Brightest Young Talent at Every Liga Club
The 2015-16 La Liga season is drawing closer, and 20 teams will do battle for domination and survival in Spain, from likely title challengers Barcelona, Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid to newly promoted sides Real Betis, Sporting Gijon and Las Palmas.
In our first glance toward the new campaign, we've assessed the brightest young talents from each of the sides, picking out those teens or early-20s we think could have a positive impact this coming season and get even better in the future.
As with our Premier League version, this isn't a straight "best under-21" selection, but rather picking out some of the most talented youngsters who aren't yet household names all over Europe and beyond. If you're a regular Liga watcher then of course some will have made you sit up and take notice by now, but we haven't included the likes of Josema Gimenez or Jose Gaya, as they are already well on their way to worldwide renown!
Athletic Bilbao: Inaki Williams
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Athletic Bilbao brought a couple of youngsters through gradually last season, but while Unai Lopez didn't really show his best qualities early on, Inaki Williams certainly grabbed his chance later on in the year.
Fast, direct and with good dribbling skills, Williams is very different with his on-pitch qualities to most other talents at the disposal of Ernesto Valverde, and the contrast to some of his slower but more technical team-mates gave Athletic a different dynamic as they improved over the second half of the season.
With Iker Muniain sidelined long-term, expect Williams to be a starter from the beginning this year.
Atletico Madrid: Saul Niguez
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Regular watchers of Atletico Madrid will already know about Saul Niguez, a hugely talented young performer who can basically play anywhere from centre-back to centre-forward, with every midfield position in between.
Aggressive, committed, with great energy levels and excellent technique, Saul would already be a guaranteed starter every week with at least 15 other Liga clubs. He'll do any job asked of him, has taken part in big games already and is well capable of handling Champions League football, never mind just La Liga.
With the Arda Turan transfer to Barcelona being announced, Saul could well find himself handed a regular berth on one side of Diego Simeone's midfield this year.
Barcelona: Sergi Samper
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Barcelona's star-studded squad doesn't leave too much room for youngsters to break through unless they are very, very good indeed. Luckily, they have a bit of a thing for producing very, very good youngsters.
While Munir El Haddadi and Sandro Ramirez both saw game time early on last season, we're looking at Sergi Samper as the youngster who could step up most this time around. With Xavi departed and Sergi Roberto still a little hot-and-cold, another composed head in midfield could get the chance to stake their claim—and that's Samper.
With good movement and vision as he strides into the final third, Sergi Samper has already debuted for the first team in Copa and Europe and should, in the first half of the campaign at least, be looking at more minutes on the pitch.
Celta Vigo: Jonny
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From Celta Vigo, like a few others in La Liga, we're selecting an under-the-radar player from last season.
Jonathan Castro, or Jonny as he is better known, was the first-choice left-back for much of the previous campaign, edging himself ahead of Carles Planas as a reliable defender and an intelligent user of the ball going forward.
Jonny is 21 and has by now established himself as a regular, but in an exciting, possession-oriented side like Celta, he could soon come to the attention of the wider footballing world if his team explode as they have the potential to do.
Deportivo La Coruna: Pablo Insua
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Part of the first-team scene for a couple of years already, centre-back Pablo Insua was a big part of Deportivo La Coruna's promotion charge back into La Liga for last season, but injuries and form disrupted much of his early 2014-15.
He did win his place back in spells throughout the campaign, but there is still much more to come from the 21-year-old.
Insua is an under-20 international with Spain and at his best is dominant and aggressive with his defensive work. Depor did well to stay up last season—now Insua needs to regain his place and help them do it all over again.
Eibar: Ander Capa
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In case you missed it, Eibar were relegated on a three-way head-to-head last season, only to have their position in La Liga reinstated after Elche, who finished 13th, were instead relegated for financial reasons.
Thus, the tiny Basque team who averaged fewer than 5,000 fans per home game last season are set for a second campaign in the top flight—and we're backing wide man Ander Capa to have a bigger impact this time around.
Capa, 23, featured in most matches last term and was a pacy outlet for the team, though his end product was too often found wanting. Even so, he is a confident player on the ball, can run at defences and has good movement—he just needs more composure with his decision-making at the end.
