Premier League Young Stars to Watch This Season
The new Premier League season is almost here, and with it comes the annual question that keeps academy directors awake at night: whose kid is next?
Last year it was Max Dowman, a 16-year-old who slipped into Arsenal’s squad and suddenly looked like he belonged. This time, a new generation is queuing up behind him, boots laced, eyes wide, convinced that this is their year.
Some will only taste the cups. One or two might rip the league open.
Arsenal – Marli Salmon, 16, center back
Arsenal’s title-chasing back line is no place for nerves, which is exactly why Marli Salmon stands out. Once a forward, now a center back, he plays like someone who has already seen the danger two passes ahead.
He steps in early, wins his headers, then glides out with the ball as if he’s still that kid up front. Comfortable at right-back too, he offers Mikel Arteta tactical cover and composure in one package. Dislodging Gabriel Magalhães or William Saliba is another matter entirely, but Salmon’s preseason hinted at a clear path: early minutes in cup competitions, then cameos off the bench when the Premier League games open up.
Aston Villa – Brian Madjo, 17, center forward
Brian Madjo looks like a classic No. 9 until he starts moving. Then defenders realise they’ve misjudged him.
Born in London, raised in Luxembourg, capped at senior level there before switching to England’s youth setup, the 6-foot-3 striker has already lived several football lives. Villa paid around £10 million to bring him from Metz in January, and he’s wasted little time: four preseason goals and a start against Bayern Munich while Ollie Watkins enjoyed his post-World Cup break.
He runs the channels, presses hard, attacks crosses and still has the frame to become a genuine target man. If Watkins needs a rest, Unai Emery has a teenager who looks ready to step straight into the noise.
Bournemouth – Malcolm Dacosta, 18, defensive midfielder
Malcolm Dacosta doesn’t move like a 6-foot-3 holding midfielder. He covers ground like a runner, tackles like an enforcer and then strides out with the ball, looking to hurt teams from deep.
The Ecuador youth international was Bournemouth’s 2025-26 Academy Player of the Year and spent last summer hovering around the first-team bench. This preseason, under Marco Rose, he has gone a step further, even getting on the scoresheet in a 10-1 demolition of Genoa.
He can sit, he can carry, he can shoot from distance. If Rose wants energy and reach in front of his back line, Dacosta is waiting.
Brentford – Benjamin Fredrick, 21, center back
Benjamin Fredrick arrives at Brentford with something most academy graduates don’t have: real miles on the clock.
Last season he played 15 times for Dender in Belgium’s top flight and forced his way into Nigeria’s senior squad, even appearing in five 2026 World Cup qualifiers. That’s not background noise; that’s pressure football.
Quick, aggressive and able to play either centrally or at right-back, Fredrick likes defending big spaces. Brentford’s system will ask exactly that of him. A debut feels less like a question and more like a matter of timing.
Brighton & Hove Albion – Zadok Yohanna, 19, attacking midfielder
Brighton saw a winger in Sweden and smashed a transfer record to get him.
Zadok Yohanna left Nigeria for AIK last summer and barely paused to acclimatise. League debut in August, first start three days later, first goal by March. By May, a call-up to the Nigeria national team, only halted by a hamstring injury.
Now comes the leap. Brighton paid €25 million, the Swedish transfer record, for a wide attacker whose acceleration and close control turned Allsvenskan full-backs inside out. In several games he completed more than 10 successful dribbles, a number that speaks to both his talent and his confidence.
He is still raw in his decision-making. That won’t scare Brighton. They’ve built a model on polishing this exact profile. An impact by autumn would surprise nobody.
Chelsea – Mahdi Nicoll-Jazuli, 16, central midfielder
Mahdi Nicoll-Jazuli has grown up in Chelsea blue. From under-8 level at Cobham to becoming the club’s youngest UEFA Youth League starter and scorer, his rise has been steady, not sudden.
Born in Sydney but raised a stone’s throw from the training ground, he already looks like the kind of midfielder managers trust. He can play as a No. 6, an No. 8, or in a more advanced role, always with a calmness that belies his age.
New head coach Xabi Alonso took him on the club’s preseason tour of Asia and started him alongside Moisés Caicedo against Juventus in Hong Kong. That’s a statement. At 16, he’s already on the radar, and Chelsea’s crowded midfield won’t stop him pushing for more.
