Six wonderkids who will set Nations League on fire – including new Scotland & Italy stars

Whether we like it or not, the Premier League has been paused for three long weeks, replaced by the first four games of the 2026 edition of the much-maligned Nations League – but while the international break may feel tedious to many fans, it’s also a great opportunity to catch some of the most gifted young players in the world in action.

Plenty of rising stars who ply their trade in other countries will get to spend some time in the spotlight and while British fans will already have had plenty of chances to watch new England stars like Rio Ngumoha and Alex Scott, there are quite a few exciting players playing elsewhere who deserve attention.

Below, we’ve picked out seven youngsters with boundless potential who are worth keeping an eye on over the coming three weeks – some of whom will surely go on to become full-blown stars in years to come.

Konstantinos Karetsas – Greece

Greece seem to be on the cusp of something resembling a golden generation, with a number of hugely talented young players gradually breaking into the senior side – and alongside Brighton & Hove Albion’s in-form forward Charalampos Kotsoulas, attacking midfielder Karetsas could be the most exciting of the lot.

A sublimely-gifted and deeply dynamic player who can operate as a winger or as a number 10, the 18-year-old moved to Borussia Dortmund over the summer and scored against Arsenal in pre-season during his first match – and has quickly started establishing himself in his new side’s first team with some extremely promising performances.

Karetsas is a brilliant dribbler who can leave defenders tangled up in knots, a hard-working pressing machine who’s a constant problem out of possession, and a natural playmaker who’s blessed with the vision to spot passes others might miss. He still has rough edges to sand off, as one would expect given his age, but he’s a phenomenal talent.

Gjivai Zechiël – Netherlands

Zechiël, who only turned 22 this summer, has been handed his first call-up to the Dutch national team off the back of a breath-taking start to the Eredivise season during which he’s scored five goals and provided four assists in just seven matches for Feyenoord.

Making those numbers seem even more absurd is the fact that he’s a box-to-box midfielder by trade rather than a striker. Zechiël seems to be the complete package – he can defend, dribble, passes with precision and scores with amazing frequency. His sharp movement and seemingly boundless energy complete the picture of a player who will start attracting significant transfer attention soon.

It was only last season that Zechiël really broke through, and that was while he was on loan at Utrecht but he’s already racked up over half as many goal contributions as he did last season in total, and is either enjoying a remarkable purple patch or is blossoming into something quite special. We may get a chance to find out more over the coming weeks.

Lennart Karl – Germany

New Germany manager Jürgen Klopp has named two separate squads for the coming Nations League games, naming 16 potential debutants in the process, many of them young, excited and talented. But none of them will draw as much attention as the 18-year-old Karl, who already has three caps under his belt.

The 18-year-old Bayern Munich star, who can play as a winger or through the middle, scored nine goals and provided seven assists in a breakthrough 2025/26 campaign during which he marked himself out as one of the most promising young players in the world.

He isn’t quite a full-blown star yet – his dribbling and finishing still seem to need some work – but he’s already electrifying at his best and would have played in the World Cup had it not been for a thigh injury which ruled him out at the eleventh hour. Klopp’s new look Germany will be an interesting watch, and Karl is perhaps their most entertaining young talents.

Robbie Ure – Scotland

Just how good is Rangers academy product Ure, who’s set to make his Scotland debut at the age of 22? Is he going to revolutionise the Scottish attack, or did all those goals he scored in odd corners of the footballing globe offer false hope?

Ure left Rangers in 2023 and spent time in Belgium and Sweden before earning a £7.7m move to Spanish giants Sevilla having scored 31 goals in 50 games for Sirius, a little-known side in the Allsvenskan. Before getting his big move he played 15 games in the 2026 Swedish league season and scored 15 goals. He could give a country that has been starved of top-quality attacking talent good reason to get excited, based on that form.

A powerful, hard-working striker who can hold the ball up and bring his team-mates into play as well as score himself, Ure has all the traits to be a huge success in a traditional number nine role. Whether he has the chops to cut it at the very highest level remains to be seen – but it will be fascinating to find out.

Alessandro Romano & Samuele Inácio – Italy

After years of frustration and failure, new Italy manager Roberto Mancini is ringing the changes, and has called up a number of youngsters and newcomers – including 20-year-old midfielder Romano, a Roma youngster currently on loan at Cagliari, and teenage Borussia Dortmund striker Inácio.

Romano is a defensive midfielder who is comfortable on the ball and suitably dogged off it, and whose judgement in the tackle and strong work in one-on-one situations have both stood out in Serie A since the start of the season. Inácio, meanwhile, is an interesting gamble of a selection given that he only has 11 senior appearances to his name.

One of them, admittedly, came for Italy in a summer friendly, but his track record is tiny – he scored a brace in a routine DFB Pokal win over lowly HEBC Hamburg, but that’s all he’s really had the chance to do this season. His technical quality and two-footedness has drawn some lofty comparisons to a young Neymar, however, and he’s also versatile, able to play anywhere across the attack. It will be fascinating to see how he gets on as he takes a step up very early in his career.