• Football
  • Boxing
  • UFC
  • Home
  • Football
    • England
    • Transfer News
    • Premier League
    • Champions League
    • Lionel Messi
    • Cristiano Ronaldo
    • EA FC 25
    • Wrexham
  • Boxing
    • Tyson Fury
    • Anthony Joshua
    • Oleksandr Usyk
    • Mike Tyson
    • Jake Paul
    • Logan Paul
  • UFC
    • Dana White
    • Conor McGregor
    • Khabib Nurmagomedov
    • Jon Jones
    • Paddy Pimblett
    • Joe Rogan
  • Other Sport
    • Athletics
    • Formula 1
    • MMA
    • Motorsport
    • NBA
    • Darts
    • NFL
    • Snooker
    • Wrestling
    • Tennis
    • Cricket
    • Golf
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • UNILAD
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
Snapchat
TikTok
YouTube
What happened to the 14 wonderkids who Marca tipped to dominate football in 2018

Home> Football> Football News

Updated 14:49 27 Feb 2025 GMTPublished 14:46 27 Feb 2025 GMT

What happened to the 14 wonderkids who Marca tipped to dominate football in 2018

The Spanish outlet made some bold picks when predicting the biggest upcoming talents.

Ben McCrum

Ben McCrum

Back in 2018, Marca named 14 young footballers who could become future stars, but where are they seven years later?

As football continues to become bigger and bigger across the world, fans have tipped dozens of players to be the next big up and coming star.

While some have certainly go on to each the very top of the sport, others don't quite reach the heights that they were once expected to.

Advert

And this is certainly the case for some of a 2018 list of the greatest young future stars across football.

Marca's list boasts some impressive predictions, with the likes of Vinicius Junior, Phil Foden and Rodrygo all included.

But the Spanish outlet also included several lesser-known names that perhaps haven't reached the heights of someone like Vinicius, here are a selection of their picks and details of their careers.

Advert

Moise Kean

Tipped by Marca to become "the next Balotelli," Kean has had an interesting career.

The Italian started off at Juventus and quickly established himself as one of the most exciting young talents in the sport, leading to Everton signing him on a five-year deal for a reported fee of an initial fee of £25.1m that could rise to £27.5m.

However, Kean failed to live up to expectations at Everton, leading to him being sent on loan spells to both Paris Saint-Germain and former club Juventus.

Advert

Eventually, after scoring just four goals in 39 appearances for Everton, Kean was sold back to Juventus for £25m, before later joining Fiorentina last summer.

Moise Kean failed to make it in the Premier League. (Image: Getty)
Moise Kean failed to make it in the Premier League. (Image: Getty)

Abel Ruiz

Ruiz unfortunately is one of the few talents to come out of the Barcelona academy and not quite make it to the heights that he was once thought to be capable of reaching.

Advert

Shortly before Marca's list was published, Ruiz made his first-team debut, scoring the winning penalty in a shootout against Espanyol in the Supercopa de Catalunya.

But his Barcelona career didn't progress much further than this, and the striker was eventually sold to Portuguese side SC Braga in 2020.

Last summer, the Spaniard returned to his home country after signing a five-year deal with La Liga club Girona.

Former Barcelona star Abel Ruiz currently plays for Girona. (Image: Getty)
Former Barcelona star Abel Ruiz currently plays for Girona. (Image: Getty)

Advert

Willem Geubbels

Geubbels started his career at Lyon's academy and went on to become the first player born in the 21st century to appear in Ligue 1.

The Frenchman later went on to become youngest player ever to make a Europa League debut and was highly sought after at Marca's time of writing.

On 19 June 2018, the forward signed a new deal with fellow French side Monaco for a reported fee of €20m (£16.5m).

Unfortunately, he didn't live up to the hype at his new club and made only 17 appearances before joining current club St. Gallen in January 2023, signing a 2.5 year deal with the Swiss club.

Willem Geubbels has made 29 appearances this season. (Image: Getty)
Willem Geubbels has made 29 appearances this season. (Image: Getty)

Jann-Fiete Arp

According to Marca, Arp was "called on to do great things things with Germany and Hamburg," but the 25-year-old is yet to impress.

Arp came up through the Hamburger SV youth academy and went on to make 38 appearances for the German club before securing a big move to Bayern Munich in 2019.

However, the forward made just one appearance for the Bundesliga giants, with injuries and Joshua Zirkzee keeping him out of rotation.

Arp spent most of his time in Munich representing the club's secondary team, but later joined current club Holstein Kiel in 2022.

He is yet to make a senior appearance for the German national team.

Jann-Fiete Arp has made 20 appearances for Holstien Kiel this season. (Image: Getty)
Jann-Fiete Arp has made 20 appearances for Holstien Kiel this season. (Image: Getty)

Marca's list in full:

Vinicius Junior

Victor Mollejo

Abel Ruiz

Moise Kean

Ferran Torres

Jadon Sancho

Phil Foden

Willem Geubbels

Moise Kean

Pietro Pellegri

Ethan Ampadu

Jann-Fiete Arp

Timothy Weah

Rodrygo

Sergio Gomez

Featured Image Credit: Getty

Topics: Football

Ben McCrum
Ben McCrum

Ben is a sports journalist who specialises in football and MMA. He has written for publications such as Manchester Evening News, WiganToday, Manchester World and beIN Sports. Throughout his career he has interviewed top athletes in MMA including Tom Aspinall and Michael Bisping.

X

@benmcc14

Advert

Advert

Advert

  • Fans have their say as Cristiano Ronaldo beats Pele to make semi-final of G.O.A.T tournament
  • What happened to the 50 wonderkids Gazzetta dello Sport tipped to dominate world football in 2015
  • What happened to the 40 young players The Guardian tipped in 2014 to dominate world football
  • What happened to the 25 most valuable wonderkids in world football from 2004

Choose your content:

3 hours ago
4 hours ago
6 hours ago
  • 3 hours ago

    ITV forced to apologise TWICE on behalf of Tyson Fury after what he said live-on-air during Soccer Aid

    Fury was interviewed on-air at Old Trafford - with perhaps an expected result...

    Football
  • 3 hours ago

    Thomas Tuchel told to call up player to his next England squad as fans say already he's outgrown U21 side

    The England boss has been told to promote a talented U21 after his recent performances.

    Football
  • 4 hours ago

    Jack Grealish ‘pranked’ into paying fan’s bill on holiday as TikTok goes viral

    The Man City star has been brutally pranked as his teammates prepare for the Club World Cup

    Football
  • 6 hours ago

    Trent Alexander-Arnold received two gifts from Real Madrid after signing contract with the club

    Trent Alexander-Arnold received two gifts following his transfer to Real Madrid.

    Football