Hidden Gems FC: 25 late bloomers set to become superstars after breakout years

Maghnes Akliouche made his Monaco debut in October 2021 and developed steadily during his first few years around the first team. Over the last 18 months, however, he has exploded into one of the key players for the Ligue 1 outfit, and France coach Didier Deschamps is also now a big fan, having handed him four caps during World Cup qualifying. Akliouche paid his manager back in November  by netting his first international goal against Azerbaijan.

Akliouche is a genuine playmaker who can excel both as a winger and as an attacking midfielder. He is a stylish player with a good dribbling ability and who is noted for his appreciation of his team-mates. Despite being just 23, he possesses a superb footballing brain, which helps him with both his excellent passing and how he works without the ball. 

Having modelled his game on the likes of Zinedine Zidane, Andres Iniesta and Mesut Ozil, Akliouche now looks destined to follow his heroes to the very top.

Elliot Anderson joined Newcastle at the age of eight, and he would make his first-team debut for the Magpies 10 years later before spending time out on loan at Bristol Rovers in a bid to refine his game. Upon his return to St. James' Park, Anderson began to enjoy some eye-catching cameos for Eddie Howe's side, albeit while playing out wide or as an attacking midfielder.

Right when Anderson looked set to take the take the next step,  Profit and Sustainability Rules forced Newcastle to sell their homegrown talent in the summer of 2024. Nottingham Forest's willingness to pay £40 million for a player without a Premier League goal in his 44 appearances raised eyebrows, but Anderson quickly set about silencing his doubters with some superb performances at the City Ground.

After shining for England Under-21s as they won the 2025 European Championship, Anderson has now graduated to the senior side, and the 23-year-old has established himself as a regular starter ahead of the World Cup despite only making his debut in September. The likes of Manchester United and Chelsea are now queuing up to sign a player Tuchel believes is "one of the best midfielders in the Premier League".

As war raged in Kosovo at the end of the 20th century, the father of Fisnik Asllani fled his homeland and settled in Berlin, where he retrained as electrician before welcoming his son in the early 2000s. Fisnik began to show considerable footballing talent, and was enrolled into Union Berlin's academy at the age of 14. Bayern Munich subsequently showed an interest in signing him, but the young striker instead joined Hoffenheim in 2020.

Asllani struggled with the transition, however, as he mostly played for the club's reserve side in the fourth tier of German football before an unsuccessful loan spell at Austria Vienna. Things changed in 2024-25, however, as Asllani enjoyed a breakout season on loan at second-division side SV Elversberg, for whom he scored 18 goals and provided nine assists in just 33 appearances. Back at Hoffenheim, he has carried that confidence into his first top-flight season, and already has six goals to his name as the campaign approaches its halfway point.

Bayern are again showing an interest in the 23-year-old as a result, and after treating his parents to a new car and an expensive watch upon his move to Hoffenheim, Asllani is hopeful that he will one day be able to buy them a new house as he plots the next move in his promising career.

For Lorenzo Bernasconi, this has been a season that is difficult to put into words. Back in June, he was part of Atalanta's U23s that narrowly missed out on promotion to Serie B, meaning that another season in the third tier of Italian football beckoned for the 22-year-old. Bernasconi wouldn't have dared to dream that, less than five months later, he would be in the starting line up for the first team when they took on European champions, Paris Saint-Germain, in the Champions League.

Capable of playing at left-back or as a wide midfielder, Bernasconi is a technically skilled left-footer who plays with his socks rolled down to his ankles and shows fleet-footedness with the ball at his feet. He is still waiting to fully establish himself in the Atalanta line up, but whenever he does take to the field, he is able to make a positive impact.

In Bologna, they have fairly quickly forgotten the name of Joshua Zirkzee. While the former Rossublu favourite is now struggling for minutes at Manchester United, his replacement, Santiago Castro, has made waves since landing in Serie A from Argentina. 

Castro made his senior debut as an 18-year-old while with his boyhood club Velez Sarsfield, and in January 2024, he moved to Europe as Bologna paid €13m to secure his services. Following an initial six-month bedding-in period, Castro has been in fine form for Bologna, scoring 15 goals while providing nine assists in all competitions since the start of 2024-25. That output has led to interest from Inter in a 21-year-old who has been compared to Nerazzurri captain Lautaro Martinez thanks to both his looks and playing style.

