★ Moneyball Original · Scouting
The 15 best under-21 players in La Liga right now, ranked by the numbers
By Moneyball Editorial · published · updated
Every season La Liga produces a new set of young players that everyone claims to have spotted first. Lists of them are usually made from reputation: the biggest fee, the most famous academy, the best highlight clip.
This one is made differently. Every player aged 21 or under with at least 450 minutes this season is scored the same way, on what he does per 90 minutes compared with every player in his position. Nobody chooses the names. The data does.
How to read this, in plain words. The Moneyball Score is a number from 0 to 100. It asks one question: compared with every player in the same position, how much does this player do of the things his position is there to do, for every 90 minutes he plays? Around 50 is an average regular. Above 70 is a starter for a club in European competition. Above 85 is among the best in the world. Potential is where the score is expected to go as he ages, from the way players in his position usually develop. Moneyball Value is a fair transfer fee worked out from his score, age, position, league and minutes. A young player with few minutes is deliberately scored with caution: the model would rather be late than fooled.
The list
| # | Player | Age | Club | Position | Minutes | Moneyball Score | Potential | Moneyball Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Lamine Yamal | 19 | FC Barcelona | Winger | 1355 | 92 | 100 | €145.4M |
| 2 | Arda Güler | 21 | Real Madrid | Attacking midfielder | 853 | 89 | 100 | €97.8M |
| 3 | Jon Martín Vicente | 20 | Real Sociedad | Centre-back | 1221 | 74 | 100 | €49.7M |
| 4 | Dean Huijsen | 21 | Real Madrid | Centre-back | 1042 | 68 | 87 | €37.6M |
| 5 | Xavi Espart | 19 | FC Barcelona | Full-back | 724 | 67 | 100 | €32.3M |
| 6 | Yan Diomande | 20 | Real Madrid | Winger | 891 | 63 | 83 | €36.8M |
| 7 | Yassir Zabiri | 21 | Racing Santander | Centre-forward | 802 | 63 | 81 | €39.1M |
| 8 | Marc Bernal | 19 | FC Barcelona | Defensive midfielder | 574 | 61 | 88 | €38.5M |
| 9 | Jorge Salinas | 19 | Racing Santander | Full-back | 893 | 56 | 79 | €22.8M |
| 10 | Lucas Noubi | 21 | Deportivo A Coruña | Centre-back | 450 | 52 | 61 | €15.8M |
| 11 | Pau Cubarsí | 19 | FC Barcelona | Centre-back | 1142 | 52 | 74 | €20.3M |
| 12 | Bright Ede | 19 | Deportivo A Coruña | Centre-back | 461 | 51 | 71 | €16.0M |
| 13 | Peio Canales Urtasun | 21 | Athletic Club | Central midfielder | 602 | 51 | 59 | €19.3M |
| 14 | Ifeanyi Ndukwe | 18 | Levante | Centre-back | 542 | 50 | 74 | €16.2M |
| 15 | Carlos Macià | 18 | Villarreal | Central midfielder | 455 | 48 | 70 | €15.7M |
The rule: aged 21 or under, playing in La Liga, with at least 450 minutes this season. Minutes are this season's, in the league and the European cups. "Potential" is the highest score the age curve gives him in the next four years. "Moneyball Value" is a fair fee, not a quoted price.
The top 8, one by one
1. Lamine Yamal (FC Barcelona)
Lamine Yamal, 19, plays as a winger for FC Barcelona in La Liga. Strongest for his role in expected assists (est.) and shots. Weakest in dispossessed. His Moneyball Score is 92, and the age curve takes him to about 100. This season: 13 goals and 12 assists in 1355 minutes. Moneyball Value: €145.4M. His full report in Scouting Players Research.
2. Arda Güler (Real Madrid)
Arda Güler, 21, plays as an attacking midfielder for Real Madrid in La Liga. Strongest for his role in expected assists (est.) and big chances created. Weakest in fouls won. His Moneyball Score is 89, and the age curve takes him to about 100. This season: 4 goals and 7 assists in 853 minutes. Moneyball Value: €97.8M. His full report in Scouting Players Research.
3. Jon Martín Vicente (Real Sociedad)
Jon Martín Vicente, 20, plays as a centre-back for Real Sociedad in La Liga. Strongest for his role in aerial duels won and duels won. Weakest in long balls. His Moneyball Score is 74, and the age curve takes him to about 100. This season: 1 goal and 1 assist in 1221 minutes. Moneyball Value: €49.7M. His full report in Scouting Players Research.
4. Dean Huijsen (Real Madrid)
Dean Huijsen, 21, plays as a centre-back for Real Madrid in La Liga. Strongest for his role in long balls and dribbled past. Weakest in duels won. His Moneyball Score is 68, and the age curve takes him to about 87. He has played 1042 minutes this season. Moneyball Value: €37.6M. His full report in Scouting Players Research.
