We decided to try something a little different this year to complete the Seasonal Player Ratings.
For the final installment of Atlético de Madrid’s 2025/26 cumulative ratings, Into the Calderón presents a brief look at each of the 10 canteranos (academy graduates) who made their debuts for the first team this season.
Diego Simeone never has handed debuts to so many young players before. Granted, Atlético’s situation in LaLiga — which was deprioritized midway through the season — created an ideal proving
ground for the kids. A few of them might even have a place in Atleti’s 2026/27 team, as sporting director Mateu Alemany continues to prioritize sustainability and growing the academy into a productive funnel for first-team talent.
Helping the canteranos’ case is a positive season in Primera Federación, where Atlético Madrileño came agonizingly close to reaching the promotion playoff final to the second tier of Spanish football. After a third-place finish in its group, Madrileño lost the two-legged promotion semifinal to Ponferradina by a slim 1-0 margin. Head coach Fernando Torres will be tasked with getting the B team over the hump next season, when he enters the final year of his contract.
Below, I’ve tried to rate the 10 canteranos who played at least once for Atleti’s first team this season: nine from Madrileño, and one from Atleti C in the fifth tier. The players are organized by the number of minutes they played in LaLiga.
Julio Díaz
Díaz is gaining some momentum to stay in the first team next season, or at least secure a loan to another Primera side if Matteo Ruggeri stays and the club buys a new starter at left-back.
And why shouldn’t he be getting consideration to remain in the squad? Díaz made a game-saving play on his debut at Oviedo in February, when his keep-in from an errant pass keyed the move which ended in Julián Alvarez’s winning goal. He assisted Javier Boñar’s goal against Sevilla in April with a lovely cross to the back post. He struggled a bit defensively, but in rotated lineups where his “cover” was “Clément Lenglet”, it’s hard to blame the 21-year-old for a positional slip-up here and there.
Díaz is undersized at 5’7”, but he’s quick, he’s a good ball-carrier and a good crosser. That sounds like a young defender worth developing. 7
Javier Boñar
Boñar is the best academy graduate that I saw debut for the team this season. The 21-year-old looks ready to play in LaLiga: he debuted with a bang as he nodded in a header at a rainy Ramón Sánchez Pizjuán on April 11 and went on to make three further appearances for 299 minutes in all.
Madrileño captain Boñar is a speedy defender who plays with discipline and intelligence. Cholo Simeone deployed Boñar at right-back and in central defense, and he took the opportunities with both hands.
“He doesn’t seem like a kid from the academy,” Radio Marca’s Miguel Quintana said last month. “He competes like an animal.”
Like Díaz, Boñar is too good to play another year in Madrileño, and he signed a new contract last summer to 2028. Seeing as Alemany is placing a renewed emphasis on youth, Boñar should have a chance in preseason to compete for a place in the squad. 7.5
Javi Morcillo
Morcillo arrived in the summer from Sabadell in a crafty €120,000 transfer. The 20-year-old earned his first-team debut on April 4 against FC Barcelona, and he immediately stood out for his tenacity out of possession. Morcillo made four more first team appearances and won a start at Valencia on May 2; he got 169 minutes in Primera and committed six fouls in that time. Atlético shipped only one goal when he was on the pitch.
Curiously, Morcillo made just 10 starts out of 27 appearances in the third tier. He’s under contract for another two years, and his role going forward will be interesting: his audition for minutes on loan in LaLiga went fairly well. 5
Rayane Belaid
Rayane needs to take the next step in his development and secure either a loan or a permanent transfer encompassing 50 percent of his federative rights. The 21-year-old attacking midfielder has spent two full seasons with Atlético’s reserve team; this year, he scored four goals and provided four assists in 29 appearances, and he started twice for Simeone: on April 11 at Sevilla and on May 2 at Valencia for a combined 134 minutes.
The Spain under-20s international is under contract until 2029, so Alemany might opt for a more patient approach and loan him out somewhere in the top two tiers next season. But the sense is that this versatile, creative attacker — miscast as a center-forward under Simeone — needs a better challenge to avoid stagnation. 4
Dani Martínez
A smooth-passing left-footed central defender, Martínez’s one and only appearance came in the loss at Sevilla, when he gave away an unfortunate early penalty in the eventual 2-1 defeat. The 22-year-old was one of Torres’ most-used players this year, starting 30 times, playing 2,710 minutes and picking up four assists in Primera Federación.
Martínez is under contract for another year, and the Zaragoza native will stall out if he spends another season with Madrileño. It’s decision time for his future; a sale of 50 percent of his rights to a team in LaLiga EA Sports or LaLiga HyperMotion has to be on the table. 4.5
Miguel Cubo
Miguel Llorente Cubo completed his swift rise into the first team when he scored 18 minutes into his debut on May 2 at Mestalla to cap a 2-0 win over Valencia.
Promoted to Madrileño last summer, Cubo still played in the UEFA Youth League this year, and he contributed three goals as the Juvenil (under-19s) side reached the quarterfinals. The 18-year-old scored six goals in 1,691 minutes across 35 appearances for Madrileño in Primera Federación and in the two-legged promotion playoff. Then there were his two substitute appearances for Simeone; he scored in València and impressed in a home loss to Celta the following week.
It isn’t often that I watch a teenager play for 50 minutes and think he’s ready to play in LaLiga, but I genuinely feel that way with Cubo. He has strong technique and tremendous physical application, qualities of a young and modern center-forward that the team is lacking behind Alvarez.
Cubo last month signed a new contract to 2029, and the club values him highly. All options seem open to him: he could secure a loan, he could spend another season between Madrileño and the first team or he could impress enough in preseason to stick under Simeone’s orders. 7
Aleksa Purić
The hulking Serbian center-back arrived from Racing Ferrol for a €1 million fee and quickly became an important player for Torres before he debuted for Simeone in Valencia. In truth, I’m not entirely sure how he’s caught El Cholo’s eye; Purić has impressive impressive size and strength at 6’5” but he is unrefined technically and he looked a bit lost when he received 45 minutes in the season-ending 5-1 beatdown at Villarreal. I think there are better prospects in the pipeline. 3.5
Iker Luque
Iker’s season came to an unfortunate end with a red card (for a hair pull) in the first leg of the promotion playoff semifinal against Ponferradina. Before that, he had enjoyed a dream first-team debut when he arrowed in the 74th-minute opener at Mestalla last month, and his season at Madrileño had been solid: Luque scored four goals and provided six assists across 36 appearances as one of Torres’ most-used players.
Luque is under contract for two more years, and the 21-year-old winger is likely to draw significant loan interest within LaLiga. 7
Jano Monserrate
The left-footed attacking midfielder made his debut on Jan. 31, when Atlético — in the midst of a squad crisis — drew 0-0 at Levante. He played four more minutes at the end of that loss to Sevilla in April. Torres utilized him mainly as a substitute, and after 58 appearances in parts of three seasons with Madrileño, it’s time for Jano to take the next step in his development as Rayane Belaid has to do. N/A
Taufik Seidu
The only Atleti C representative on the list, Taufik debuted and played 22 minutes in the home loss to Barcelona on April 4. Regarded as one of the cantera’s most promising players, Taufik rejected an overture from Real Madrid in 2024 and signed a contract to 2029. It is expected that the 18-year-old midfielder will be promoted to Madrileño next season — assuming he stays, that is. Taufik has been linked with a move to BlueCo, which would place him at RC Strasbourg in France. N/A
