British newspaper The Guardian puts the Portuguese Tiago Rodrigues, advanced from Benfica, and Mezian Mesloub Soares, medium from Lens, on a list that includes the 60 most promising youths in world football.
© SL Benfica
06/10/2026
by
O prestigious british newspaper The Guardian published, this Tuesday, the 2026 edition of “Next Generation”, list in which lists annually those who consider to be the 60 most talented players of world football, in which Portugal is once again represented... and soon to double.
They are Tiago Rodrigues, a 17-year-old advanced member of Benfica’s sub-23 team, and Mezian Mesloub Soares, who, at the age of 16, already ‘gives letters’ in the main formation of Lens and who, recently, saw Luís Freire ‘premise it’ with the debut at the service of the national sub-21 selection.
About Tiago Rodrigues, Nuno Travassos, from the journal Ball wrote: “After Gonçalo Ramos and João Neves, here is another Algarve native generating enthusiasm in Benfica. He's not a spearhead, not a medium, though. James prefers to play as extreme or number 10. Even though he is only 17 years old, he was recruited by Benfica in 2018.”.
“It is already part of Benfica’s B and sub-23 teams, which demonstrates that he is a prominent player of his generation. Besides its technical quality, especially with the left foot, it is its competitive maturity that saw it advance to others in the development process. It has already been described as ‘soft as silk’,” he adds.
On Mezian Mesloub Soares, praises the “competitive level to which it arrived”: “He has played for Portugal, his mother’s country, since the level of sub-16, but continues to be followed by France, the country of birth, and also by his father’s home country, Algeria. His parents are Walid Mesloub, a former Algerian international, who was captain of Lens, the club in which Mezian now shines.”.
“ It didn't take long for the 16-year-old player to build fame in his senior debut by Lens in May – for five seconds to be precise. Observed by his father, Mesloub's shot, he not only sealed the victory over Nantes, for 1-0, but also earned Pierre Sage's team the qualification for the Champions League (...). It is a talent that Portugal cannot afford to let escape”, he concludes.
On the path of Rodrigo Mora, Geovany Warm and company
Tiago Rodrigues thus maintains the so-called ‘tradition’ of the representation of Portugal in this dispute. In the previous three years alone, Martim Fernandes, Gonçalo Ribeiro, Bernardo Lima (now in FC Porto), Daniel Banjaqui (no Benfica), Rodrigo Mora (na AS Roma) and Geovany Quenda (in Chelsea) were highlighted.
There were also foreign players who, wanted the destination, ended up following the career, precisely in Portuguese football, as was the case of Gianluca Prestianni, Claudio Echeverri, Federico Coletta (all in Benfica), Bryan Caicedo, Emanuel Benjamín, Gabriel Mec or Oskar Pietuszewski (of FC Porto), Nestory Irankunda, Luís Guilherme, Moncef Zekri (on Sporting), Luis Suazo or Sadriddin Khasanov (on Sporting Braga).