What happened to the 50 wonderkids UEFA tipped to be the 'future of football' in 2018
UEFA tipped 50 wonderkids to be the 'future of football' in 2018. Here's what happened to them.
In 2018, UEFA's team of reporters across Europe picked out some of the rising stars of the 2017/18 season.
Some of the players who were backed have since become household names, winning the Champions League and Ballon d'Or while earning themselves big-money transfers.
But others have failed to reach the heights they were predicted to enjoy.
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So, almost seven years on - what happened to them? Well, SPORTbible took a look at the players included in the list.
50 wonderkids who were backed to be the 'future of football' in 2018:
Ethan Ampadu - Leeds United
Houssem Aouar - Al Ittihad
Jan-Fiete Arp - Holstein Kiel
Kepa Arrizabalaga - Chelsea (on loan at Bournemouth)
Leon Bailey - Aston Villa
Bailey secured a huge move to the Premier League in the shape of Aston Villa after making a name for himself in Germany's Bundesliga.
Nicolo Barella - Inter Milan
Barella, who was compared to Marco Verratti in the original report, is a hugely important figure in the Inter Milan set-up.
Sander Berge - Fulham
Fedor Chalov - PAOK
Federico Chiesa - Liverpool
Chiesa starred at Euro 2020, inspiring to Italy to glory over England. But his career has somewhat stalled despite signing for the likes of Juventus and Liverpool.
Ante Coric - Varazdin
Frenkie de Jong - Barcelona
Dubbed as 'the next Johan Cruyff', De Jong made his name at Ajax before securing himself a big move to Barca.
Matthijs de Ligt - Manchester United
Just like De Jong, De Ligt came through the ranks at Ajax and played in the same first-team as his fellow countryman. He's played for Juventus and Bayern Munich. The 25-year-old signed for Man United last summer.
Emmanuel Bonaventure Dennis - Blackburn Rovers
Mikkel Duelund - AGF
Phil Foden - Manchester City
Foden has become a regular for club and country. He shone in Man City's treble-winning campaign and enjoyed a prolific season in the 2023/24 campaign, scoring an impressive 27 goals across all competitions for the Blues.
Martin Graiciar - York United
The Czech forward's career hasn't quite panned out how many expected. He enjoyed loans spells away from Fiorentina before signing for Canada's York United, who compete in the Canadian Premier League.
Amine Gouiri - Marseille
David Hancko - Feyenoord
Amine Harit - Marseille
Ivan Ignatyev - JS Kabylie
Luka Jovic - AC Milan
Kirill Kirilenko - Arsenal Dzerzhinsk
Justin Kluivert - Bournemouth
He's having the best goal-scoring season of his career and is finally realising his potential.
Hirving Lozano - San Diego FC
Malcom - Al Hilal
Dennis Man - Parma
Sergej Milinkovic-Savic - Al Hilal
David Neres - Napoli
Pedro Neto - Chelsea
Benjamin Pavard - Inter Milan
Rodri - Manchester City
The focal point of Pep Guardiola's Man City team. He helped the club to Champions League glory and won the 2024 Ballon d'Or. He was ruled out of the 2024/25 season last September.
Abel Ruiz - Braga
Roland Sallai - Galatasaray
Jadon Sancho - Manchester United (on loan at Chelsea)
Sancho has failed to kick on after impressing at Borussia Dortmund. He moved to Man United for £73 million but was unable to replicate his form in Germany to the Premier League.
Malang Sarr - Lens
Ryan Sessegnon - Fulham
Volodymyr Shepelev - Dynamo Kiev
Milan Skriniar - Fenerbahce
Manor Solomon - Tottenham (on loan at Leeds)
Mile Svilar - AS Roma
Martin Terrier - Bayer Leverkusen
Kieran Tierney - Arsenal
Lucas Torreira - Galatasaray
Ferran Torres - Barcelona
Torres joined Man City from Valencia after impressing in Spain. In the summer of 2021, he returned to Spain by signing for Barca.
Viktor Tsyhankov - Girona
Felix Uduokhai - Besiktas
Dayot Upamecano - Bayern Munich
"Expect big things," wrote UEFA. Upamecano swapped Bundesliga allegiances by leaving Red Bull Leipzig for Bayern.
Hannes Wolf - New York City
Yusuf Yazici - Olympiacos
Szymon Zurkowski - Spezia (on loan at Empoli)
Nasir Jabbar