365Scores’ Breakout Stars of 2025/26, using the new, innovative Impact Rating feature
365Scores’ Breakout Stars of 2025/26. The players who will light up the footballing world for the years to come.
A winger in west London who settles games with the stillness of a chess grandmaster. A future Maldini. A tiny conductor in Tijuana. A River Plate No 9 itching to return and do River Plate No 9 things. And an Arda Guler prodigy.
Let’s talk about some potential stars who could crack the season, then the World Cup, and the future, wide open.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Leo Messi BOTH had a great International Window with Portugal and Argentina respectively, but our Impact Rating managed to calculate who did it slightly better than the other 📊 pic.twitter.com/hefYhhQJLz
— 365Scores (@365Scores) September 9, 2025
Breakout Stars
Estêvão: Chelsea’s teenage technician with a veteran’s calm
It took only twenty minutes of Premier League football against the Premier League champions before Estêvão gave England a proper taste of what the hype was about. A late finish against Liverpool banked three points for Chelsea and doubled as a calling card.
What stands out is not only the glide with the ball, or the disguises on his passes, but the tempo control. He receives on the half-turn and immediately asks awkward questions. Under Enzo Maresca, Chelsea want wingers who tuck inside to connect and then dart beyond. Estêvão already feels at home in those in-between spaces, knitting moves together with quick wall passes before popping up at the back post to finish the move he helped start.
That first league goal was not a thunderclap from nowhere, it was the logical end to a dozen small, correct choices. If he keeps stacking those, the minutes should keep stacking too. And yes, he is eighteen. You can see why the club sprinted to sign him and why the fanbase have fallen hard already.
Luka Vuskovic: Maldini in the making?
Luka Vušković looks every bit the modern centre-back: tall, composed, and frighteningly assured for his age. After coming through Hajduk Split as their youngest ever scorer, he gained senior experience in Poland and Belgium before joining Tottenham, who sent him on loan to Hamburg for 2025/26. There, he has the perfect platform to turn potential into reliability. Vušković dominates in the air, steps in confidently to intercept, and sprays diagonals that switch play with purpose. His calm under pressure and knack for timing tackles make him feel older than eighteen.
A Croatia debut already hints at his ceiling, and a strong Bundesliga season could fast-track his return to Spurs as a first-team option. He still has to sharpen decision-making when stepping out, but his blend of composure, aggression, and technical ability makes him one of Europe’s most intriguing young defenders ready to break through this year.
Gilberto Mora: Tijuana’s pocket creator bringing numbers to match the noise
The 16-year-old (yes SIXTEEN) at Tijuana is a tempo-setting attacking midfielder who constantly arrives in useful places. He is busy rather than frantic, which at that age is rare. He has already started stacking records in Mexico, including becoming the youngest goalscorer in Liga MX history, and he is a leading light for Mexico’s youth teams while sampling senior caps. That is not just buzz, that is a serious resumé.
What makes him dangerous is the decision tree. Mora checks his shoulder twice, receives on the half-turn, and then either slides a runner in or uses a quick one-two to step into the box. The shot selection is sensible, already scoring five times this season. He carries with balance, keeps the ball in his orbit, then accelerates late into space when a defender relaxes. For Tijuana, he is already a connector between lines.
For Mexico’s under-20s at the World Cup in Chile, he has been one of Concacaf’s most watchable youngsters. Add a summer’s worth of reps and a full Liga MX season, and you can see why European scouts are suddenly hanging around. It is early days, sure, but the floor already looks high.
Agustín Ruberto: after the wait, River’s finisher is almost back
River Plate know exactly what they have with Agustín Ruberto. The world does too, thanks to eight goals and a Golden Boot at the 2023 under-17 World Cup, the classic preview trailer of a No 9 who finishes with conviction. This year has been about patience after an ACL tear in February. The good news is the calendar, which now has him trending toward a late-October return. River have a penalty-box presence on the doorstep.
Ruberto’s movement is the headline. He prowls the last line, checks off a centre-back’s shoulder, then darts to the front post the instant a full-back glances away. The finishing is unfussy, laces through the ball, far corner when it is on. Because River create a ton of low crosses and pull-backs, a ruthless first-time finisher can feast.
There will be rust to shake off, no doubt. Learning to trust the knee again is its own little journey. Once the rhythm is there, though, he has the tools to score in bunches and to change how opponents defend the six-yard box at El Monumental. The challenge will be dealing with the pressure of European clubs sniffing around!
Can Uzun: Turkey may have a new superstar
Can Uzun is playing like someone who missed the memo about easing into a new league. At just 19, he’s slipped straight into Eintracht Frankfurt’s attack and started dictating tempo like a veteran No.10 who’s seen it all before. Five goals and three assists in his first six Bundesliga starts tell the story statistically, but the real thrill is in the detail – the clever half-turns, the disguised passes, the way he ghosts between midfield and defence before snapping a finish low into the corner.
He’s not a highlight merchant; everything feels deliberate, repeatable. There’s a poise to how he operates that makes you forget he was playing 2. Bundesliga football last year. With Champions League minutes already under his belt and a role that gives him license to drift centrally, Uzun looks less like a pleasant surprise and more like Frankfurt’s new heartbeat.
By Nicky Helfgott – NickyHelfgott1 on X (Twitter)
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