Coventry City – Carlo Yirenkyi, 20, central midfielder
Coventry are back in the Premier League and they’ve gone big to stay there.
Carlo Yirenkyi arrives as a club-record £23 million signing, the latest product of Ghana’s Right to Dream Academy, the same pathway that produced Mohammed Kudus. Two seasons at Nordsjælland sharpened him in Denmark, where he was named Superliga Young Player of the Season.
He is relentless. A box-to-box runner, an aggressive ball-winner and a midfielder who doesn’t just break play up but drives into the final third. At the World Cup, he started Ghana’s opener against Panama and scored a 95th-minute winner.
Coventry didn’t buy potential for tomorrow; they bought a player to drag them through this season.
Crystal Palace – Joél Drakes-Thomas, 17, attacking midfielder
Joél Drakes-Thomas has been at Crystal Palace since he was six. You can tell.
He plays like a kid who has spent a decade taking on full-backs in south London cages. Fast, direct, happiest on the right wing or as an attack-minded wing-back, he lives for the moment the defender squares up and dares him to go past.
He made a brilliant senior debut in the Conference League against KuPS, then became Palace’s youngest-ever Premier League player away at Leeds a few days later. He helped the club’s U18s win the Premier League Cup and signed his first professional contract in July.
Palace know a winger when they see one. Drakes-Thomas is next in line.
Everton – Braiden Graham, 18, forward
At 15, Braiden Graham became Linfield’s youngest-ever player in the Irish top flight. Three years on, he’s at Everton, staring at the next step.
He can play through the middle or off the left, nimble and sharp in tight spaces, with a finishing touch that has carried him through every age group. Last season he scored 21 goals at youth level and earned his first Northern Ireland call-up.
This summer he trained with the Everton first team. That’s usually the bridge season for a forward: from academy star to someone the manager starts to trust when the fixtures pile up.
Fulham – César Palacios, 21, central midfielder
César Palacios’ story should have taken off at Real Madrid. Instead, it stalled in pain.
Seven minutes into his first senior game for the club, a 2024 preseason friendly against AC Milan, he tore his ACL. A year later he was back with Castilla, and he responded with 14 goals from midfield.
He times his runs late, arriving in the box when defenders have already picked up everyone else. Fulham paid €10 million to bring him to London and reunite him with Álvaro Arbeloa, his coach at Castilla and now the man in charge at Craven Cottage.
Arbeloa knows exactly what he’s getting. Fulham may have found the midfielder who turns territory into goals.
Hull City – Jens Hjertø-Dahl, 20, central midfielder
Jens Hjertø-Dahl grew up studying Sergio Busquets, but he’s added something the Barcelona legend rarely did: goals.
At 6-foot-4, the Norwegian drops deep to collect the ball, calms the game, then glides forward. Hull may use him as an attacking midfielder, because his instincts pull him higher up the pitch and into the box.
For Tromsø last season he scored seven goals in 14 league games, remarkable numbers for someone with his profile. Hull paid around €9.3 million to bring him in and now face a good problem: where to play him.
Wherever he starts, they need to keep him close to the final third. That’s where he hurts teams.
Ipswich Town – Sindre Walle Egeli, 20, attacking midfielder
Ipswich broke the Championship transfer record to sign Sindre Walle Egeli last summer. The first act was quiet; the second might not be.
The right winger loves to cut in on his left foot, shaping curling shots toward the far corner or whipping in-swinging crosses and threaded passes between defenders. His debut campaign in England brought just four goals in the Championship, underwhelming on paper.
But Ipswich are now in the Premier League, and his adaptation year is over. This is the season that will show whether that £17.5 million was a gamble or a bargain.
Leeds United – Alfie Cresswell, 19, defensive midfielder
At Leeds, the Cresswell name already carries weight. Now it’s Alfie’s turn.
Brother Charlie came through the same academy before heading to Ligue 1 in 2024. Their father, Richard, led the line at Elland Road between 2005 and 2007. Alfie has followed a different path: from center back to holding midfielder.
He still duels like a defender and holds his position with discipline, but his work on the ball has improved steadily. The real challenge isn’t ability, it’s opportunity. Daniel Farke leaned heavily on senior players to keep Leeds up last season.
Whether he opens the door to more academy products this year will decide how quickly Cresswell’s story takes shape.
Liverpool – Trey Nyoni, 19, central midfielder
Trey Nyoni has been waiting for his moment. He might have just grabbed it.
