What happened to the 40 young players The Guardian tipped in 2014 to dominate world football

Back in 2014, The Guardian picked out 40 young players who could become future stars, but where are they now?

Last month, the publication released its list of the 60 best young talents in world football for 2024.

Barcelona duo Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsi, who have already made a big impact for the first team, were both included.

Brazilian youngster Estevao, who is set to join Chelsea next summer, was also named.

Back in 2014, well-known names as such Ousmane Dembele, Youri Tielemans, Luka Jovic, Ruben Neves and Dominic Solanke were all included in the top 40 best young talents.

Dembele perhaps went on to become the most successful player out of the 40, having won multiple trophies playing for the likes of Barcelona, Paris Saint Germain and Borussia Dortmund. The 27-year-old was also part of the France squad which won the World Cup in 2018.

Meanwhile, Englishman Solanke has impressed in recent seasons playing for Bournemouth, earning him a big-money move to Tottenham Hotspur this summer.

Dominic Solanke joined Tottenham Hotspur this summer. Image: Getty

However, not every player went on to have a career that was expected of them.

For example, Brazilian winger Malcom was signed by Barcelona in 2018 and was expected to do big things.

However, after scoring just one league goal, he was offloaded to Zenit Saint Petersburg in 2019 and currently plays for Saudi Arabian side Al Hilal.

Here is the list in full and the clubs that they are playing for as of November 2024 -

Guido Vadala - Club Atlético Sarmiento

Daniel De Silva - Macarthur

Youri Tielemans - Aston Villa

Malcom Filipe - Al Hilal

Gerson Santos da Silva - Flamengo

Bozhidar Kraev - Western Sydney Wanderers

Li Zhongyi - Shijiazhuang Gongfu

Alveiro Sanchez - Retired

Ante Coric - Varaždin

Nikola Vlasic - Torino

Mikkel Duelund - AGF

Dominic Solanke - Tottenham Hotspur

Ryan Ledson - Preston North End

Ousmane Dembele - Paris Saint Germain

Ousmane Dembele currently plays for Paris Saint Germain. Image: Getty

Jean-Kevin Augustin - FC Basel

Maxime Baila Lopez - Paris FC

Benjamin Henrichs - RB Leipzig

Benedikt Gimber - 1. FC Heidenheim

Lazaros Lamprou - Raków Częstochowa

Federico Bonazzoli - Cremonese

Daisuke Sakai - PSM Makassar

Erick Aguirre - Monterrey

Abdelhak Nouri - Retired

Jari Schuurman - Dordrecht

Sander Svendsen - Viking

Dawid Kownacki - Fortuna Düsseldorf

Ruben Neves - Al Hilal

Cristian Manea - Rapid București

Timur Zhamaletdinov - Shinnik Yaroslavl

Luka Jovic - AC Milan

AC Milan striker Luka Jovic. Image: Getty

Irfan Bin Fandi Ahmad - Port

Fagrie Lakay - Pyramids

Seo Jung-Hyun - Retired

Adrian Marin - Braga

Julen Arellano - No Club

Ferran Sarsanedas - Prat

Erik Andersson - Örebro SK

Enes Unal - Bournemouth

Erik Palmer-Brown - Panathinaikos

Phan Thanh Hau - Quảng Nam

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