The Scottish Premiership is well and truly back following its summer break.
Celtic have made an extremely impressive start to the campaign, Rangers have been hugely underwhelming and Aberdeen have started like a train, having won all three of their opening games under new head coach Jimmy Thelin. It hasn’t been quite as successful in the capital though, with Hibs and Hearts picking up just one draw between them after a worrying start to the 24/25 season for both clubs.
With plenty of games to go though, clubs at the top and bottom of the table will be banking on their highest quality players, including a number of emerging youngsters, to produce the goods on the pitch in order to ignite their seasons.
A number of top youngsters are already showing promise across the league, with Rangers’ Connor Barron starting well in Glasgow, Aberdeen’s Topi Keskinen bagging an injury time winner on his debut and young Celtic defender Matthew Anderson impressing on the Hoops’ tour of America. But which young players will be the ones to keep an eye on this year? Who are the most highly rated teenager stars, and which club has the most exciting prospects?
Using popular statistics site TransferMarkt, we look at the 30 best young players in the Scottish Premiership, aged 21 or oder, ranked in order of transfer value, from lowest to highest.
21. Andrés Salazar - Hearts
The Colombian was finally granted permission to complete his loan move to Tynecastle last week, after the club agreed a deal with Atlético Nacional earlier in the summer. The 21-year-old defender arrives in Edinburgh looking to impress Jambos fans and holds a reported value of £640k. | SNS Group
22. Leon King - Rangers
The Gers youth academy product was tipped for big things upon his introduction to the first team in late 2020, but featured in just five league games for Rangers last year. Currently the club's fifth choice centre-back, King's future is a little up in the air at Ibrox. He has a reported market value of £681k. | SNS Group
23. Jefte - Rangers
The left-back has made an impression in his early Rangers displays with his speed and crossing ability. Looks like he will get a run of games due to Ridvan Yilmaz's recent injury and will hope to showcase why he was brought to the club by Philippe Clement this summer. The 20-year-old has a market value of £681k. | SNS Group
24. Connor Barron - Rangers
The ex-Aberdeen ace has been a bright light amongst some unconvincing early Rangers performances. He's started every league game for the club since his summer arrival and is highly thought of by Scotland under-21 boss Scot Gemmill. Valued at £825k. | SNS Group