Where are they now? Chelsea’s 9 wonderkids from FIFA 15 a decade later
FIFA 15 was released over a decade ago and we thought it would be a timely point to check out where the nine Chelsea wonderkids from that game are today.
The Blues were about to win their fourth Premier League title, but the majority of these youngsters were firmly on the fringes at Stamford Bridge and never made much of a first-team impression.
Using SoFIFA, we have found Chelsea’s wonderkids from FIFA 15 and have checked out what they are each up to these days.
Lucas Piazon
Ten years, eight loans and three senior first-team appearances; Piazon’s spell at Chelsea summed up their approach to youth development since the Abramovich era.
Chelsea initially signed the promising young Brazilian from Sao Paulo in 2011, but he was only eligible for a work permit to start in January 2012. All three of his Chelsea appearances came under Rafa Benitez, before a series of endless loans.
He finally left Stamford Bridge in the summer of 2021 and now plays for Portuguese side AVS.
Bertrand Traore
Traore was first linked with a move to Chelsea in 2010 from Auxerre but it was 2013 when he finally joined the club’s academy.
He was loaned to Vitesse and Ajax before making 10 league appearances for Chelsea, scoring twice.
Traore then spent three years with Lyon, impressing enough to earn a £17million switch to Aston Villa in 2020. After a slow start, he scored some crucial goals under Unai Emery, but left for Villarreal in February 2024.
Months later, he rejoined Ajax and has one goal in seven appearances for the Dutch giants.
Marco van Ginkel
Van Ginkel suffered a serious knee injury early into his Chelsea career which ruled him out for seven months, before prolonged loan spells at AC Milan, Stoke and PSV.
Amazingly, the midfielder only left Stamford Bridge permanently in 2021 when he joined PSV. He is currently unattached after leaving Vitesse in June 2024.
Kurt Zouma
Back in October 2014, Zouma was a promising young defender who got his first crack at Premier League football under Jose Mourinho.
He managed to rack up over 150 appearances for the Blues and got his hands on five trophies along the way.
The Frenchman even managed to win a trophy at West Ham, a once-in-a-generation event for the east London club, before leaving the Hammers in 2024 for Saudi Pro League club Al-Orobah.
That is initially a loan deal, but the 29-year-old’s contract with West Ham expires next summer so it’s unlikely we’ll see him in the Premier League again.
Nathan Ake
It’s easy to forget that Ake was once a Chelsea player, but there was a time when he was on the edge of breaking through to the first team.
The Netherlands international joined Chelsea at 15 and made a few appearances for the London side, being named Young Player of the Season in 2013.
But after that promising start, Ake couldn’t quite hold down a permanent role, beginning to be loaned out in 2015 before becoming Bournemouth’s record-ever signing in 2017.
He went on to make over 100 appearances for the Cherries before leaving for City. It’s safe to say that moving to the Etihad has paid off for the centre-back, winning four league titles and the Champions League.
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Mario Pasalic
Remember him? We forgive you if not, as the Croatian was a member of Chelsea’s loan army who never actually played for the club, eventually joining Atalanta permanently in the summer of 2020 after a two-year loan.
But Pasalic has been incredibly successful at the Serie A upstarts, scoring 33 goals since the start of 2020-21 and becoming a fixture in the Croatia squad as well.
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Izzy Brown
“My conscience tells me that if, for example, [Lewis] Baker, [Izzy] Brown, and [Dominic] Solanke are not national team players in a few years, I should blame myself,” Jose Mourinho said whilst on Chelsea’s pre-season tour in 2014.
Sadly, things went quite differently for Brown, who showed great promise as a youngster out on loan in Huddersfield’s promotion-winning 2016-17 campaign, but suffered horrendous luck with injuries.
He was eventually released by Chelsea in 2021 and went on to sign a one-year deal at Preston North End but failed to make a single appearance for the club.
In April 2023 he announced his retirement at the age of 26.
Lewis Baker
Baker was earmarked by Jose Mourinho as a future England international, but never managed to escape the purgatory of the Chelsea loanee experience.
But in January 2022, he finally, at the age of 26, managed to get a permanent move away, signing for Stoke.
After a couple of impressive seasons in the Potteries, Baker is spending the 2024-25 season on loan at Blackburn Rovers.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek
Loftus-Cheek was born in Lewisham, joined Chelsea at the age of eight, loans at Fulham and Crystal Palace as well as 155 appearances for Chelsea’s senior team.
But his career was stalling at Stamford Bridge; the midfielder hadn’t played for England since 2017, he went out on loan to get game time, and he’d been played out of position under Antonio Conte.
In 2023, AC Milan came calling, and the big-yet-graceful central midfielder left Chelsea for Italy. A big part of the Rossoneri‘s midfield, the 28-year-old scored 10 goals in his debut season for the club.