Promise David is the embodiment of perseverance. Having spent time with clubs in Canada, Croatia, the United States and Malta, David's mother begged him countless times to give up on his football dream and build a career for himself in another field before he finally begun to make his mark at the top level when he turned 22.

After impressing in Estonia, David joined Union-Saint Gilloise in Belgium, and soon established himself as the starting striker for the team that would go on to win the league title in 2025 with his Romelu Lukaku-esque performances. He has scored 35 goals in 66 appearances for the club since arriving in the summer of 2024, and has this season made his mark on the Champions League with goals in the victories over PSV and Galatasaray. David has also broken into the Canada squad ahead of them co-hosting the World Cup, and there are now Premier League clubs sniffing around the 24-year-old.

Bilal El Khannouss honed his skills in the football courts of Brussels, and largely played futsal until his 13th birthday. "By always playing in those small spaces, you learn to run smarter. It definitely helped me," he explained, and the attacking midfielder's close control and understanding of space certainly stands out when watching him.

While just 15, El Khannouss was labelled a traitor after leaving Anderlecht's academy to join Genk, but it was a switch that led to him earning first-team opportunities at an earlier age than he would have otherwise, and subsequently led to him earning a call-up to Morocco's squad for the 2022 World Cup at the age of just 18. From there, El Khannouss returned to Belgium for a year and a half, where he emerged as league's most talented youngster, and earned himself a £20m move to Leicester City.

Despite the Foxes suffering mightily on their way to being relegated from the Premier League, El Khannouss stood out, and after Woltemade left Stuttgart late in the 2025 summer transfer window, the 21-year-old became one of their targets to replace the Newcastle-bound striker. El Khannouss has made a strong start to life in the Bundesliga, and has 10 combined goals and assists through 20 games for his new club.

Despite it not being among the Europe's traditional 'Big Five', the Belgian Jupiler Pro League has plenty of players for whom you would gladly pay to watch, and Zakaria El Ouahdi is undoubtedly one of them. The Genk right-back is a powerhouse with excellent stamina and a tremendous forward drive, which is also reflected in him scoring four goals and providing two assists from defence so far this season.

Born in Antwerp, El Ouahdi has been called up several times for the Moroccan national team, but hasn't played an official international match yet. He was part of the team that won bronze at the 2024 Olympic Games, but competition in the 21-year-old's position is tough, with the likes of Achraf Hakimi and Noussair Mazraoui ahead of him in the pecking order. As a result, El Ouahdi could yet switch allegiances to Belgium in the near future.

Somewhere on a trampled and bumpy 'field' in Douala, Cameroon, Karl Etta Eyong poses for the camera. His arms are covered under a layer of sand and his previously white shirt is barely recognisable, but he doesn't mind at all, as evidenced by his characteristic broad smile. With his hands, he forms a heart shape, and with his feet, he has just scored three goals. The then-17-year-old plays for the youth division of Galactique FC, a modest Cameroonian training team. 

Back then, Etta Eyong was a midfielder who idolised Yaya Toure. Five years on, however, and he is regarded as being on the hottest striking properties in Europe. The 22-year-old moved to Spain in 2022, and after spells with Cadiz and Villarreal, he has enjoyed a true breakout for Levante since joining the newly-promoted side in August. His five La Liga goals in 12 appearances might seem modest, but Etta Eyong has been the standout performer in a struggling side, and Barcelona are said to be considering him as part of their post-Robert Lewandowski plan.

Back in July 2024, Rangers gambled on the potential of young Moroccan forward Hamza Igamane, who arrived from AS FAR in his homeland having never reached double-figures for goals in a single campaign. However, the youngster caught the eye at Ibrox on the way to netting 16 goals in all competitions during his debut season in Scotland, and that convinced Lille to pay €11.5m to sign him ahead of the current campaign.

Igamane made a dream start, netting twice on his debut against Lorient, and he has since racked up another seven goals in his 17 subsequent appearances. A fast and technically-skilled striker, Igamane is difficult to dispossess when he gets going, and it already seems inevitable that the 23-year-old Morocco international will be on the move again in the not-too-distant future.

