SP. Lionel Messi tipped 10 wonderkids for stardom in 2015 – where are they now?

Lionel Messi may be the greatest player to have ever set foot on a football pitch, but that doesn’t mean he is necessarily the best judge of talent. The Argentinian has done all there is to do in the beautiful game, including winning multiple Champions Leagues, the World Cup and a record eight Ballon d’Ors.

Despite that, though, one thing that the 37-year-old has proven is that he cannot predict the future. In 2015, the forward partnered with Adidas for the launch of the ‘Backed by Messi’ campaign. As Cristiano Ronaldo also found out with some of his picks for football’s next stars, it is incredibly difficult to guarantee success for anyone in football, no matter how certain it seems to be. Messi chose 10 names that he thought would be at the top of the game in years to come, but here is what happened to all of them.

Jeremie Boga

2015 club: Rennes (on loan from Chelsea)

Back in 2015, Jeremie Boga was one of many young Chelsea players that were touted for success. In the same year that the likes of Tammy Abraham and Mason Mount were leading the Blues to the FA Youth Cup, Boga was on loan in France at Rennes. Other temporary spells at Granada and Birmingham City followed, before a permanent move to Serie A side Sassuolo.

After a two-year spell at Neroverdi, he moved to Atalanta and then OGC Nice a year later. At international level, Boga has made 23 appearances for the Ivory Coast, and was part of the squad that dramatically won the African Cup of Nations in 2024. So, while he never followed in the footsteps of Messi or reached the ceiling he was expected to, not all love was lost in Boga’s career.

Accursio Bentivegna

2015 club: Palermo

In 2015, there was one soon-to-be superstar bursting through the ranks at Palermo. However, Messi opted not to choose future World Cup winning teammate Paulo Dybala. Instead, he opted for the lesser known Accursio Bentivegna. This, without doubt, was a mistake on his part.

The Italian winger had little success in Italy’s top flight, playing just seven games in the Serie A. He has managed to gain more experience in the country’s lower levels at clubs like Juve Stabia and Carrarese Calcio. In the summer 2024 transfer window, the 28-year-old completed a move to Delfino Pescara 1936, who play in Serie C. It’s hardly been the rise Messi thought he would have had.

Kenedy

2015 club: Chelsea

Kenedy made the move to west London from Fluminense in the summer of 2015, but he would never develop into the player that many, including Messi, thought he would become. During his time at Stamford Bridge, the Brazilian would only make 30 appearances and would spend time out on loan at multiple clubs, including Newcastle and Getafe.

The attacker only departed the club in September 2022, ending his seven-year stay with Chelsea by signing for Real Valladolid on a permanent deal. It did not prove to be the restart that Kenedy might have hoped for though. The Brazilian has scored just twice in 42 appearances and was relegated in 2023. They did manage to secure immediate promotion the following year back to La Liga, however, so he could rise to prominence again.

Maxwel Cornet

2015 club: Lyon

A young Maxwel Cornet caught the eye of Messi while at Lyon, with the attacker scoring 51 times while at the French club and creating a further 29 goals too. There was talk of a big Premier League move, but he could only gain a move to Burnley in 2021. The Ivorian was a bright spark that year, but couldn’t prevent relegation.

His efforts at Turf Moor persuaded West Ham to take a chance on him, and he would move to east London for a reported fee of £17.5 million. Cornet would endure a tough first campaign, though, managing just 14 appearances for the Hammers in the Premier League and not scoring any goals at all. He did, however, make five outings in the Europa Conference League as West Ham lifted the trophy. He has still only managed to score one goal for the Hammers, with players like Mohammed Kudus ahead of him in the pecking order, and this lowly rank has seen him since being loaned out to Southampton.

Aleksei Miranchuk

2015 club: Lokomotiv Moscow

Aleksei Miranchuk impressed while at Moscow, and in 228 games for the club, managed to score 43 times and created an additional 46 goals, too. After a seven-year spell at the Russian club, he was rewarded with a move to one of Europe’s top five leagues as Italian side Atalanta brought him in.

Ninety-eight games, 13 goals and 19 assists later, the Russian international put in some modest performances and, while not reaching the heights Messi expected, has still had a career to be proud of. The highlight of which was ending Bayer Leverkusen’s record-breaking unbeaten run to win the Europa League in 2024, before then electing to make the move over to MLS club – with a similar sounding name – Atlanta United.

Timo Werner

2015 club: VFB Stuttgart

Out of everyone on this list, Timo Werner is perhaps the one who can say he has had the most successful career of the bunch, even if he has faced some stiff criticism throughout his career. The German striker lifted the Champions League after moving to Chelsea in 2020, but returned to the Bundesliga after the Blues sold him in the summer of 2022.

After recapturing the form that brought him to London in the first place, Werner has since returned to the area, this time in north London for Ange Postecoglou’s Tottenham. His loan is set to end in 2025, but he is keen to make the move a permanent one.

Rony Lopes

2015 club: Manchester City

Snapped up by Manchester City from Benfica as a teen, Rony Lopes would only go on to make five outings for the Premier League side. In 2015, he would make a permanent move to Monaco, and would seemingly start to find his feet, scoring 15 league goals for the French side in the 2017/18 season.

He was sold to Sevilla in 2019, with Wissam Ben Yedder going the other way, but a series of loans have followed to Nice, Olympiacos and Troyes. He was then let go by the Spanish giants and, after shaving since secured a move back to his homeland with SC Braga for another brief stint, you can now find him plying his trade for Alanyaspor in the Turkish Super Lig.

James Wilson

2015 club: Manchester United

Another promising talent in Manchester when Messi caught wind of him, United fans thought James Wilson was destined for greatness when he emerged at the end of the 2013/14 season and bagged a brace on his debut against Hull.

That and his record at youth level had many people believing that he would emerge as United’s next big academy star, but he fizzled out slowly under Louis van Gaal and trickled down the football pyramid after failed loan spells and his 2019 departure to Scottish side Aberdeen.

He spent time at Salford City and then joined Port Vale in 2021, but the 29-year-old now finds himself at Northampton Town, the former home of strongman Adebayo Akinfenwa.

Gyasi Zardes

2015 club: LA Galaxy

Long before Messi had made his move to the MLS, he was keeping an eye on some of the most exciting prospects coming out of the United States. Ripping it up as a prolific striker in the youth ranks of football in the country, Gyasi Zardes scored 16 goals as LA Galaxy won the MLS Cup in 2014 and became the first homegrown player to score in the cup’s final that season.

An incredibly bright start to his career burned out in the years following, and interest in Zardes faded away as injuries began to stack up. He moved to Columbus Crew in 2018 and would go on to win the 2018 MLS Comeback Player of the Year award for his rebound. He spent time with Colorado Rapids last season, scoring nine goals in 26 matches, and while the 32-year-old initially continued that form with six goals for Austin after signing in January 2023, his recent form hasn’t made for such impressive reading. In the 2024 MLS season, the forward notched just three goals in 33 appearances for the same club.

Khiry Shelton

2015 club: New York City FC

Khiry Shelton was selected as the second overall pick in the MLS SuperDraft by New York City FC in 2015 and was described as the ‘top guy’, despite still being so young, by then head coach Jason Kreis. It didn’t work out, though, and he left for Sporting Kansas City in 2017. He earned a chance to impress in European football in 2019 with SC Paderborn in Germany, but the winger couldn’t make it stick.

A year after his move abroad, Shelton was back at Sporting Kansas, where he has remained ever since. He has played 164 times for the club, but has failed to do enough to earn a senior cap for the United States for now.