The Champions League brings together the best players on planet earth and the 2024-2025 edition will be no exception. But just as a good part of that group is made up of globally recognized names, overshadowed by the light of those big stars are also talents who are ready to jump onto the scene.
Next, we put the focus on seven young players who promise to be the talk of the town in this edition of the Champions League, with one thing in common: they are second-rate teams, outside the big five leagues -Spain, England, Germany, France or Italy-. Who are we talking about? Let’s find out more about them below.
The 7 hidden gems in the 2024-2025 Champions League
Johan Bakayoko (PSV)
He 21-year-old Belgian winger is possibly the best-known name on this list, given his usual prominence with his national team and his good work in the last Champions League. Bakayoko is one of the great figures of a PSV ready to give more than one surprise And, after a phenomenal 2023-2024 – 13 goals, 14 assists between the Champions League and Eredivisie – this could be the campaign that finally catapults him into the continent’s elite.
The left-handed person is a nightmare on the right flank and one of the best dribblers which presents this edition of the contest.
Ousmane Diomande (Sporting Lisbon)
There are quite a few big European teams that already have their sights set on the 20-year-old Ivorian defenderan undisputed starter in a Sporting Lisbon team with an excellent present at local level – they won the last league by 10 points and had an ideal start to this campaign. Diomandé currently occupies the centre of a line of three, although he has shown the versatility to play across the defensive front.
The young African not only stands out for his Physical bearing and great aerial playbut also for its excellent technical conditions to play with the ball. With that in mind, it is not surprising that Sporting values him at 80 million euros.
Martin Baturina (Dinamo Zagreb)
Baturina is a 21-year-old attacking midfielder who is already starting to add minutes with the Croatian national team and who stands out for his ability to assist. Without going any further, he added 17 assists – in addition to 11 goals – in the last two seasons of his country’s league and started with everything in 2024-2025: 5 assists in the first 4 games.
With excellent ball control and a very good mid-distance shot, The young Croatian is Dinamo Zagreb’s main hope.
Georgiy Sudakov (Shakhtar)
From a Croatian 10 to a Ukrainian 10. Sudakov, 22, is Shakhtar’s biggest talent and is slowly becoming a fixture in his national team. In the last European season -Champions and Europa League- He has already scored two goalsbut he seems ready to make a qualitative leap in the current competition.
In fact, recently scored for Ukraine in the Nations Leaguewhile in 2023 he was one of the figures of the European Under 21 Championship, scoring 3 goals. His greatest virtue? footprintboth in motion and on set pieces.
Oscar Gloukh and Karim Konaté (Salzburg)
Salzburg is one of the teams that is looking to surprise in this edition of the Champions League and the Israeli midfielder Oscar Gloukh is at the center of those expectations. At just 19 years old, Gloukh shined in 2023-2024, adding 9 goals and 12 assists between the Champions League and the Austrian Bundesliga. And now, at 20, he has picked up where he left off: he added 3 goals and 2 assists in the first three rounds of the domestic competition. The midfielder stands out for his excellent finishing, both with his right foot -his natural foot- and with his left foot, as well as for his dangerousness as an assister.
Gloukh is not the only Salzburg player on this list, nor is Diomandé the only Ivorian. Karim Konate has earned a place, after an absolute explosion in 2023-2024, in which he scored 20 goals in the Bundesligabeyond not being able to score in 5 Champions League games. Konaté’s work was so good that he is nominated for the Kopa Trophy alongside talents such as Lamine Yamal, Arda Güler, Alejandro Garnacho and Savinho. In fact, Konaté is the only one on that list who does not play in one of the five major European leagues.
Martin Vitik (Sparta Prague)
Vitik is a 1.92m tall right center backwho made his Europa League debut at just 17 years old and has since earned himself a place as an undisputed starter at Sparta Prague, as well as starting in the Czech Republic national team.
Today, at 21 years old, he stands out not only for his good game with the ball, but above all for his danger in the aerial game: has already become 6 goals in his last 25 starts in the domestic league. In the last transfer market he was sought by Fiorentina of Italy, but finally he stayed at Sparta.
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