No professional club in the world has its roots as intertwined with regional amateur teams as Athletic Club. Bilbao's giants have more than 160 formal connections with local sides as they continue to select exclusively Basque players. However, sometimes talented youngsters don't get picked up immediately.

It wasn't until 2021 that Mikel Jauregizar joined Athletic's ranks, some 10 years after his childhood friend Unai Gomez has been inducted into the club's academy. However, Jauregizar has certainly made up for lost time in establishing himself at San Mames since making his first-team debut in 2024.

A defensive midfielder who fits the mould of a modern Spanish No.6, Jauregizar's game intelligence and work rate have led to him becoming the first name on Ernesto Valverde's teamsheet, and the 22-year-old who didn't represent Spain at any age group until the U21s is now being linked with the likes of Chelsea and Aston Villa.

At the end of August, Hugo Larsson's phone rang. The Swede had been in regular contact with his agent during the transfer window, and an offer had now come in for him, and a lucrative one at that given it came from Saudi Arabia.

"There were many thoughts that evening," Larsson later told Fotbollskanalen. "It's nice to let your mind wander a bit. But when I called my mother about it, she gave me a lecture. 'No, no, no. You're not going to do that!'” And so Larsson remained at Eintracht Frankfurt, for whom he has played his football since leaving boyhood club Malmo in 2023.

Having rejected Chelsea as a teenager, Larsson became one of the most expensive sales in Allsvenskan history when he left for the Bundesliga in a €9m deal, and the 21-year-old central midfielder has been worth every penny. Real Madrid reportedly showed an interest in Larsson last summer, and he is expected to become the next big-money departure from Eintracht soon enough, following in the footsteps of the likes of Hugo Ekitike, Omar Marmoush, Randal Kolo Muani and Willian Pacho.

Esteban Lepaul is perfect proof that patience and hard work can pay off. A product of the Lyon academy, he never played for the club's first team, and instead spent time in France's lower leagues with the likes of Epinal and Orleans before making it back to Ligue 1 with Angers.

Lepaul wasn't particularly prolific during his 18 months with Angers, but that didn't put Rennes off from paying €13.5m to sign the forward in the summer of 2025, and they are already making good on their investment. Lepaul netted on his debut against his former club, and now has nine goals and three assists in his 16 league appearances in 2025-26 - only Mason Greenwood has more direct goal contributions than the 25-year-old in the French top-flight this term.

For Club Brugge, there is a significant challenge looming over the next six months, with several key players attracting interest from top European clubs. Raphael Onyedika is no exception, with the Nigeria international having developed into an indispensable force in the Brugge midfield since arriving in 2022.

Onyedika is a particularly complete defensive midfielder who is comfortable on the ball, blessed with excellent vision, and someone who engages firmly in duels. Premier League and Bundesliga clubs have been mooted as potential next steps for the 24-year-old who is clearly ready to leave the Jupiler League behind.

Like Onyedika, Joel Ordonez joined Club Brugge in 2022, and this is also expected to be his final season with the club after proving to be more than worth the €4m that the Belgian side paid Independiente del Valle for the Ecuadorian defender.

Despite being just 21, Ordonez has already made over 100 appearances in Belgium after becoming an indispensable member of the Brugge backline. He is a physical phenomenon, leading to him being almost impossible to beat in duels, while he is also very comfortable with the ball at his feet. That combination has understandably led to him being linked with the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool, PSG and Borussia Dortmund.

He is only 21, but all of Portugal has been speaking with admiration about Pablo for months. The Gil Vicente stiker is rapidly attracting attention thanks to his goals, despite not playing for one the country's big three clubs: Porto, Benfica or Sporting CP.

His father, Penna, did make 84 appearances for Porto during his professional career, and Pablo is showing that those talented genes have been passed on. After growing up in Brazil, he came through the academy ranks at Famalicao, but struggled to hold down a regular role after making his debut in 2021. He then endured a forgettable loan spell in the second tier with Pacos de Ferreira before joining Gil Vicente on a temporary basis at the start of last season.

