Five of the best ‘rookie seasons’ in Europe’s top five leagues in 2024/25 | OneFootball

Each season there are breakthrough players across Europe’s top five leagues and 2024/25 has been no exception.

As the season approaches its conclusion, we’ve picked out five of the best rookies from the current campaign. To qualify, players must have made their professional league debut during the 2024/25 season.

Rookie of the Year: The best breakout players in Europe in 2024/25

Raul Asencio – Real Madrid

Real Madrid delved into their own ranks to combat the loss of senior stars this season. The Spanish champions saw Eder Militao and Dani Carvajal sidelined with long-term knee issues, while David Alaba did not make his first league outing until January due to an ACL injury of his own.

Raul Asencio has taken his chance in Carlo Ancelotti’s team. The 22-year-old had been a regular for the club’s Castilla side but had never made a first-team appearance until his LA Liga debut against Osasuna in November. Since then, Asensio has made 36 appearances in all competitions and earned a maiden Spain call-up in March. It’s been a rapid rise for Asencio, who boasts the third-highest pass completion in La Liga (93.6%) this season. He was rewarded with a new contract until 2029 in March.

Myles Lewis-Skelly – Arsenal

Talk about taking your chance. Myles Lewis-Skelly has been phenomenal since breaking into the Arsenal side this season with the teenager having reduced summer signing Riccardo Calafiori and Oleksandr Zinchenko to bit-part roles.

Lewis-Skelly made his senior debut in September and has since made 32 appearances. Watching him, however, you wouldn’t know this is his rookie season. The 18-year-old performs with real maturity and has looked at complete ease at the Emirates.

A standout showing over two legs against Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-finals proved he can cut it at the very top, while he took just 20 minutes to score on his England debut. In the process, he became the youngest player in history to score on his first England appearance, aged 18 years and 176 days.

His future may be in midfield but, for now, Lewis-Skelly has locked down Arsenal’s left-back role.

Nico O’Reilly – Manchester City

Another exciting emergence in English football, O’Reilly has followed the Lewis-Skelly blueprint. A midfielder by trade, the 20-year-old has instead filled a problem position at full-back.

His natural attacking instincts have certainly been on show, however, kickstarted by a first senior goal against Salford in January. Since then, he’s netted a brace against Plymouth in the FA Cup, came off the bench to provide two assists and turn around a tie at Bournemouth in the same competition, and scored crucial Premier League goals against Crystal Palace and Everton.

He’s injected freshness into a stale City side, with the Citizens proven right in their decision to snub interest from Chelsea in January.

Javi Rodriguez – Celta Vigo

Called into the senior Celta Vigo team this season, Javi Rodriguez has not looked back.

The 21-year-old has made 31 league appearances for Celta, scoring twice, as Los Celestes chase a place in Europe for the first time since 2016/17.

In what is his first season at La Liga level, the defender ranks in the top 10% of centre-backs in the league for tackles won, combined tackles and interceptions, dribblers tackled, and key passes per 90 minutes.

Nicolo Savona – Juventus

Thiago Motta took a liking to Nicolo Savona in pre-season with the full-back handed his Juventus debut on the opening weekend of the Serie A season. The 22-year-old was a key part of the club’s defensive record as Juventus opened the season with six straight clean sheets.

Savona has made 33 appearances, scoring twice, and was called into Luciano Spalletti’s Italy squad during November’s international break.

The full-back has faced criticism of late due to fluctuating performances, in a Juventus side that has struggled for consistency as a collective. However, transfer interest from clubs including Bayer Leverkusen, West Ham and Everton indicates a job well done in season one.

Read – Five leading contenders to become Real Madrid manager

See more – Iconic Performances: Lewandowski’s four-goal destruction of Real Madrid

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