5 young talents outside Europe to watch at the Club World Cup

Today’s newsletter is a guest piece from Neel Shelat on some young talents to watch from outside Europe in the Club World Cup, which kicks off on Saturday. While the tournament is undoubtedly a cynical cash grab, it’s also a good opportunity to watch some players from Latin America, Asia and Africa who are trying to advance their careers.

Neel’s work has been featured at The Blizzard, Analytics FC, and Forbes, among others. Neel currently appears regularly on The Transfer Flow Podcast, as well as the Get Football Tactics Podcast. You can find him on Twitter here, and Bluesky here.

The FIFA Club World Cup, which the organizer calls an "innovative, inclusive, groundbreaking and truly global” tournament, will kick off in the United States this Saturday. 32 teams will vie for the “prestigious and timeless” trophy, including continental giants like Bayern Munich and Boca Juniors, who will come up against literal dentists and salesmen from Auckland City.

My two cents on this are that such a tournament featuring clubs from every confederation around the world has the potential to be very cool and fun, but unfortunately this one is being run by FIFA. They’ve tried to make it as big of a cash-grab as possible, and have done all sorts of regulatory gymnastics to shoehorn the big stars (most notably Lionel Messi and Inter Miami) in, though they still struggled to sell broadcasting rights and aren’t having a much better time of it with tickets.

With that being said, will I watch every single match from Juventus vs Manchester City to Flamengo vs Espérance? Quite possibly. It certainly will be interesting to see how teams from different continents match up against each other, and for those who aren’t total sickos like myself, it’ll also be a chance to see some new teams and players. I’ve been tracking a fair few of them in recent years, so let me introduce you to a few of my boys who might catch your eye:

Elías Montiel (CM/DM, CF Pachuca, 2005)

The player I’m most excited to watch from this list probably is Elías Montiel, just to see how he fares against the likes of Real Madrid and Al Hilal. I had the pleasure of watching him in person a couple of times at the last FIFA Intercontinental Cup, and he certainly caught my eye.

Playing a connecting role on the left side of midfield in a 4-2-3-1 against Botafogo, Al Ahly and Real Madrid, the Pachuca academy graduate played every possible minute at the tournament and stood out as one of his side’s key players. He did well to drift around and offer a passing option to his teammates, carried into space quite well and also showed good passing range and variety. At just 19 years old, he was one of the shortest and seemingly weakest players on the pitch, but he was not at all afraid to get stuck into ground duels and held his own in many cases.

As the below radar shows, he was up to the same stuff in Liga MX last season and looks to be quite a promising prospect. His physical development will quite possibly determine how far he can go, but I’m confident that his intelligence and on-ball ability alone can get him a long way. La Liga clubs should certainly be keeping a close eye on him.

As far as the Club World Cup is concerned, the main concern I have is that Pachuca have had an unexpected coaching change right before the tournament. Long-time coach Guillermo Almada paid his buyout clause and resigned just a couple of weeks ago, forcing them to scramble in search of a replacement. Ex-Mexico manager Jaime Lozano was selected, so I hope he sets the team up in a way that gets the best out of Montiel.

Milton Delgado (DM, Boca Juniors, 2005)

Going from one 19-year-old Latin American midfielder to another, the next player on our list is Milton Delgado. Another academy graduate playing for his boyhood club, Delgado is also quite short and plays deeper in midfield, but that’s where the clearest similarities with Montiel end.

Remember how Montiel is a feisty duelist despite his smaller stature? Yeah, Delgado is on another level in that respect. Just look at his radar:

Youngest hardman I’ve ever seen. 19 years old.

Much of that can be explained by the tactical context he was operating in. Delgado was tasked with more of a water carrier role in a Boca Juniors side that wasn’t the most positional in possession under Fernando Gago. There certainly would be a good deal of movement ahead of him, so Delgado’s job was to stay deeper in midfield, help circulate the ball and crucially, win it right back and prevent transitions when it was lost.

Evidently, he did quite a good job of that. Although his stats don’t look great, the Argentine youngster is not bad on the ball either and can keep things ticking well after consistently providing a passing option to his defenders. His forward passing and progression did not get a chance to shine in a Boca side where others took on those responsibilities, but he has the potential to do a decent job in those respects too. New head coach Miguel Ángel Russo might give him more of a platform for that, though he will surely appreciate the defensive aspect of his game more.

Delgado has been loosely linked to European giants including Inter and Atlético Madrid. I don’t think I need to explain the latter given the fact that Diego Simeone is their coach, but Milan could also be an interesting destination as he certainly makes sense from a squad-building perspective given the number of old heads running around in Inter’s midfield. The big question will obviously be how well his defensive doggedness translates against teams with stronger players, so he should definitely be one to watch against the likes of Bayern Munich and Benfica.

