Where Are They Now - The Top 100 Young Players In 2010

As a huge fan of the Football Manager series, the term 'wonderkid' is thrown around way too often these days.

We've all been there. You sign a player who is touted for big things. Even your resident scout Roger thinks this kid will become the next Pele. He is on the verge of stardom and with 16 finishing, 16 composure and 14 pace, you are basically just waiting around for Real Madrid to make a £100 million bid.

Several years later, to your absolute disgust, you stumble across Israeli Premier League side Hapoel Be'er Sheva and there he is with just 9 goals in 25 appearances.

Yes, i'm talking about you, Ben Sahar.

The sublime memories of Ben Sahar and Bojan banging them in left, right and centre for my Carlisle United side are still prominent to this day, but who else was regarded as a top young player six years ago?

When Spanish publication Don Balon released their eagerly anticipated 'Top 100 Best Young Players Of 2010', It was certainly a must read for any wannabe scout but who made it and who didn't?

Here's all 100:

- Dominic Adiyiah (Reggina) - Now plays for Thai Premier League side Nakhon Ratchasima.
- Toby Alderweireld (Ajax) - Now plays for Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur.
- Hamdan Al Kamali (Al Wahda) - Now plays for UAE side Al Wahda
- Jano Ananidze (Spartak Moscow) - Now plays for Russian Premier League side Spartak Moscow.
- Andre Ayew (Marseille) - Now plays for Premier League side West Ham United
- Khouma Babacar (Fiorentina) - Now plays for Serie A side Fiorentina
- Holger Badstuber (Bayern) - Now plays for Bundesliga side Bayern
- Gareth Bale (Tottenham) - Now plays for La Liga side Real Madrid
- Mario Balotelli (Manchester City) - Now plays for Ligue 1 side OGC Nice
- Ben Sahar (Hapoel Tel Aviv) - Now plays for Israeli Premier League side Hapoel Be'er Sheva
- Bojan (FC Barcelona) - Now plays for Premier League side Stoke City
- Bo-Kyung Kim (Oita Trinita) - Now plays for South Korean side Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors FC
- Ryad Boudebouz (Sochaux) - Now plays for Ligue 1 side Montpellier HSC
- Dedryck Boyata (Manchester City) - Now plays for Scottish side Celtic
- Breno (Bayern) - Now plays for Brazilian side Sao Paulo
- Sergio Canales (Real Madrid) - Now plays for La Liga side Real Sociedad
- Mehdi Carcela-Gonzalez (Standard) - Now plays for La Liga side Granada
- Luc Castaignos (Feyenoord) - Now plays for Primeira Liga side Sporting CP
- Diego Contento (Bayern) - Now plays for Ligue 1 side Bordeaux
- Phillippe Coutinho (Internazionale) - Now plays for Premier League side Liverpool
- David De Gea (Atlético de Madrid) - Now plays for Premier League side Manchester United
- Alvaro Domínguez (Atlético Madrid) - Retired
- Giovanni dos Santos (Tottenham) - Now plays for MLS side LA Galaxy
- Douglas Costa (Shakhtar) - Now plays for Bundesliga side Bayern Munich
- Alan Dzagoev (CSKA Moscow) - Now plays for Russian Premier League side CSKA Moscow
- Gueïda Fofana (Le Havre) - Now plays for Ligue 1 side Lyon
- Paulo Henrique (Santos) - Now plays for La Liga side Sevilla
- Giuliano (Internacional) - Now plays for Russian side Zenit Saint Petersburg
- Maxime Gonalons (Lyon) - Now plays for Ligue 1 side Lyon
- Mario Götze (Dortmund) - Now plays for Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund
- Antoine Griezmann (Real Sociedad) - Now plays for La Liga side Atletico Madrid
- Eden Hazard (Lille) - Now plays for Premier League side Chelsea
- Jordan Henderson (Sunderland) - Now plays for Premier League side Liverpool
- Markus Henriksen (Rosenborg) - Now plays for Premier League side Hull City
- Abel Hernández (Palermo) - Now plays for Premier League side Hull City
- Ander Herrera (Zaragoza) - Now plays for Premier League side Manchester United
- Lewis Holtby (Mainz) - Now plays for Bundesliga side Hamburg
- James Rodriguez (Porto) - Now plays for La Liga side Real Madrid
- Stefan Jovetic (Fiorentina) - Now plays for Serie A side Inter Milan
- Vaclav Kadlec - (Sparta Prague) - Now plays for Czech side Sparta Prague
- Shinji Kagawa (Dortmund) - Now plays for Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund
- Gael Kakuta (Chelsea) - Now plays for Chinese Super League side Hebei China Fortune
- Alan Kardec (Benfica) - Now plays for Chinese Super League side Chongqing Lifan F.C.
- Simon Kjaer (Wolfsburg) - Now plays for Turkish side Fenerbache
- Maksim Koval (Dinamo Kiev) - Now plays for Ukrainian side Dinamo Kyiv
- Ismail Köybasi (Besiktas) - Now plays for Turkish side Fenerbache
