup and joined Real Sociedad for £17million last summer.
Though it has been a slow start in Spain, there is no doubting the potential of Oskarsson, a classic No 9 with the athleticism to stretch defences and intelligence to link the play.
‘Orri has already improved for playing in Spain,’ said Iceland coach Age Hareide. ‘It’s a great place for a forward to develop.’
He will need to start nailing down a regular spot in the La Real starting XI, however. His progress was hampered by an injury sustained playing in the November encounter between Iceland and Wales in the Nations League – a competition in which he excelled.
Possible landing spots: Newcastle, Arsenal, Manchester City
Icelandic starlet Orri Oskarsson was previously rated even more highly than Rasmus Hojlund in their FC Copenhagen youth days
Raul Moro
Age: 22
Club: Real Valladolid
Country: Spain
Position: Winger
When Raul Moro was a young player at Lazio, he and his father were attacked and mugged after their car was stopped by two men posing as policemen, on one of Rome’s major ring roads.
Moro was just 19 when the incident happened in March 2022. He was showing great promise at Lazio but after such a harrowing experience, it was perhaps no surprise that he left Italy not long afterwards.
Moro joined Valladolid after spending the 2023-24 season on loan there, following a loan spell at Oviedo in the second half of the 2022-23 season.
Moro was educated as a footballer at Barcelona. He is right footed but plays on the left wing and is a reliable set-piece taker.
Stathead suggests Callum Hudson-Odoi, Leon Bailey and Morgan Rogers as similarly productive players. English clubs, take note.
Possible landing spots: Aston Villa, Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth
Raul Moro (right) has flourished in Spain after a harrowing incident spoilt his time in Serie A
Pablo Barrios
Age: 21
Club: Atletico Madrid
Country: Spain
Position: Central midfielder
If players can handle life under Diego Simeone, they can probably handle it under any coach in the world. When the player in question makes his mark having also been rejected as a youngster by Real Madrid, it suggests he is made of the right stuff.
Barrios has long been regarded as the natural heir to Atletico captain Koke, one of Simeone’s most loyal and consistent soldiers, and he has now made the final step in the international game, too, earning his first senior cap as a late replacement for Pedri in Spain’s Nations League clash with Switzerland in November.
Barrios has started 10 times for Atletico in La Liga this season and the numbers show a good ball-carrier who arrives in dangerous positions while lending a hand effectively in defence, not to mention being decent in the air. Ideal for the Premier League, then.
Possible landing spots: Arsenal, Man City, Man United, Chelsea
Pablo Barrios has long been considered the natural heir to Atletico stalwart and captain Koke
Cristhian Mosquera
Age: 20
Club: Valencia
Country: Spain
Position: Centre back
Given the tragic events earlier this year, the entire football community feels sympathy for six-time Spanish champions Valencia.
Floods devastated Valencia and its surroundings in the autumn, killing 230 people. It has been particularly tough for players like Mosquera, who was born in Alicante, a two-hour drive from Valencia.
He is one of the jewels of an academy that produced David Silva, Gaizka Mendieta and Jordi Alba and continues to deliver. With Valencia 19th in La Liga, the circumstances on the pitch could scarcely be tougher.
Everything about Mosquera suggests he can handle it. And if Valencia are relegated, the fee they will receive for players like him will allow them to mount an immediate promotion challenge.
Possible landing spots: Nottingham Forest, Tottenham, Fulham
Alicante-born Cristhian Mosquera (right) is the latest jewel produced in Valencia’s academy
Abdulay Juma Bah
Age: 18
Club: Valladolid
Country: Senegal
Position: Centre back
Juma does not turn 19 until April but has already appeared on the radar of most elite European clubs and has been linked in Spain with a move to Manchester City. That does not happen unless you have some serious talent.
As well as helping his parents in their bakery in Freetown, Sierra Leone, Juma honed his talent on local pitches and his reputation quickly spread among scouts and agents in the area.
Juma joined Valladolid in August 2024, initially to play for the B team. That did not last long, as he was promoted to the seniors after a single game with the second string.
Juma is unlikely to be at Valladolid for long, either. It is easier to look good as a defender in a successful team but when Juma’s basic qualities have been tested, he has shone. Expect him to do so in the Champions League soon.