Signed from Leicester City at 16, he has spent two seasons hovering on the edge of Liverpool’s first team, collecting six Premier League appearances last term. This summer, under new manager Andoni Iraola, something changed.
On the preseason tour of the United States, Nyoni ran games. He dictated tempo, sprayed passes with range and precision, and looked completely at ease in the system. Alexis Mac Allister’s post-World Cup break opened the door, and Nyoni walked straight through it.
Some Liverpool supporters are already calling for him to start alongside Ryan Gravenberch when the season kicks off. That kind of noise doesn’t build without reason.
Manchester City – Jeremy Monga, 17, attacking midfielder
Jeremy Monga arrives at Manchester City with records already behind him.
At Leicester, he became the club’s youngest starter at 16 years and 34 days, breaking a 59-year-old mark held by Peter Shilton. Days later, he overtook Jude Bellingham as the Championship’s youngest goalscorer.
Mostly operating from the left, he attacks right-backs relentlessly. No player in the Championship attempted more take-ons last season than Monga, at 6.5 per 90 minutes. That’s a teenager demanding the ball and going at his man again and again.
City paid £10 million to bring him in. Now he steps into one of the most demanding environments in world football, where his one-v-one talent will be sharpened, not dulled.
Manchester United – J.J. Gabriel, 15, forward
Even by Manchester United’s academy standards, J.J. Gabriel’s numbers are absurd.
He scored 23 goals in 23 U18 Premier League games last season, often against players three years older. He won the league’s inaugural U18 Player of the Season award and became the youngest ever recipient of the Jimmy Murphy award, given to United’s best youth player.
Gabriel can play wide or as a false No. 9. He explodes over the first few yards, shifts his weight quickly, and finishes with the calm of someone far older. His first-team debut is not guaranteed this season, but if it comes before Oct. 25, he will become United’s youngest-ever player, breaking a 70-year-old record held by David Gaskell.
At 15, he’s already chasing history.
Newcastle United – Sean Steur, 18, central midfielder
Newcastle’s midfield has been ripped apart. Sandro Tonali is at Tottenham, Bruno Guimarães at Arsenal. The rebuild starts with Sean Steur.
He played 26 times for Ajax last season before Newcastle moved for him in a deal worth up to €27 million. Two-footed, capable as a holding midfielder or slightly higher, he has the first touch and passing range you’d expect from an Ajax graduate.
Without the ball, his positioning still needs work, but his preseason has impressed new boss Matthias Jaissle. With the squad light in midfield, Steur isn’t just a project. He’s a live candidate to start now.
Nottingham Forest – Zach Abbott, 20, center back
Zach Abbott has already stared down Manchester City at Wembley. That’s not a bad line on a 20-year-old’s CV.
He started Forest’s FA Cup semifinal against City in April 2025, then added three Premier League appearances and Europa League minutes last season. He’s composed, physically ready, and reads danger early, happy to step out of the back line with the ball.
New manager Oliver Glasner prefers a back three. That shape could be Abbott’s opening, giving him the support and structure to grow into a regular starter.
Sunderland – Timur Tutierov, 21, attacking midfielder
Timur Tutierov’s Sunderland career almost drifted away before it began. A loan to Exeter City in League One finally gave him a platform, and he took it: three goals in 17 games and a clear sense of his best role.
He can play anywhere across the front line, but he looks most dangerous when he’s driving at defenders or sprinting in behind. This summer, preseason goals against York City and Liverpool changed his outlook.
Instead of a move away, he got a new contract until 2028. Sunderland have decided to bet on his upward curve.
Tottenham Hotspur – Luca Williams-Barnett, 17, attacking midfielder
Tottenham have made a habit of pushing gifted teenagers into the spotlight. Luca Williams-Barnett fits that tradition.
An attacking midfielder by trade, he brings energy between the lines and the kind of sharpness in tight spaces that Spurs fans have long demanded from their creators. At 17, he is still learning the rhythms of senior football, but his profile screams modern No. 10: mobile, aggressive without the ball, and always looking forward.
If Spurs lean into youth again this season, his name won’t stay in the academy section for long.
The Premier League loves its superstars, but every season is shaped by the kids who arrive without fanfare and leave with their names on everyone’s lips. One of these prospects will catch fire. The only question is who steps out of the shadows first.
