There is no greater joy for avid football fans than the ability to recognise before anyone else the next wonderkid.
So when the respected magazine World Soccer released their top-50 most exciting teenage footballers 10 years ago to the day, they would have been licking their lips at the prospect of saying ‘I told you so’ when 2017 rolled around.
And to their credit, they got some right. They also, got some catastrophically wrong.
We look at some of the big names who warranted their place on the list and the others who turned out to be flops.
10 years ago, World Soccer ranked the 50 "most exciting teenage footballers". I think it's fair to say that some fared better than others pic.twitter.com/rUtRGluFuu
— Mohamed Moallim (@iammoallim) November 1, 2017
World Soccer owe a degree of gratitude to the injury of then Tottenham man Benoit Assou-Ekotto for the success of their most commendable shout.
At number 6 on their list, Bale missed out on the top five with players like Giovani Dos Santos and Anderson both nipping ahead of him but their career trajectories have taken decidedly different paths.
At the time, Bale was a raw 18-year-old left-back signed from Southampton for an initial £5million but he was also a jinx.
Indeed, his present reputation as a Real Madrid Galactico is a complete contrast to his initial judgement after Spurs failed to win in any of his first 24 Premier League appearances.
Of course, the misfortune had little to do with him but it didn’t deter the bad luck charm label all the same.
Then a groin strain to Assou-Ekotto at the back end of 2009 gave Bale the opportunity to step up and even when the Cameroonian returned, his impressive performances meant the Welshman was accommodated at left-wing.
The rest as they say is history as the hex became a hit, commanding a world-record fee to join Real Madrid where he has won nine major trophies including three Champions League titles and a La Liga success.
The Real deal: Bale.
Probably an obvious choice at the time considering the Argentine was Atletico Madrid’s most expensive teenage signing when he swapped Independiente for the Spanish capital in 2006 for £16million.
His goalscoring statistics were already astonishing having plundered 23 times in 54 league games for Independiente with 18 of them in his first full season in the Argentinian top flight.
But the pressure of being Atletico’s record signing did not faze him. He scored seven times in his first season, largely operating from the bench to partner the club’s prodigal son Fernando Torres.
And when Torres left for Liverpool in 2007, Aguero didn’t just shoulder the extra pressure but embraced it also.
The 2007/08 season was a breakout campaign as he scored 27 times in all competitions. His game developed and evolved from there and Aguero established himself as a bonafide star.
Alongside Diego Forlan, he rounded his game during two prolific seasons for the Uruguayan. He had one more season in 2010/11 to stretch his tally for the club to 101 goals.
He is still the club’s 10th highest scorer and considering he left for Manchester City at 22 it’s a remarkable feat. He’s gone even better with City, though, as he recently become the club’s record scorer.
Aguero became City’s leading marksman during the UCL clash with Napoli.
The signs were there 10 years ago for Toni Kroos to warrant a place considerably higher than 27th.
Indeed, the now 27-year-old credits 2007 as being one of the most important for his development into one of the world’s premier midfielders as he was awarded the Golden Ball at the U-17 FIFA World Cup.
He scored five and assisted a further five in six games as Germany finished third in South Korea and he is arguably the best example of a player who lived up to his potential after his star showing at the tournament.
Back then he was a No10 and although he made his Bayern Munich debut at the age of 17 just 18 days after his displays in Korea, it wasn’t until after a loan spell with Bayer Leverkusen altered his position and ultimately defined the role in which we see him in to this day.
One of the biggest problems during the early part of his Munich career was that he didn’t have a fixed role and it’s part of the reason he drew comparisons with Michael Ballack as the German legend fused the attributes of a six, eight and 10.
Louis Van Gaal, stocked with a rich talent pool as Mesut Ozil emerged to prominence, settled on moving Kroos into central midfield and his ability to defend, distribute and create for his side saw him become a fulcrum in a period of Bavarian success.
After winning everything he could with Bayern he moved to Real Madrid and the elegant midfielder has since become a crucial part of one of the world’s best sides.
Kroos control: The central star has won two European Cup crowns with Los Blancos.
Angel Di Maria (11)
Karim Benzema (15)
Marouane Fellaini (20)
Mesut Ozil (37)
Alexis Sanchez (42)
Gone on to achieve big things: Sanchez.
Probably one of the only reasons you may have heard of Sadick Adams is because of this list.
And to be quite honest it’s difficult to actually determine the reasoning why he beat the likes of Aguero and Bale to the No1 spot.
The U-17 World Cup is perhaps the main factor as the Ghanaian scored four times in Korea making him one of the most sought-after African youngsters.
His strong showings were enough to persuade Spanish giants Atletico Madrid to sign him but he was restricted to reserve team appearances.
He was actually banned for four months in 2009 because of the transfer to Madrid with FIFA ruling it unlawful after he defected from Tunisian outfit Etoile.
Adams moved to Serbian side FK Vojvodina then his career path saw him play for Berekum Chelsea and Al-Ansar before settling at current club Asante Kotoko in his native Ghana.
Now 27, he made his full senior debut for the national side this year but it’s still not quite the progression World Soccer had hoped for him.
Incase you didn’t know Saddick Adams. pic.twitter.com/QK3NLFPxmR
— Veronica Commey (@VeronicaCommey) October 29, 2017
A rampaging right-back at Sao Paulo, Breno was snapped up by Bayern Munich in his teens and was viewed as one of the most promising defenders in world football.
He was a future Brazil stalwart with the world at his feet in 2007.
Then disaster – both on and off the pitch.
The 2008 move to Munich was riddled with setbacks with his parents unable to gain a German visa meaning they were forced to stay in Brazil while his difficulty to grasp the German language meant he felt isolated.
Bad injuries struck, too. Having struggled to make an impact at Bayern he was loaned to Nuremberg in 2010 but just as he began to show some signs of the monstrous physicality which had strikers backing off, he suffered cruciate ligament damage in his knee.
The subsequent complications over that injury and multiple surgeries led to him spiralling into depression.
In July 2012 he was sentenced to prison for torching his rented luxury villa in Munich. He called it an accident but the judge didn’t see it that way and his career lay in tatters.
He was released in 2013 and was given a coaching job at Bayern before re-signing with Sao Paulo in 2015. A bizarre career path for a player who promised so much.
Breno (R) battles for the ball with Raul.
Real Madrid, Liverpool, Accrington Stanley, Huesca and Tranmere Rovers all feature on the CV of Gerardo Bruna.
For a player once hailed as the “next Lionel Messi” it’s no surprise to see his inclusion so high on the list but ultimately Bruna has been a spectacular flop.
He was signed by Rafa Benitez from Madrid in the summer of 2007 at the age of 16 and it was a departure which hurt Los Blancos.
Only later did it transpire his actual career would be the source of pain.
He never managed to make a first-team appearance for Liverpool despite the pedigree of playing for both Spain and Argentina at youth level.
Spells at Blackpool and Huesca followed before a trial at Tranmere, and then a stint at Whitehawk. Accrington was his next destination before he departed England for current club Ottawa Fury.
Not quite the “next Messi” and in fairness he probably wouldn’t have even made the XI of players if he hadn’t have been given that tag.
Gerardo Bruna in action for Accrington Stanley in 2015.
Ismail Aissati (2)
Anderson (4)
Dumitru Copil (16)
Kerlon (26)
Lulinha (29)
Anderson spent eight seasons at the Red Devils.
