Football Wyscout Statsbomb Recruiting

Scouting Colombia: Five Rising Talents

5 Mar 2026

6 min Read

By Tom Robinson

With Colombian football back on Hudl’s platforms, recruitment departments no longer have an excuse to miss what’s coming next. Here are five prospects worth watching.

Colombian football has a rich history, passionate fanbase, and a deep pool of talent. In spite of this, that talent is not always seen.

Following the return of Colombian football to Hudl’s platforms, domestic players now have global visibility, increasing their chances of being scouted by recruitment and analysis departments from teams around the world.

With that in mind, using Hudl Statsbomb’s advanced data and Hudl Wyscout comprehensive video library, we explore a selection of U23 prospects currently playing in Colombia who could be ready for a jump to the next level.

Juan Manuel Rengifo (Atlético Nacional, 20)

A look at the On-Ball Value (OBV) from this season’s Colombian Primera A — the country’s top tier of professional football — gives us an idea of players whose actions contribute to a positive change in their team’s goalscoring probability.

Atlético Nacional midfielder Juan Manuel Rengifo Duque immediately stands out as one of the leading exponents of this advanced metric in the Primera A.

While admittedly a small sample size, the data nevertheless represents a significant jump in OBV from the previous season (0.10 to 0.37 per 90). These numbers point to a creative player, able to both carry the ball forward and pick out a pass. This is reinforced by the three assists he already has to his name, at the time of writing.

What suggests that this is more than a purple patch is the consistency in his Open Play xG Assisted numbers, which have risen slightly from 0.16 per 90 (97th percentile) to 0.18 per 90 (98th percentile).

Corroborating with the video, we see an intelligent, technical midfielder, who finds space between the lines and has the vision and execution to unlock defences. What’s more, it also shows Rengifo has a fine left-footed strike - as demonstrated by his long range effort against Inter Miami earlier in the year.

Voted as the 2025 Revelation of the Year, Rengifo has already shown that he is capable of taking it up a notch.

Halam Loboa (Independiente Medellín, 19)

Switching to a different, more defense-minded profile of midfielder, Independiente Medellín’s Halam Loboa rises to the fore.

A graduate of the esteemed Atlético Popayán academy, Loboa established himself as one of the rising stars of Colombian football last season.

A deep-lying controller, the 19-year-old can both dictate the play with the ball, while also regaining possession from pressures — posting numbers well above the league average last season.

Watching him in action in this year’s CONMEBOL Copa Libertadores qualifying rounds, we can see evidence of his positioning, awareness and reading of the game — areas of the game that are typically harder to quantify in the data alone.

During this Libertadores game, Loboa shields the space in front of the back four, constantly scanning. As the opponent drives in from the flank, he recognises the danger and sprints across to block the effort on goal.

To go a step further and consider how his style might translate at the next level, Hudl Statsbomb’s Similar Players tool offers an interesting lens. When comparing Loboa to midfielders from Top 5 leagues, three of the most stylistically similar are Aston Villa midfielders — suggesting that the young Colombian could well be a good fit for a holding midfield role in an Unai Emery-style system.

Dereck Moncada (Inter Bogotá, 18)

As well as the domestic talent on display, the Colombian Primera also acts as a showcase for talents from less known Latin American nations.

Case in point is Dereck Moncada, the Honduran teenager who has propelled Inter Bogotá, the phoenix club that emerged from the ashes of La Equidad, to be surprise leaders of the Primera A after nine rounds.

Another of the U23 players with highest OBV in the league (0.29 per 90), Moncada has scored five goals from a total xG of just 0.80.

While the right winger’s xG overperformance is unlikely to be sustainable, his Post-Shot xG (PSxG) of 0.52 per 90 is high so far and it will be interesting to see how it develops over a larger sample.

The video backs this up, with Moncada showing a range of finishes; from arrowed shots from distance to thumping volleys from acute angles. It also shows a player with explosive pace and timing of runs to get in behind defensive lines.

The son of former Wigan defender Maynor Figueroa, Honduras’ most capped male player, is already attracting admiring glances – and with Inter Bogota being part of the Tyler-Portis Group, a move within the MCO wouldn’t be a surprise.

Simón García (Atlético Nacional, 21)

Ecuadorian centre backs have risen in stock lately, but Colombia has also had its fair share of success in exporting them too – with Atlético Nacional particularly prolific.

Davinson Sánchez, Yerson Mosquera and Carlos Cuesta all came through the ranks at Los Verdolagas, while the likes of Royer Caicedo and Juan José Arias have also secured recent moves.

Next up is Simón García, a youth international who finished third place at the U20 World Cup last year.

A tall, elegant ball-playing centre back, García possesses many of the qualities that top teams look for. As we can see from the radar above, his change in passing % when under pressure is an impressive -7%, which puts him in the 88th percentile in the league.

García also stands out — both statistically and on tape – for how rarely he is dribbled past. While he tends not to engage in many aerial duels, his high win percentage of 73% shows that he often comes out on top.

When identifying a potential target, it is important to consider team style, as this can help smooth the transition. By using the Similar Teams feature, we can see Atlético Nacional’s defensive style correlates to a number of Serie A clubs.

For a centre back of García's profile — technically assured, comfortable in possession, and operating within a structured defensive block — that correlation is meaningful. It suggests he could adapt quickly to the demands of Italian football, where those traits are highly valued, and points to Serie A as a natural destination to monitor.

Kener González (Inter Palmira, 20)

It’s not just the Colombian top flight that has lots of talents. The Primera B, the country’s second tier, is a great proving ground for youngsters. A prime example is Kener González, back at his boyhood club, Inter Palmira, on loan from America de Cali.

Despite being in the second division, the box-to-box midfielder captained Colombia at last year’s U20 Sudamericano and U20 World Cup – two of 190+ tournaments included in the Hudl Wyscout Youth Pack.

Watching footage of González in action, his positional versatility, technique and leadership shine through. His work rate and engine mean that he is a dynamic presence in the middle of the park, whether it be breaking up play or crashing the box with late runs.

In this game at the U20 Sudamericano, we see González in full flow. First, he jumps on a poor touch from the Bolivian player, quickly closing him down and forcing him into a wayward pass.

Colombia regain possession and González continues his run, motoring past his opponent and galloping into the vacant space. He receives the ball and is too fast for anyone to catch him, before calmly slotting home from the edge of the area.

Kener is far from an isolated case. Matías Caicedo (Independiente Yumbo), Miguel Agamez (Barranquilla FC) and Santiago Londoño (Envigado) are three of the Los Cafeteros most exciting young talents and are all still plying their trade in the Primera B.

And with deep, granular data of the competition available on Hudl Statsbomb linked with comprehensive coverage from the Hudl Wyscout library, technical departments worldwide no longer have any excuse for sleeping on the next generation of Colombian talent.

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