5. Xavi Espart (FC Barcelona)
Xavi Espart, 19, plays as a full-back for FC Barcelona in La Liga. Strongest for his role in tackles and passes. Weakest in accurate crosses. His Moneyball Score is 67, and the age curve takes him to about 100. This season: 2 goals and 2 assists in 724 minutes. Moneyball Value: €32.3M. His full report in Scouting Players Research.
6. Yan Diomande (Real Madrid)
Yan Diomande, 20, plays as a winger for Real Madrid in La Liga. Strongest for his role in successful dribbles and expected assists (est.). Weakest in dispossessed. His Moneyball Score is 63, and the age curve takes him to about 83. This season: 4 goals and 4 assists in 891 minutes. Moneyball Value: €36.8M. His full report in Scouting Players Research.
7. Yassir Zabiri (Racing Santander)
Yassir Zabiri, 21, plays as a centre-forward for Racing Santander in La Liga. Strongest for his role in shots on target and goals, luck taken out. Weakest in aerial duels won. His Moneyball Score is 63, and the age curve takes him to about 81. This season: 9 goals and 0 assists in 802 minutes. Moneyball Value: €39.1M. His full report in Scouting Players Research.
8. Marc Bernal (FC Barcelona)
Marc Bernal, 19, plays as a defensive midfielder for FC Barcelona in La Liga. Strongest for his role in duels won and tackles. Weakest in blocked shots. His Moneyball Score is 61, and the age curve takes him to about 88. This season: 0 goals and 2 assists in 574 minutes. Moneyball Value: €38.5M. His full report in Scouting Players Research.
What the list tells us
La Liga's big clubs have the most famous academies in the world, but look at where the names on this list actually play. The clubs outside the top three give far more minutes to young players, because they must: selling one every summer is how they balance the books.
FC Barcelona have 4 names on the list, Real Madrid have 3. More than one name from the same club is rarely a coincidence: it usually means a coach who gives minutes and a recruitment team that knows what it is looking for. By position, the most common is centre-back (6 of 15).
The youngest name is Ifeanyi Ndukwe, 18. The biggest gap between today and the age curve belongs to Xavi Espart: 67 now, about 100 at his best in the next four years. And the lowest fair fee on the list is Carlos Macià's, at €15.7M, which is where a club with a small budget should look first.
A warning that belongs on every list like this one. A score is a summary of what a player has done, not a promise of what he will do. Injuries, a change of coach, a move to a stronger league and plain luck all move careers in ways no number sees coming. Use the list the way a scout would: as the place to start watching, not the place to stop thinking.
How the list is made
Every player in the leagues Moneyball follows is scored the same way. His figures are divided by his minutes, adjusted for the strength of his league, pulled toward the average of his position when he has played little, blended with last season, and then ranked against the players in his own position. Nothing is typed in by hand, and nobody at Moneyball chooses who goes on the list. That is also why some names will surprise you: the model has never seen a highlight clip and does not know which clubs are famous.
- Per 90 minutes: every figure divided by minutes played, so a substitute and a starter can be compared fairly.
- League-strength adjustment: Moneyball Scout weighs a season in Ligue 1 at 0.90 of the same season in the Premier League (Serie A 0.95, La Liga 0.96, Bundesliga 0.94).
- Bayesian shrinkage: with few minutes a figure is pulled toward the average of his position, so three good matches are not mistaken for a great player.
- Last season at 70% weight: last season's figures are blended in, a little lighter than this season's.
- Percentiles within his position: a centre-back is ranked against centre-backs, a winger against wingers. The 90th percentile means better than 90 of every 100.
- Role templates: each position is judged on what it is there to do; a striker on chances and goals, a full-back on defending and crossing.
- Position familiarity: where else he could play, from where he has played.
- Win-rate impact: the points he adds to a club over a season, by replaying its matches with and without him through the Dixon-Coles model.
- Expected goals (xG): the quality of every chance, so a team is judged on what it created and allowed, not only on what went in.
- Expected points: each match's xG run through a Dixon-Coles score matrix (the Poisson model with the low-score correction the Match Board uses) to give the points a performance usually earns.
- Age curve: how players of his position usually develop year by year, used for his potential.
- Moneyball Value: a fair fee from his score, age, position, league and minutes.
Analysis by Moneyball Editorial. The list is worked out from the Sportmonks data at each update; names move up and down as the season goes on. Moneyball Value is an estimate, not a quoted price.
Open Scouting Players Research Lamine Yamal in the Stats Centre
Questions
- Who is the best under-21 player in La Liga in 2026/27?
- On Moneyball Score today it is Lamine Yamal of FC Barcelona (92 out of 100), ahead of Arda Güler and Jon Martín Vicente. The list is worked out again at every update.
- What is the Moneyball Score?
- A number from 0 to 100 for how much a player does of what his position is there to do, per 90 minutes, against every player in the same position, adjusted for the strength of his league and for how many minutes he has played.
- Why is a well-known name missing from the list?
- The list only reads players with 450 minutes or more this season who fit the rule in the title. A player who is injured, outside the age limit or short of minutes is not on it.