Espanyol: Ruben Duarte
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For Espanyol we're opting for 19-year-old Ruben Duarte to continue making a good impression over the coming months.
The Almeria-born full-back broke into the side in early February and played most games from that point until the end of the season, impressing with his energy and tenacity as he won a spot over the more experienced Juan Fuentes.
Duarte will be part of the squad at the start of this year and has the ability to become a regular for the team, though he'll have competition, as Espanyol are pretty stocked for full-backs.
Getafe: Emiliano Velazquez
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Getafe enjoyed the quality and growth of Emiliano Velazquez on loan from Atletico Madrid last season and have been fortunate to snare him for another campaign, with Atleti keen for his progression to continue.
Velazquez is a Uruguayan who is strong in the air (sound familiar for an Atletico centre-back?), good at reading the game and happy to pass out of defence, but he can also be impetuous at times in the challenge. He's certainly getting plenty of game time and can mark himself out as one of the league's top young defenders if he continues to improve.
Also worth keeping an eye on is the progress of Alvaro Medran this season, on loan from Real Madrid.
Granada: Isaac Success
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The Watford-Udinese-Granada player merry-go-round is tough to predict at times, but it looks as though forward Isaac Success is set for another year with the Spanish club, on loan from the Serie A side.
The young Nigerian is nowhere near the finished article, but he has great unpredictability in his runs and dribbles and is technically sound and fearless against stronger defenders. He didn't hit the goal trail for Granada last season—nobody did, and they were fortunate to avoid the drop—but he is capable of much more.
Both he and Jhon Cordoba could be exciting players if either can add better finishing to their game.
Las Palmas: Sergio Araujo
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Sergio Araujo is one of the oldest on our list, at 23, but with Las Palmas winning promotion from the Segunda with a fairly experienced or ageing squad—only three other outfielders under 24 played more than 300 minutes—he's both pivotal and relatively young, as well as being key to their survival hopes.
Araujo, formerly of Boca Juniors and briefly of Barcelona B on loan, scored 24 times to help Las Palmas to promotion before they signed him permanently this summer.
He has good movement, was a clinical finisher in his younger days (and looked to get back to that level last term) and was always thought to be capable of making the grade at a high level in Europe. Perhaps this season he'll get around to showing just why that was.
Levante: Victor Camarasa
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Levante utilised a handful of youngsters in their team on a regular basis last season, and we're picking out holding midfielder Victor Camarasa as one who can continue that involvement this season.
Energetic and with a good set of all-round skills, Camarasa can play between both boxes, though his roving forward is very much as a support role rather than a creative outlet. He is most at home when Levante sit deep and compact, and he can break up opposition attacks, hunting down the ball or tightly marking an opponent.
Levante battled their way to survival last year, and more will be required this time around.
Malaga: Ricardo Horta
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Malaga's best youngster is Sergi Darder, but he is excluded as he's verging on being a European name, a regular with a fairly prominent club who has been linked with the likes of Inter Milan—the deal was "close" in May according to AS (in Spanish)—and an under-21 for Spain.
Instead, Ricardo Horta showed last season that he has the capacity to improve significantly. He's a lightweight but clever attacking midfielder who can play across the line of three behind the forward, starting often from the right but roving infield and looking to create chances rather than cross.
Horta, 20, is inconsistent but talented and will doubtless play a big part in Malaga's upcoming campaign.
Rayo Vallecano: Alex Moreno
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Alex Moreno joined Rayo Vallecano from Mallorca this time last year, and the 21-year-old had a difficult first season in La Liga.
His big breakthrough came around the middle part of the campaign, but with Rayo generally performing well, he was in and out of the team and not really able to string a run of games together—he managed less than 500 minutes over the course of the league season.
This year, he can certainly improve on that. The winger is capable of beating defenders and finding spaces to attack and set up team-mates, as he showed with his former club. He could also be one of the players to make a difference for Rayo this year after a season of settling in to top-flight football.
Real Betis: Alvaro Vadillo
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Alvaro Vadillo might already have been more well-known had he not suffered a serious injury setback around a year ago, but the Betis forward suffered an ACL injury in pre-season.
