It has been another incredibly disappointing season on the whole for Juventus, but Kenan Yildiz has been an undeniable bright spot amongst all of the other doom and gloom that has surrounded the club.
He was recognized as such ahead of the final weekend of the 2025-26 season.
Yildiz was named Serie A’s Rising Star of the Season on Friday, a deserved award for a player who has shown to be one of Europe’s brightest Under-21 talents well before he actually turned 21. Even though Yildiz’s 21st birthday arrived a couple of weeks ago, Yildiz has racked up the kind of numbers that few players his age have done at a storied club like Juventus. He has been one of Serie A’s leading goal scorers for much of the season, and has been the hub of some of good that an otherwise frustrating Juve attack has done over the past nine months.
Previous winners of the award include Como’s Nico Paz last season as well as Nicolo Fagioli, Dusan Vlahovic and Dejan Kulusevski.
Yildiz, in his second season wearing the No. 10 at Juventus, leads to team in both goals (10) and assists (6) during the Serie A campaign. Those are both career highs — and could very well be higher if not for the young Turkiye star dealing with knee inflammation for much of the last two months. Yildiz has also played a career-high 2,825 minutes in Serie A this year — which, again, would have been even higher if not for his recent knee issue.
With all that said, Yildiz is clearly the best young player in the league alongside Nico Paz. Yildiz is the only player to win the Rising Star of the Month award twice this season. Nico Paz has only won it once. Does that mean it’s the be-all, end-all for this award? No, of course not, but it doesn’t hurt, right?
Inter Milan fullback Federico Dimarco was named Serie A Player of the Year, with teammate Lautaro Martinez being named Serie A’s best forward during the 2025-26 season. Como sensation Nico Paz, often in competition with Yildiz for the best youngster in the league distinction, was named Serie A’s top midfielder. Roma’s Mile Svilar earned top goalkeeper honors for the second straight season; Cagliari’s Marco Palestra, on loan from Atalanta, was Serie A’s Best Defender of the Season and Inter’s Cristian Chivu won out over Como’s Cesc Fabregas for the manager of the year award.