- Toni Kroos (Bayern) - Now plays for La Liga side Real Madrid
- Manuel Lanzini (River Plate) - Now plays for Premier League side West Ham
- Adem Ljajic (Fiorentina) - Now plays for Serie A side Torino
- Dejan Lovren (Lyon) - Now plays for Premier League side Liverpool
- Romelu Lukaku (Anderlecht) - Now plays for Premier League side Everton
- Lukman Haruma (Monaco) - Now plays for Ukrainian Premier League side Dynamo Kyiv
Federico Macheda (Manchester United) - Now plays for Serie B side Novara Calcio
- Guido Marilungo (Sampdoria) - Now plays for Serie A side Atalanta
- Marko Marin (Werder Bremen) - Now plays for Greek side Olympiacos
- Emmanuel Mayuka (Young Boys) - Now plays for Egyptian side Zamalek
- Thomas Müller (Bayern) - Now plays for Bundesliga side Bayern Munich
- Iker Muniain (Athletic Bilbao) - Now plays for La Liga side Athletic Bilbao
- Marc Muniesa (Barcelona) - Now plays for Premier League side Stoke City
- Ezequiel Muñoz (Palermo) - Now plays for Serie A side Genoa
- Yann Mvila (Rennes) - Now plays for Russian Premier League side Rubin Kazan
- Tomas Necid (CSKA Moscou) - Now plays for Turkish side Bursaspor
- Neymar (Santos) - Now plays for La Liga side Barcelona
- Sotiris Ninis (Panathinaikos) - Now plays for Belgian side Charleroi
- Nikolas N'Koulou (Monaco) - Now plays for Ligue 1 side Lyon
- Javier Pastore (Palermo) - Now plays for Ligue 1 side Paris Saint Germain
- Alexandre Pato (Milan) - Now plays for La Liga side Villarreal
- Pablo Piatti (Almería) - Now plays for La Liga side Valencia
- Miralem Pjanic (Lyon) - Now plays for Serie A side Juventus
- Rafael (Manchester United) - Now plays for Ligue 1 side Lyon
- Yaroslav Rakytskiy (Shakhtar) - Now plays for Ukrainian side Shakhtar Donetsk
- Diego Renan (Cruzeiro) - Now plays at Brazilian side Cruziero
- Marco Reus (Mönchengladbach) - Now plays for Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund
- Emmanuel Rivière (Saint-Etienne) - Now plays for Championship side Newcastle United (on loan at Osasuna)
- Jack Rodwell (Everton) - Now plays for Premier League side Sunderland
- José Rondón (Málaga) - Now plays for Premier League side West Brom
- Victor Ruiz (Espanyol) - Now plays for La Liga side Villarreal
- Mamadou Sakho (PSG) - Now plays for Premier League side Liverpool
- Davide Santon (Internazionale) - Now plays for Serie A side Inter Milan
- Georgy Shennikov (CSKA Moscow) - Now plays for Russian Premier League side CSKA
- Xherdan Shaqiri (Basel) - Now plays for Premier League side Stoke City
- Harmeet Singh (Vålerenga) - Now plays for Norwegian side Molde FK
- Moussa Sissoko (Toulouse) - Now plays for Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur
- Robin Soder (Göteborg) - Now plays for Danish club Esbjerg fB
- Miroslav Stoch (Fenerbahçe) - Now plays for Turkish side Fenerbahce
- Yannis Tafer (Toulouse) - Now plays for Swiss side FC St. Gallen
- Thiago (Barcelona) - Now plays for Bundesliga side Bayern Munich
- Lacina Traoré (Cluj) - Now plays for Russian Premier League side CSKA Moscow
- Ricky Van Wolfswinkel (Utrecht) - Now playing for Eredivisie side SBV Vitesse
- Carlos Vela (Arsenal) - Now plays for La Liga side Real Sociedad
- Jelle Vossen (Genk) - Now plays for Belgian side Club Brugge
- Ante Vukusic (Hadjuk Split) - Now plays for Bundesliga 2 side Greuther Fürth
- Theo Walcott (Arsenal) - Now plays for Premier League club Arsenal
- Vladimir Weiss (Rangers) - Now plays for Qatar Stars League.side Al-Gharafa
- Georginio Wijnaldum (Feyenoord) - Now plays for Premier League side Liverpool
- Jack Wilshere (Arsenal) - Now plays for Premier League side Arsenal (on loan at Bournemouth)
- Danny Wilson (Liverpool) - Now plays for Scottish side Rangers
- Siyanda Xulu (Mamelodi Sundowns) - Now plays for South African side Kaizer Chiefs F.C
- Andriy Yarmolenko (Dinamo Kiev) - Now plays for Ukrainian side Dinamo Kiev
- Sercan Yildirim (Bursaspor) - Now plays for Turkish side Galatasaray

If you read all of the above, thank you kindly, because that took absolutely ages.

Any players you're surprised about in the list?

Let us know your thoughts.

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Topics: Football Manager, Football

Jack Kenmare

Jack Kenmare is a writer at SPORTbible. He's interviewed some of the biggest names in sport, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Pele, Carles Puyol and Tim Henman. He dabbles in all things sport but football is his biggest passion. He was once hit in the head by a wayward strike from Nicky Butt and lived to tell the tale.

@jackkenmare_