Scouting for Football Mangager 26 Using NXGN 2025 Top 50 Wonderkids List

One of the best ‘scouting hacks’ on Football Manager is using the NXGN Top 50 Wonderkids list and just scouting or bidding for the players on that list from clubs that aren’t among the elite.

That got me thinking: who are the players on the list this year in real life? They could be perfect for your very first save in Football Manager 2026. The oracle that is the NXGN is rarely wrong, so this could be a goldmine.

So… what is the NXGN 2025?

“NXGN Top 50” is a list published by Goal that ranks the 50 best young (typically under-19) “wonderkids” in world football each year.
In recent editions of Football Manager, it pops up in your inbox once a season, and it’s a fantastic way to see who the game rates as genuine wonderkids. Occasionally you’ll get a dud in there… but most are absolute gems: some obvious, some hidden in the rough.I’ve gone through the entire list and picked out whether each player is likely to be very unaffordable, relatively unaffordable, or affordable based on their current club and general transfer-market context.

Let’s start at No. 50 and work our way down to No. 1.

NGXN 2025 Top 50 Wonderkids:

50. Chido Obi – Manchester United – forward (very unaffordable)

49. Gilberto Mora – Club Tijuana – attacking midfielder (affordable)

48. Diego Kochen – Barcelona – goalkeeper (very unaffordable)

47. Amara Diouf – Generation Foot – winger (affordable)

46. Luis Guilherme – West Ham – winger (unaffordable)

45. Andrija Maksimovic – RB Leipzig – midfielder (unaffordable)

44. Senny Mayulu – PSG – midfielder (very unaffordable)

43. Yang Min-hyeok – Tottenham – forward (very unaffordable)

42. Rio Ngumoha – Liverpool – winger (veryunaffordable)

41. Martim Fernandes – Porto – right back (unaffordable)

40. Vasilije Adzic – Juventus – midfielder (unaffordable)

39. Agustin Ruberto – River Plate – forward (affordable)

38. Josh Acheampong – Chelsea – defender (very unaffordable)

37. Adam Aznou – Everton – left back (unaffordable)

36. Charalampos Kostoulas – Brighton – forward (very unaffordable)

35. Bence Dardai – Wolfsburg – central midfielder (affordable)

34. Mattia Liberalli – Catanzaro – winger (affordable)

33. Konstantinos Karetsas – Genk – midfielder (affordable)

32. Eli Junior Kroupi – Bournemouth – forward (unaffordable)

31. Marc Guiu – Chelsea – striker (unaffordable)

30. Cavan Sullivan – Philadelphia Union (joining Man City) – midfielder (very unaffordable)

29. Chris Rigg – Sunderland – central midfielder (unaffordable)

28. Marc Bernal – Barcelona – defensive midfielder (very unaffordable)

27. Assan Ouedraogo – RB Leipzig – midfielder (unaffordable)

26. Luka Vuskovic – Spurs – centre back (very unaffordable)

25. Lewis Miley – Newcastle – central midfielder (very unaffordable)

24. Stefanos Tzimas – Brighton – forward (very unaffordable)

23. Tyler Dibling – Everton – winger (very unaffordable)

22. Mikey Moore – Spurs – forward (very unaffordable)

21. George Illenkhena – Monaco – forward (unaffordable)

20. Kendry Paez – Chelsea – attacking midfielder (very unaffordable)

19. Franco Mastantuono – Real Madrid – CAM (very unaffordable)

18. Julien Duranville – Dortmund – winger (very unaffordable)

17. Lucas Bergvall – Spurs – midfielder (very unaffordable)

16. Vitor Reis – Man City – centre back (very unaffordable)

15. Rodrigo Mora – Porto – attacking midfielder (unaffordable)

14. Sverre Nepal – Man City – midfielder (very unaffordable)

13. Archie Gray – Spurs – midfielder (very unaffordable)

12. Ayyoub Bouaddi – Lille – midfielder (unaffordable)

11. Geovany Quenda – Sporting (joining Chelsea) – winger (very unaffordable)

10. Francesco Camarda – AC Milan – forward (unaffordable)

9. Jorrel Cato – Chelsea – centre back (very unaffordable)

8. Myles Lewis-Skelly – Arsenal – left back (very unaffordable)

7. Claudio Echeverri – Man City – CAM (very unaffordable)

6. Ethan Nwaneri – Arsenal – CAM (very unaffordable)

5. Endrick – Real Madrid – forward (very unaffordable)

4. Warren Zaire-Emery – PSG – centre mid (very unaffordable)

3. Pau Cubarsi – Barcelona – centre back (very unaffordable)

2. Estevao Willian – Chelsea – winger (very unaffordable)

1. Lamine Yamal – Barcelona – winger (very unaffordable)

 

Which one are you going to try and buy first?

 

You have to give our best affordable wonderkids in FM 26 article a read!

Check out our article covering all the key notes from Miles Jacobson’s latest interview!

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