3 young footballers to watch this season and what young players can learn from them
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In football, things can move quickly. One season, a young player is quietly developing within an academy. The next, thousands of fans are searching for his name after seeing him play at the highest level.
Right now, a new generation of talented young footballers is attracting plenty of attention.
Max Dowman. Rio Ngumoha. JJ Gabriel.
Three players from three of England’s biggest clubs. They have different playing styles and are at different stages of their development. Yet young footballers can learn something from all three.
Talent can get you noticed.
What happens next depends on what you do with it.
For ambitious footballers, this means developing the right habits, confidence, and technique to keep improving, even when no one is watching.
1. Max Dowman: play with confidence, regardless of your age
At 16, Max Dowman of Arsenal has already made Premier League history.
In March 2026, Dowman became the youngest goalscorer ever in the Premier League. He scored for Arsenal against Everton when he was just 16 years and 73 days old.
That is a huge achievement, but young players can learn something even more important from his development.
He does not play as though he first needs permission to show that he belongs at this level.
Whether he is receiving the ball, taking on a defender, or trying to create a chance, he dares to make decisions. Young players who develop quickly often learn to trust themselves instead of constantly being afraid of making mistakes.
The lesson: don’t wait until you’re ‘old enough’ to play with confidence
Confidence in football does not mean you have to try something spectacular every time you receive the ball.
It means trusting the skills you have developed.
Does a defender give you space? Go for it. Can you make the pass? Play the ball. Do you lose the ball? React immediately and try again.
Young footballers develop that confidence through plenty of repetition.
The more often you practice receiving, turning, dribbling, and ball control, the more familiar those situations feel when they arise during a match.
You do not always have control over when your next opportunity comes.
You can prepare for it.
2. Rio Ngumoha: decide quickly and look for space
Liverpool's Rio Ngumoha also shows how quickly a player can progress from the youth academy to the first team.
The attacker became the youngest goalscorer in Liverpool's history when he scored against Newcastle United during his Premier League debut in 2025. He was 16 years and 361 days old at the time. He is now part of the first-team squad.
Ngumoha's play offers another important lesson for young players.
When you take a close look at dangerous attackers, you see that their advantage does not lie only in their technique.
It often comes down to how quickly they recognize what is happening around them.
Where is the defender?
Where is the open space?
Should I dribble forward or pass the ball?
Can I turn when I receive the ball?
Can I take on my opponent one-on-one?
During a match, players have very little time to answer these questions.
The lesson: train not only your technique, but also your decisions
Traditional individual football training can become predictable.
Cone. Dribble. Turn. Repeat.
Repetition remains valuable, but football itself is unpredictable. Players must constantly look around, process information, and react.
That is why young footballers should also do exercises in which they have to see something, make a decision, and then perform the correct movement.
For example, try:
- Reaction exercises with numbers or colors
- Changing direction based on unexpected instructions
- Dribbling exercises in which the target keeps changing
- First-touch exercises using different parts of the foot
- Exercises that combine scanning with ball control
This is one of the ideas behind the QUICKFEET Dribble Pads. They use numbers, colors, and shapes and work together with the QUICKFEET app. This combines ball control and movement with making quick decisions. According to Footballgadgets, the system is suitable for individual training, both indoors and outdoors.
The goal is simple:
Look. Decide. Move.
Because during a match, a player who reacts half a second faster can suddenly have a major advantage.
3. JJ Gabriel: develop the right habits before your opportunity comes
Then there is JJ Gabriel of Manchester United.
Gabriel is only 15 years old, but he has already built an impressive reputation in youth football. He was named the very first Premier League Under-18 Player of the Season 2025/26, after scoring 20 times in 21 league matches for Manchester United.
And his development continues.
In his first two matches in Premier League 2 of the 2026/27 season, Gabriel recorded two goals and two assists, while playing against players who were several years older.
It is easy to look at such figures and think only about talent.
But young players can focus more on something they can control themselves:
Their habits.
The lesson: prepare before someone gives you an opportunity
A footballer's development almost never follows a straight line.
One week you are in the starting lineup and the next week you are on the bench.
Maybe you are moved up to an older age group.
