Spanish outlet Marca dubbed eleven young players as the ‘best’ in Europe back in 2016 – but where are they now?
For all the information and knowledge readily available to the media in the modern age, one thing they can’t do is predict the exact career trajectory of footballers – but this doesn’t stop them from trying.
Marca put together an XI of the best under-18 talent in 2016.
For context, in the same year, Real Madrid lifted the Champions League, Barcelona captured their 24th La Liga crown, and against all odds, Leicester City reigned supreme in the Premier League.
Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were still at the peak of their powers, but who did Marca tip to be the best of the next generation?
Kylian Mbappé
Mbappe, 26, hardly needs an introduction, given his success at Paris Saint-Germain and Real Madrid, but back in 2016, he was a promising youngster at Ligue 1 side Monaco.
In February of that year, he scored his first goal for the club in a 3-1 win against Troyes at the age of 17 and 62 days.
The following year, Mbappé caught the attention of suitors across Europe with several impressive performances for Monaco, who reached the semi-finals of the Champions League before losing 4-1 on aggregate to Juventus.
And despite the obvious disappointment of failing to win the competition, his performances proved he could cope with the demands of elite level football, so much so that he was loaned to PSG in the summer of 2017 before penning a permanent deal in 2018.
Six league titles and 256 goals later, he joined Los Blancos on a free transfer ahead of the 2024/25 campaign and will no doubt be hoping to secure his first Champions League crown with Madrid this season.
So it’s safe to say this was one of Marca’s better predictions.
Kylian Mbappe played for Monaco in 2016 (Credit:Getty)
Reece Oxford
Oxford, 26, was once tipped to do great things in football after he broke into West Ham United’s first team in 2015.
He even became the second-youngest Premier League starter of all-time during a 2-0 win away at Arsenal in August 2015.
However, he failed to become a fixture in the West Ham team and loan spells at Reading, Borussia Mönchengladbach and Augsburg followed before he penned a permanent deal at the latter in 2019.
In his second season at the club in 2020/21, he made 24 Bundesliga appearances and seemed to have settled in Germany.
The following year, he made 30 more league appearances in the 2021/22 campaign but suffered a serious knee injury, which required surgery, in July 2021.
The defender made three further appearances for Augsburg, with the last of these coming against Bochum in November 2022.
Reece Oxford was tipped for great things back in 2016 (Credit:Getty)
Cristian Manea
Manea, 27, is one of the lesser-known names in Marca’s XI. But back in 2016, he was at Cyprus-based side Apollon Limassol.
Two years earlier, while the right-back was at Viitorul Constanța in Romania, it was widely reported that he had signed for Chelsea, but this proved to be inaccurate.
Loans from Limassol to Mouscron, CFR Cluj and FCSB followed before he signed for Cluj permanently in 2020.
The 27-year-old made 230 appearances for Cluj before transferring to Rapid București in 2024.
And despite making 309 professional club appearances to go alongside 25 caps for the Romania national team, he has failed to live up to the heights once expected of him.
Cristian Manea in action for Romania (Credit:Getty)
Full wonderkid XI:
Gianluigi Donnarumma
Cristian Manea
Reece Oxford
Joe Gomez
Kieran Tierney
Youri Tielemans
Ruben Neves
Renato Sanches
Martin Odegaard
Dominic Solanke
Kylian Mbappe