The wide forward has been part of the Betis first team scene since he was 16, but that injury last year was already his second cruciate ligament issue to overcome in that time. Now 20, Vadillo returned to fitness toward the back end of last season and will hope to play a full part in Betis' first campaign back in the top flight.
Dani Ceballos is another to watch if he gets game time—he was a first choice last year, but signings such as Rafael van der Vaart may impact on his immediate future.
Real Madrid: Marco Asensio
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Real Madrid have plenty of youthful 20-somethings in their squad, but of course if you play for Real Madrid, you're pretty much already known the world over. The same goes for Martin Odegaard, still just 16.
One talent who hasn't yet made his debut, though, is Marco Asensio, the midfielder who joined from Mallorca in December and spent the rest of the campaign with his old club on loan. It is expected that Asensio could well head out temporarily this year, too—but first he'll have the opportunity to impress new manager Rafael Benitez, who has requested (per AS, in Spanish) that the youngster join in with pre-season so he can assess whether he might play a part earlier than expected.
Asensio is already an under-21 for Spain at just 19 years of age, and expectations are high for the offensive player to have an impact at the top level.
Real Sociedad: David Concha
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Real Sociedad haven't been too active in the transfer market as yet this summer, but the signing of David Concha is an exciting and important one for them.
For just €1 million, Concha was a total bargain as Racing Santander were relegated last year—plenty of clubs would have been eyeing up the wide forward, and he will add plenty of pace and technique to La Real's attack.
It remains to be seen how much game time he gets in his first campaign as he competes with the likes of Chory Castro and Carlos Vela—and also how manager David Moyes sets his team up this year—but he certainly has the capacity to make himself a regular at this level, given time.
Sevilla: Sergio Rico
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Anybody who watched the Europa League last season might well have seen the unfamiliar face of Sergio Rico in goal for Sevilla as they won the trophy yet again.
The 21-year-old goalkeeper was back-up to the likes of Beto last season but came into the team in February and didn't relinquish his spot after that. He showed great form and consistency to emerge as Sevilla's new No. 1, picking up a trophy and Champions League qualification in the process.
Tall and commanding, Rico has good movement on his feet and is a fine shot-stopper, as you'd expect, but his calm approach and consistency are probably the biggest reasons why he has become first pick.
Sporting Gijon: Carlos Castro
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Sporting Gijon won promotion from la Segunda last season with a fairly young and exciting squad, and we're picking out Carlos Castro as the one to watch this year.
The 20-year-old was one of their first-choice forwards, appearing either off the bench or from the start in almost every game and ending as second-top scorer of the team with nine goals. He'll be hard-pressed to maintain that sort of strike rate in the top flight, of course, but he has shown his importance to the team and his ability to impact as sub—three of his goals came from the bench.
It remains to be seen how much Sporting upgrade their squad ahead of the first season back in La Liga, but Castro should be confident about his own involvement regardless.
Valencia: Santi Mina
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We were all ready to go with Santi Mina as Celta Vigo's pick—then they went and sold him to Valencia. Not that Celta had much say in the matter; Los Che wisely activated a €10 million release clause, and the right-sided forward will go on to offer significant value for money over the coming seasons.
Mina can play centrally and perhaps, as time goes on, will do so more often, but for now his darting runs infield, his movement behind opposition defences and his willingness to dribble and shoot at the end of his runs are all aided by the space he finds from the flank.
Zakaria Bakkali and Ruben Vezo are also worth watching in what is a Valencia squad full of potentially exciting talent.
Villarreal: Eric Bailly
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We finish up with centre-back Eric Bailly, 21, who broke through last season with Espanyol before moving to Villarreal to replace Gabriel Paulista, who moved to Arsenal.
An extremely raw player still who goes to ground in the tackle too often and didn't show his best consistency in the second half of the season, Bailly is nonetheless a defender of huge potential. He is aggressive, committed and has superb acceleration in his recovery runs.
With Mateo Musacchio out injured, we can expect Bailly to play regularly at the start of this year, and he definitely has the tools to shine.
Further forward in the same team, Moi Gomez (21) and Samu Castillejo (20) are two outrageously talented attacking midfielders who have very different styles—technique, vision and passing ability in the former; dribbling, pace and attacking the box for the latter.
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