Maybe you are suddenly invited to train with older players.
Or perhaps you get ten minutes of playing time at the end of an important match.
The question is:
Will you be ready when that moment comes?
Training regularly is no guarantee that someone will become a professional footballer. Too many different factors play a role in that.
But by training consistently, you can better prepare yourself for the opportunities that come your way.
That extra work does not always have to happen during organized team training.
Twenty minutes of focused training in the garden can also mean twenty extra minutes of practice for your weaker foot, first touch, dribbling or reaction speed.
All those repetitions add up.
What do these young footballers have in common?
Dowman, Ngumoha and Gabriel are different players.
Different positions.
Different clubs.
Different routes.
But when you see talented young footballers develop, there is an important general lesson to be learned.
Talent attracts attention. Repetition makes you more consistent.
Young players cannot copy someone else's natural ability.
They can adopt good habits.
They can practice.
They can challenge themselves.
They can learn to use both feet.
They can improve their first touch.
They can learn to look around before receiving the ball.
They can practice making decisions faster.
And perhaps most importantly, they can learn to enjoy the process of continually getting better.
More touches. More decisions. More confidence.
One of the biggest advantages for young players today is that their development no longer has to be limited to the regular club training sessions.
You do not need a stadium.
You do not always need eleven teammates.
And you certainly do not have to wait until Tuesday evening's training session before working with a football again.
A garden, living room, small local football pitch, or small training space can already be enough to work on the details.
The most important thing is to make the repetitions meaningful.
Do not simply touch the ball 500 times in exactly the same way; add challenges.
Use your weaker foot.
Change direction.
Set a time limit.
Respond to numbers or colors.
Try to improve your previous score.
Force yourself not to constantly look at the ball.
Combine technical actions with making choices.
The QUICKFEET training products from Footballgadgets are designed for these kinds of interactive home training sessions. The Dribble Pads, Touch Football Mat, and Play Rebounder work together with the QUICKFEET Play app. The games and exercises add reaction speed, footwork, and decision-making to individual training sessions.
This makes extra training feel less like repeating the same exercise over and over and more like taking on a new challenge.
How often should young footballers train at home?
There is no magic number.
More training does not automatically mean better training. Young athletes in particular also need enough rest, sleep, and time away from football.
That is why you should focus mainly on quality and consistency.
A short, focused individual training session can have a clear objective each time:
Monday: first touch and weaker foot
Wednesday: dribbling and changing direction
Friday: reaction speed and decision-making
Weekend: shooting, passing or free play
Even during a 15- to 30-minute training session, players can get many valuable touches on the ball.
The goal is not to train every possible skill at once.
Choose one area.
Work on it.
Repeat it.
Then make the exercise gradually more difficult.
5 things young footballers can already work on today
If there is one thing we can learn from the rise of a new generation of players, it is that development begins long before other people notice it.
Young players can start working on these five areas today:
- First touch: receive the ball towards open space instead of simply stopping it.
- Weak foot: use your weaker foot regularly, so it also becomes a genuine option during matches.
- Scanning: look around before receiving the ball, so you already know what is happening around you.
- Decision-making: use unexpected instructions, colours, numbers or directions during your training.
- Confidence: give yourself room to try something, make mistakes and do it again.
You do not need to master everything today.
The goal is simply to feel a little more comfortable with the ball tomorrow than you did yesterday.
Your next opportunity starts before match day
Max Dowman did not suddenly develop his skills on the day he broke a Premier League record.
Rio Ngumoha did not only start taking on defenders when he first stepped onto a Premier League pitch.
JJ Gabriel did not only start preparing when people began talking about him.
The moment in the spotlight is only the part everyone sees.
True development takes place during all the repetitions beforehand.
For the next generation of footballers, that can happen at a youth academy's training complex.
But it can also happen in the garden after school.
On the nearby football pitch.
In the living room.
Or spend twenty focused minutes training with a ball before dinner.
More touches. More decisions. More confidence.
Your next opportunity may be closer than you think.
Ready to train individually with greater purpose?
Discover the QUICKFEET range at Footballgadgets and turn training at home into interactive football sessions focused on ball control, reaction speed, movement and decision-making.