São Paulo academy youngsters shine, bright outlook for 2026 | OneFootball

The young players developed in São Paulo’s youth academy have been gaining space in the professional team in this final stretch of the season. With many absences, coach Hernán Crespo has turned to Cotia for options in the squad, and many of them have been delivering positive results on the field.

Maik is one example. The right-back, who won the Copinha last year, has become the starter in the position in recent rounds of the Brazilian Championship, overtaking Portuguese player Cédric Soares and Mailton, who was a standout for Chapecoense in Serie B.

Last Wednesday, against Internacional at Vila Belmiro, the young player, just 20 years old, even found the net, scoring the second goal in São Paulo’s 3-0 victory in Santos.

Another young player who has been standing out is Lucca. The forward had some opportunities under Zubeldía, even scoring a goal on his professional debut against Libertad in the Libertadores, in a packed Morumbis, but later returned to the under-20 team.

With the large number of injured forwards at the end of the year, Crespo was forced to look to the youth academy, and Lucca once again got minutes with the professional team, making the most of the opportunity to show the coach he can be useful.

Even playing out of position as a left wing-back, Lucca was one of the best on the field against Juventude. Not by chance, in the following game against Fluminense, he started as a regular. Last Wednesday, against Inter, he was brought on again, this time in the final minutes of the match.

Without a large budget to strengthen the squad, São Paulo should maintain the strategy of giving opportunities to young players from the youth academy in 2026. It remains to be seen which new faces will be able to establish themselves among the professionals of Tricolor.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.