Possible landing spots: Man City, Man United, Liverpool, Bournemouth
18-year-old Abdulay Juma Bah (centre) has already caught the eye of Manchester City
Unai Gomez
Age: 21
Club: Athletic Bilbao
Country: Spain
Position: Midfield
Sometimes the simplest nicknames are the best. Unai Gomez bears a striking resemblance to a young Sylvester Stallone. It did not need a particularly imaginative soul to come up with the moniker ‘Rambo’.
What is even better is that the midfielder plays in the manner of his lookalike: powerful, aggressive, dynamic.
Athletic’s policy of using only players from the Basque region means they must excel at coaching and scouting, and they often make players wait into their early 20s before bringing them into the first team.
Gomez could not be held back, however, and he made his first-team breakthrough not long after his 20th birthday. Though this season has been a slow burner, Gomez’s time will come again.
As Rambo himself might have said: ‘Nothing is over! Nothing!’
Possible landing spots: Leicester, West Ham, Brentford
Unai Gomez – or ‘Rambo’ – seized his chances in the Athletic Bilbao first team before turning 20
Hugo Alvarez
Age: 21
Club: Celta Vigo
Country: Spain
Position: Midfield
Football fans of a certain vintage will recall the fabulous Celta Vigo team of the late 1990s. With Russian playmakers Aleksandr Mostovoi and Valery Karpin pulling the strings, Celta beat Liverpool home and away in the 1998-99 UEFA Cup. It is worth a look on YouTube – unless you are a Reds fan.
The wealth gap between the clubs mean such results are unlikely to happen any time soon yet Celta are on the rise again and that is thanks in part to top talents like Alvarez, who signed a new deal in November that expires in 2028.
Although he is right-footed, Alvarez is usually deployed on the left of midfield. The art of dribbling is making a welcome comeback and Alvarez scores highly in the key metrics offered by Stathead: progressive carries, successful take-ons and touches in the opposition penalty area.
The other link between Liverpool and Celta is Iago Aspas. Though a club legend in Vigo, Aspas had an unhappy season at Anfield during the Brendan Rodgers era – 15 games, one goal, one fluffed corner that led to a Fernando Torres goal for Chelsea and Jose Mourinho running down the Anfield touchline.
Who could blame Alvarez if he tried to succeed where Aspas failed?
Possible landing spots: Liverpool, Aston Villa, Brighton
Hugo Alvarez is contracted at Celta Viga until 2028, but could be tempted away even sooner
Alberto Moleiro
Age: 21
Club: Las Palmas
Country: Spain
Position: Attacking midfielder
Unai Emery might not have worked in Spain for more than two years but the Aston Villa boss keeps a close eye on football in his homeland, watching several games every week.
During these impromptu scouting stints, Moleiro was one of the players to catch Emery’s eye.
A team-mate of former Premier League players Oli McBurnie and Scott McKenna, Moleiro has drawn comparisons with Pedri, one of the best Spanish midfielders of his generation.
He has, however, struggled to find a settled position. At times, Moleiro has been asked to operate wide in a front three and there are doubts about whether he has the pace for the role. He has also been linked with a move to the Saudi Pro League.
That is tempting for sure but Moleiro should remember Gabri Veiga, the 22-year-old Spanish midfielder who chose Al-Ahli over Napoli and has largely disappeared from view.
Possible landing spots: Aston Villa, Brentford, West Ham
Alberto Moleiro (centre) has been compared by team-mates to another young superstar, Pedri
Although set back by injury, Yeremy Pino is working his way back to his best this campaign
Yeremy Pino
Age: 22
Club: Villarreal
Country: Spain
Position: Attacking midfielder/winger
Not long after Italy had lifted the Euro 2020 title at Wembley in 2021, they faced Spain in the Nations League at San Siro, where the Azzurri rarely lose.
Despite that record, Luis Enrique’s thrilling young side gained a degree of revenge for their defeat on penalties in the Euro 2020 semi-finals and Pino was one of many who caught the eye.
As a second-half substitute for double goalscorer Ferran Torres, the 18-year-old Pino showcased pace and skill and looked like a star of the future.
Injuries have played their part since then. Pino suffered ankle trouble in the 2021-2022 and last year his season was wrecked by a cruciate knee ligament injury in November, which kept him on the sidelines for the remainder of the season.
Pino is slowly working his way back, starting seven league games this term and registering three assists. Nobody who saw that cameo at San Siro will be ready to give up on him yet.
Possible landing spots: Aston Villa, Brighton, Newcastle