New York Red Bulls’ Julian Hall, LAFC’s David Martinez, and NYCFC’s Johnny Shore among highly touted young players to watch in Leagues Cup 2025

The Leagues Cup isn’t just about crowning a champion between Liga MX and MLS – it’s also a proving ground for the next generation of stars. In 2023, Inter Miami’s run to the title featured a breakout performance from then-teenager Benjamin Cremaschi, who quietly impressed alongside Lionel Messi. Now 20, Cremaschi is a U.S. international and represented the U23s at the Paris Olympics last summer.

The tournament gave him a platform – and in 2025, that same stage is set for a new wave of young talent ready to make their mark.

New York Red Bulls forward Julian Hall has been touted for success, as has a fellow New Yorker with NYCFC’s Johnny Shore as a potential breakout candidate. Down the coastline in Charlotte, 20-year-old Idan Toklomati has been handed the reins to the striker position, and out West, 18-year-old U.S. prospect Zavier Gozo is making waves for Real Salt Lake while pushing for a roster spot with the USA at the U20 World Cup this fall. Meanwhile, in Los Angeles, 20-year-old Venezuelan David Martinez hasn’t quite seen the minutes he hoped this season, but with winger Javairo Dilrosun departing the club ahead of the tournament, a spot in the XI has opened up, and it’s now up to him to capitalize on it.

BALLGM takes a look at each footballer and offers insight as to how they could be the next young star to emerge from the Leagues Cup.

The tournament gave him a platform – and in 2025, that same stage is set for a new wave of young talent ready to make their mark.

BALLGM takes a look at each footballer and offers insight as to how they could be the next young star to emerge from the Leagues Cup.

Gozo, 18, was a relatively unknown commodity until just a few months ago. However, his rise has been astronomical, and his footballing background is a fascinating one.

His middle name, Didier, is an homage to the Chelsea and Ivory Coast legend himself, Didier Drogba. In 2024, at 17, he was compared to France legend Thierry Henry by his MLS Next Pro manager, Real Monarchs’ Mark Lowry.

“He’s got that kind of graceful running where he glides past defenders,” Lowry said last season. “He can go wide, he can go inside … so there’s a Thierry Henry vibe about how he plays.”

For RSL this season, the teenager has burst onto the scene alongside now-established U.S. international Diego Luna and has brought a real sense of excitement with him. He’s made 19 appearances, starting 15 matches, scoring two goals.

The Leagues Cup will serve as his final audition for U.S. Soccer this fall, too, as he looks to be a part of the U20 FIFA World Cup team. Gozo spoke to BALLGM about those ambitions earlier this season.

“Obviously, the U20s are a big thing and that World Cup is coming soon,” he said. “That’s something I’m aiming for. With my club, I just want to, honestly, help the team as much as I can. I have goals for myself individually, but I feel like wins are the most important at this point. I want to score as much as I can, provide as much as I can. But, yeah, I’m just looking to win right now.”

Hall, 17, is one of the most exciting prospects in all of MLS right now.

He’s a forward who has been linked with some of the top clubs in the world, ranging from Chelsea to Barcelona in Europe, and in 2025, he has really started to come into his own as a professional. He’s made 18 appearances for RBNY, the 2024 MLS Cup runners-up, starting two matches this season.

In the Leagues Cup this summer, with three matches in the span of nine days, there’s a good chance he gets an opportunity in the XI as the club will no doubt have to rotate their attack in the early stages of the competition.

What Hall brings to his game is an incredible work rate, blistering pace, and skillful footwork on the ball. His decision-making in the final third still has room for improvement, but he’s still just 17, and growing into both his own body and the professional game. Nonetheless, he’s a player to watch this Leagues Cup, as he looks to break into the team alongside former Bundesliga stars Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting and Emil Forsberg.

After striker Patrick Agyemang departed Charlotte FC in early June for participation in the CONCACAF Gold Cup with the USMNT this summer, CLT needed a player to step up, and Toklomati did just that. With Agyemang now officially signing for Derby County in England, as well, it’s on Toklomati to lead the line for Dean Smith’s men this summer.

In 21 appearances this season, 10 of which have been starts, the 20-year-old has scored six goals and recorded two assists – and five of those six goals have come in Agyemang’s absence.

The Israeli forward has stepped up to the plate and is ready to embrace his role in the XI for the club, and during the Leagues Cup, he has a real chance to be the breakout star of the tournament.

CLT have all of the tools to make a run towards the final. They’re in blistering form, unbeaten in five and riding a four-match win streak, having scored 11 goals during the stretch. Star forward Wilfried Zaha has come into his own in recent weeks, and Spanish midfielder Pep Biel has stepped up alongside Toklomati, too.

With the 20-year-old being the center of the attack, if Zaha and Biel can feed him in this competition, there’s a good chance goals follow – and a potential cup run, too.

Martinez was signed in February by LAFC as a U-22 initiative player just before his 18th birthday. Dubbed “one of the most sought-after players in South America” by club president John Thorrington upon the announcement, there have been high expectations for the Venezuelan this season.

Across the regular season for the Black and Gold, he’s made 17 appearances, eight of which have been starts, and he has scored three goals during that span. He’s accumulated 781 minutes of action as a teenager, and throughout the first half of the campaign, he was widely used as a first option off the bench.

However, LAFC has had two major departures this summer in the attack, with both Dilrosun and former DP Cengiz Under leaving – meaning there’s a gaping hole on the wing heading into the Leagues Cup. For Martinez, that means opportunity.

The 18-year-old could be handed the biggest opportunity of his career this tournament, and with the likes of Denis Bouanga and Nathan Ordaz alongside him, he has two creators who could bring the most out of him in the tournament.

Shore recently scored his first MLS goal on Matchday 27, their final match ahead of their Leagues Cup run. The 18-year-old powered home from a corner kick to open the scoring for NYCFC in what turned out to be a seven-goal thriller against FC Dallas that saw the Pigeons come out on top 4-3.

Shore, an NYCFC Homegrown, has burst onto the scene in 2025. After featuring regularly at the MLS NEXT Pro level, Shore moved up to the first team this campaign and hasn’t looked back. He’s made 23 regular-season appearances and has started 14 games.

A midfielder by trade, Shore isn’t the goalscorer or creator who will light up the statsheet, but he’s a playmaker on and off the ball in the center of the park with well-rounded qualities on both sides of the pitch.

After Saturday’s goal that helped propel NYCFC to victory, NYCFC manager Pascal Jansen had nothing but praise for the teenager.

“I’m so proud of the kid. From the first moment in preseason in January, going into the [Inter] Miami game, he presented himself as a very promising talent and was very eager to learn as well,” he said. “We worked together to make sure that he understood how I wanted him to play and how his personality and qualities could add something to this First Team of our beautiful Club. You can see today, he brings quality to the game. He scored his first goal, which was only a matter of time, and I think there will be more to come from Jonny Shore because he’s a very promising player and talent.”

Although he is still a raw talent, Shore has really come into his own this summer, and he’s now someone to watch for the Pigeons this month.