An XI of the best wonderkids on Football Manager 2026: Huijsen, Paz, Yamal, Yildiz | OneFootball

The wait is finally over. Football Manager 26 is out now – and as ever we’ve got straight to the club’s immensely detailed player database to pick out the most exciting wonderkids in world football.

Building around the next generation and moulding a squad of wonderkids into world-beaters has always been one of Football Manager’s purest joys. From Arsenal and Barcelona to Real Madrid and Juventus, some of the game’s brightest young talents are ready to take the virtual world by storm.

We’ve picked out the wonderkid in every position with the highest potential rating on FMScout and built this team of future superstars, arranged in a 4-3-3 formation.

GK: Ferran Quetglas (Real Madrid) – 85

An under-the-radar talent from Real Madrid’s youth ranks, Los Blancos poached Quetglas from his hometown club Mallorca in 2022 and he’s spent the last three years developing his game at La Fabrica.

The Spain Under-19 international is yet to make his senior debut, while at present he only has a couple of dozen appearances for Madrid’s C Team under his belt.

Evidently, though, Quetglas has shown enough to impress youth scouts. Marca have likened him to La Roja legend Iker Casillas and his ability to play out from the back makes him an obvious candidate for a promising future.

Apparently the young ‘keeper with the highest potential in world football. Watch this space to see whether he’s Thibaut Courtois’ successor or whether he forges his path elsewhere.

RB: Jesus Fortea (Real Madrid) – 87

Another relative unknown out of La Fabrica, Fortea signed a four-year contract in the summer and was promoted to Real Madrid’s Castilla.

An eye-catching dribbler blessed with explosive pace, the 18-year-old has represented Spain at every level from the Under-15s to the Under-20s and could soon be knocking on the door for first-team opportunities.

Xabi Alonso is blessed with options, but given the injury issues Dani Carvajal and Trent Alexander-Arnold have faced, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see Fortea given the nod in the early rounds of the Copa del Rey or Champions League dead rubbers.

CB: Dean Huijsen (Real Madrid) – 88

Continuing our all-Madrid rearguard so far, Huijsen isn’t an academy graduate but rather a relatively proven star of the future whom Los Blancos acted decisively to nab following his sensational breakout campaign at Bournemouth.

Huijsen’s generational ability to build attacks from deep makes him a potential game-changer for both Real Madrid and Spain.

CB: Willy Kambwala (Villarreal) – 88

A surprise name here, given a higher potential rating than the likes of Barcelona starlet Pau Cubarsi and Manchester United wonderkid Leny Yoro.

We’re not entirely sure we see it ourselves, if we’re entirely honest, but the Villarreal youngster could be one to target if you’re investing in the future on FM26. He’s certainly more gettable than the likes of Huijsen, Cubarsi or Yoro.

Let’s see if real life matches the virtual world. Kambwala hasn’t made the most convincing start to life in La Liga.

LB: Myles Lewis-Skelly (Arsenal) – 88

Shoutout to hidden gem Saba Kharebashvili of Dinamo Tbilisi, who somehow boasts as high a potential rating as Hale End starlet Lewis-Skelly.

A very uncontroversial pick at left-back, this one, after his exceptional introduction to the big stage last term.

DM: Andres Chema (Stuttgart) – 88

The Sports Interactive research team evidently believe there’s something in the water at La Fabrica.

Another talented young Spaniard with negligible first-team experience, Chema signed for Stuttgart in the summer.

The 20-year-old made a couple of appearances for boyhood club Real Madrid last season but breaking through to really stake a claim in Alonso’s stacked midfield was always going to be a tough ask.

Chema opened his account on his Bundesliga debut and will surely be plotting to follow in the footsteps of the likes of Nick Woltemade, Serhou Guirassy and Nico Gonzalez in using the club as a springboard to a top European outfit.

Real Madrid will be keeping tabs, given they have first dibs next summer with a reasonable buy-back clause.

CM: Ayyoub Bouaddi (Lille) – 91

Bouaddi has been tipped as one of the top emerging talents of his generation.

We’ve got the full lowdown on the French teenager:

CAM: Nico Paz (Como) – 93

Tottenham’s summer window was pure chaos — a mad dash around Europe that ended with Xavi Simons arriving after they failed to land Eberechi Eze and Morgan Gibbs-White.

But tucked away among the near-misses was one that might sting the worst as the years progress: an audacious €40million move for Como’s rising star Paz.

The 21-year-old Argentinian stayed put and looks destined to return to Real Madrid, such has been his prodigious rise under Cesc Fabregas’ wing in Serie A. Their buyback clause is the worst-kept secret in football.

Hang on a sec. Is this whole team just going to be Alonso’s Real Madrid XI come 2029?

FWR: Lamine Yamal (Barcelona) – 95

We’re running out of superlatives for Yamal, who already looks like one of the world’s most devastatingly unstoppable attackers at the age of just 18.

When was the last time you could genuinely say that about a player so young? Mbappe? Messi? Rooney? That’s PSG, Barcelona and Manchester United’s all-time top goalscorers, right there. Exalted company.

ST: Endrick (Real Madrid) – 96

FMScout’s latest set of revisions have put Endrick right to the very top of their ‘highest potential’ rating with a blinding score of 96.

We wouldn’t mind seeing the strange algorithmic alchemy that went into that one, given that – in the real world, at least – Endrick currently looks a long way off the likes of Yamal, Paz and Huijsen, not to mention dozens of others that don’t feature in this XI.

We’re not writing off the Brazilian by any means. Development isn’t always linear. His current struggles may well be the making of him in the long run.

But to reach the potential people were talking up when he was at 15 at Palmeiras, he needs minutes – and that’s just not happening for him at Madrid.

We’re hoping Endrick will kick on with a January loan. Maybe you can make that a reality in your FM save, too. He’s way too talented to be rotting away on the bench.

FWL: Kenan Yildiz (Juventus) – 90

Unlike Endrick, this high rating tallies with the eye test of what we’ve seen over the past 18 months.

While Juventus have made an unconvincing start to the 2025-26 campaign, losing their manager in the process, Yildiz’s stock continues to rise – even amid their struggles.

“I was talking to them the other day and I noticed that I never say anything to Yildiz in front of others, because he always does what he’s supposed to do,” the recently sacked Igor Tudor told DAZN earlier this season.

“We rarely say anything to him, whether it’s about his playing style or his behaviour. The difference is that inner motivation you have to get there and do what you do, which has to be there every day.

“Yildiz is proving he does that, and I hope he continues every day. He has all the attributes to become a truly top player.”