Marcos Leonardo (FW, Al Hilal, 2003)

Back in my very first appearance on the podcast, I talked about the potential market opportunity for foreign clubs to make relatively cheaper signings from Saudi Arabia as Pro League clubs hit their foreign player quota limits. We’ve already seen a number of such transfers take place, with a notable recent example being Spanish youngster Gabri Veiga’s move to Porto from Asian champions Al Ahli for around €15m.

Another player to monitor, then, is Marcos Leonardo. The Brazilian youngster broke out at Santos before moving to Benfica for €22m. Just half a season later, Al Hilal paid twice that amount to bring him to Riyadh, where he enjoyed a very productive season. Although the Asian giants had a disappointing campaign in which they failed to win any major honours, Marcos Leonardo did well as he netted 25 goals across all competitions.

As the above shotmap shows, his bread and butter is well-timed runs into the dangerous central area of the box. The Brazilian forward started the season as more of a second striker operating behind Aleksandar Mitrović in a 4-2-3-1, but had to spend a good chunk of matches in the leading role when the Serbian international was out injured. I do think he does better as a second runner into box when he knows exactly what space to attack based on the position of the lead striker, but he can also offer secure link-up play when leading the line. Although he is far from the tallest, he has a good leap when attacking crosses, and he can hit a ball hard with his right foot especially.

It will be worth watching how new Al Hilal head coach Simone Inzaghi uses Marcos Leonardo at the Club World Cup, and whether he adds a different dynamic to the strike partnership with Mitrović. When the window re-opens, though, he may well become available as his club have been knocking on the doors of all the big-name strikers on the market. Victor Osimhen and Viktor Gyökeres turned down offers in the pre-CWC window, but they may be more tempted by the bag later in the summer if they still don’t have a big move lined up. Alternatively, they could also go for someone like Darwin Núñez, so Marcos Leonardo’s spot in the team certainly will be under threat.

If he is open to leaving and returning to Europe, it will be interesting to see who puts in an offer. The Brazilian forward’s profile is a slightly challenging one as he appears best kept in and around the box as much as possible, so one of the big three Portuguese clubs might well be the best destination for Marcos Leonardo.

Wesley (RB, Flamengo, 2003) and Agustín Giay (RB/RCB, Palmeiras, 2004)

I’m torn between two right backs for my final pick, so I’m just going to go ahead and put both of them in the same section. My guest post, my rules.

I’ll quickly go over both of them. First we have Wesley, who continues our theme of short kings. He’s developed into a pretty well-rounded full back in over 130 appearances for Flamengo and currently plays a fairly flexible role in Filipe Luís’ fluid side. He has a decent burst of acceleration and handy pace, which combine with his good ball control to make him a useful ball-carries as he likes to advance infield into gaps in opposition blocks. He tends to keep his passing short and secure as he moves around well to make himself an option, though he can also send in a decent cross or two when he gets forward down the line. Defensively, he isn’t great in the air for obvious reasons, but he uses his body well to make a nuisance of himself in duels, is tough to get past one-on-one and covers a good deal of ground at speed on the flank.

Agustín Giay is arguably an even more well-rounded full back as he can also do a job on the right of a back three or even as a flank-patrolling wing back, which is how he first shone at San Lorenzo. Now at Brazilian giants Palmeiras, he has really showcased his defensive strength this year by staying deep in a three, from where he can also offer some progression.

Wesley is the one who was the subject of more transfer rumours earlier this year, with some suggestions that he might be an option for Manchester City as Kyle Walker’s replacement. While there are some similarities, the difference in stature will likely be too big of a challenge in the Premier League. Instead, I think more clubs should be looking at Giay. He has an impressive and versatile body of work in different roles and systems, so he could be a very handy pickup.

Honourable Mentions

I have not yet mentioned the two most well-known South American talents at the Club World Cup for that very reason – they need no introduction. Teenagers Estêvão (RW, Palmeiras, 2007) and Franco Mastantuono (RW/AM, River Plate, 2007) are sure to star as they already are the most important players at their respective clubs, and will move to a major European team after the tournament. Jair Cunha (CB, Botafogo, 2005) also has a reported move lined up to Nottingham Forest as part of a totally normal deal between two totally normally-run clubs.

I could have almost made a midfielders-only list by including Obed Vargas (DM, Seattle Sounders, 2005), who has more similarities to Montiel than Delgado but has the potential to become pretty well-rounded too. Another one from MLS is David Martínez (RW, Los Angeles FC, 2006), who does a good job opposite star winger Denis Bouanga with clever movement to riff of the Gabonese international’s electric dribbling threat. The Asian and African clubs are all largely coming over with older squads as they like to bank on experience, but Tunisian giants Espérance have a couple of regular starters who are very much in the early stages of their careers. Watch for Ivorian midfielder Abdramane Konaté (2006) in their games.

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