Though Pablo only managed five goals in 23 appearances, his 10-minute hat-trick against Boavista in April 2025 showed his potential, and his move was made permanent a few weeks later. Pablo has maintained that momentum into the current campaign, in which he has netted eight times in 11 Liga Portugal appearances before being struck down by a recent injury.

Troy Parrott became a national hero almost overnight in November after his already legendary hat-trick against Hungary, capped by a stoppage-time winner, kept Ireland's hopes of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup alive. That those heroics came just three days after he had scored twice to beat Portugal only added to Parrott's legend.

While Parrott earned global recognition for those exploits, fans in the Netherlands are well familiar with the 23-year-old's qualities. AZ paid €4m to sign Parrott from Tottenham after he had impressed on loan in the Eredivisie with Excelsior. Parrott repaid their faith by netting 20 times in his first season with Alkmaar, and he looks set to better that mark in 2025-26 after opening the campaign with 15 goals in just 19 appearances.

Given everything he is achieving at club and international level, the question is not now if Parrott will move on, but when, and for how much given the increased level of interest in him.

Real Madrid first identified Nico Paz's talent as an 11-year-old when they swooped him up from out of Tenerife's academy, and by the time he began training with the first team in 2023, it was clear to plenty that he had something special. Toni Kroos even insisted that Paz should practice with the senior squad on a permanent basis shortly before he netted his first goal for the club in the Champions League, but spaces within the Blancos squad were limited, and Paz was subsequently sold to newly-promoted Italian outfit Como for €6m in the summer of 2024.

Under the watchful eye of manager Cesc Fabregas, Paz has emerged as one of the most exciting creative midfielders in Europe, and while Madrid rejected the chance to bring him back to the Bernabeu last summer, they are expected to pay Paz's €9m buy-back clause ahead of the 2026-27 campaign. Tottenham were among the teams who hoped they could sneak in while Madrid delayed in re-signing Paz, but he remained at Como last summer, and already has five goals and five assists to his name this term.

He is also beginning to find a role within the Argentina squad ahead of their World Cup defence after Paz opted to play alongside his hero Lionel Messi rather than represent Spain at international level.

When Robin Roefs walked into the away dressing room at the City Ground in late September following Sunderland's 1-0 win over Nottingham Forest, the Black Cats' staff and players broke their soft murmur and cheered loudly for their new goalkeeper following the latest in an increasingly long line of match-winning performances that he has produced since joining the Premier League newcomers in August.

Roefs was considered a great talent at NEC Nijmegen in his native Netherlands, but was forced to play second-fiddle to ex-Barcelona 'keeper Jasper Cillessen through the 2023-24 season, and it wasn't until Cillessen left for Las Palmas at the end of that campaign that Roefs was able to establish himself in the line up.

He made a strong impression, so much so that he earned the starting spot for the Oranje at the 2025 U21 European Championship, and it was his performances there that alerted Sunderland to his promise. They subsequently paid €13m - a record sale for NEC - to tak Roefs to the Stadium of Light, and the 22-year-old is now being hailed around England as one of the bargain signings of the season.

If there is a player in the Eredivisie who could still make a transfer to a top European club despite closing in on his 25th birthday, it is undoubtedly Ismael Saibari. PSV picked him up in 2020 from Genk's academy, and Saibari has spent the last five years developing into the undoubted star of the Dutch champions.

Where doubts were sometimes raised about Saibari's physical condition in the 2024-25 season, he has now been in top shape for months. The Morocco international is physically strong, frequently finds himself in scoring positions, and has finally managed to stay calm in front of the goal. As a result, he already has 11 goals this season, including two in the Champions League. Additionally, with four assists to his name, Saibari is improving his reputation as a team player.

Saibari's magnificent hat-trick against fellow title contenders Feyenoord in October cannot have gone unnoticed by scouts from foreign clubs, although his own focus in the coming month is first on winning the Africa Cup of Nations.

Alex Scott thought his shot at becoming a professional footballer had gone after he was released by Southampton because he would 'never be big enough' to make it at the highest level. But after catching the eye as a teenager for Guernsey FC in the eighth tier of English football, Scott was given a second chance, and he grasped it with both hands.

"It was complete chaos," Scott recalled of his trial at Bristol City when speaking to the BBC. "On the first day, I trained with the Under-18s, and on the second day, I was on the field with the first team."

The Robins wasted no time in snapping the teenager up, and he played 83 matches for the Championship club before he was sold to Bournemouth for £25m in the summer of 2023. Injuries ruined his first season in the Premier League, but he has slowly developed into one of the most impressive young midfielders in the English top-flight and, after shining for the triumphant U21s at the 2025 Euros, the 22-year-old was handed his maiden senior call-up by Thomas Tuchel in November.

On Guernsey - the island with a population of less than 60,000 - they couldn't be prouder.

When Antoine Semenyo heads inside following his warm-up for games at the Vitality Stadium, he always makes a brief pit stop. Next to Bournemouth's dugout, Pastor John settles in, with whom Semenyo quickly prays one more time just before kick-off. However, his faith must have been severely tested during his early years. As Semenyo drifted through various amateur teams - Kingfisher, Erith & Belvedere, and Bromley, for instance - he was scouted countless times by London's top teams. Arsenal, Tottenham, Crystal Palace, Fulham, and Millwall all offered Semenyo a trial, but all eventually turned him down.

"I was extremely frustrated," Semenyo told The Athletic. “Every three months I was scouted, and after a trial, I would be rejected again. When I was 15 and Palace told me they weren’t going to sign me, it was the nail in the coffin. I was crying in the car and thought then, 'You know what, I’m quitting. I’m not going to play football for a year'."

Semenyo did indeed give up the sport for a year, but after being urged to give it another go by his uncle, he received one last chance at the Wiltshire Sports Academy in Swindon. Semenyo scored more than 50 goals from midfield, and eventually earned a move to Bristol City. He still had to prove himself out on three different loans, but when he finally broke through at Ashton Gate, everything clicked, as Semenyo played 125 matches for the Robins, contributing to a goal on 42 occasions.

Bournemouth came knocking in January 2023 and Semenyo has gradually developed into one of the Premier League's most dangerous attacking players. Now 25, and with six goals and three assists to his name already this term, he is being linked with a winter move to either Liverpool or Manchester City, with both clubs willing to pay the Ghana international's £65m release clause.

Oussama Targhalline can rightly be called the bargain of this calendar year in the Eredivisie. The Morocco international ended up at Feyenoord in February following a tip from an agent, and they paid just €450,0000 to sign Targhalline from Le Havre.

The defensive midfielder did not get much playing time in his first half-season in Rotterdam, in part due to injuries, but has fought his way into the starting line up this season. The 23-year-old is strong defensively, has great stamina, and is always open to receive the ball. Moreover, his technical ability makes it difficult for coach Robin van Persie to overlook him. That Feyenoord will sell him for a much higher amount next summer is certainly not a bold prediction.

While Club Brugge are not having the kind of season that their level of talent would suggest, Christos Tzolis certainly can't be blamed given how much the Greece forward has been able to contribute in attack. Tzolis has already scored 11 goals and provided 12 assists in all competitions as 2025-26 approaches its halfway point, and thus the 23-year-old is being linked with a move back to the Premier League after failing to impress as a teenager while at Norwich City.

The PAOK academy product subsequently joined German second division side Fortuna Dusseldorf, and it was from there that Brugge picked him up for €6m. He now has a €30m release clause, and thus he Belgian side are set to make a huge profit on Tzolise when he is sold over the next six months.

Adam Wharton regularly drove his teachers and mother crazy with his study habits - or lack thereof -as a child. Wharton effortlessly achieved the highest possible grades in maths and computer science despite never revising, and he has carried that persona into the Premier League on his way to becoming one of the most effective central midfielders in the English top-flight.

Wharton is positionally very strong, but above all, he is a talented passer who always tries to play forward into Crystal Palace's talented attackers. Having broken through at Blackburn Rovers, Wharton joined Palace in January 2024, and quickly earned a first England call-up for the European Championship that summer. Injuries have meant that he has struggled to establish himself under Thomas Tuchel in the 18 months since, but it would be a shock were he not to be at the World Cup next summer - or on the move to a Champions League-level club.