Where are they now? The 10 highest rated wonderkids from Football Manager 2015
Football Manager 2015 was released just over a decade ago, giving us the perfect opportunity to revisit which wonderkids were rated as the best in world football back in November 2014.
Of all the thousands of young footballers with bags of potential, there were only a select few rated as the creme de la creme. But while this lot might have led you to five successive Champions Leagues in the virtual world, real life is a bit different.
We’ve dug through the FMScout archives and picked out every player with 85 or above in their patented ‘potential development’ rating system. How many of these have lived up to the hype? We’ll let you be the judge of that.
Jose Luis Gaya – 85
Rated by FM15 as the best young left-back in world football at the time, Gaya remains at his boyhood club Valencia 10 years on.
He’s made over 350 appearances for Los Che and was a key part of the side that memorably beat Lionel Messi’s Barcelona in the 2019 Copa del Rey final. He’s also earned 22 caps for Spain but wasn’t part of their recent Nations League and Euro 2024 winning squads.
Bernardo Silva – 85
Pep Guardiola has described Silva as “one of the best players I have ever seen” after the Portuguese playmaker produced an absolute masterclass in a 3-0 Manchester derby demolition back in October 2023.
Praise doesn’t get much more meaningful than that, given the calibre of footballers that the Catalan has played alongside, coached and pitted his wits against in his long and distinguished career.
One of the leading lights of this era-defining, treble-winning, four-in-a-row Manchester City side, it would be safe to say that Silva’s more than lived up his reputation as one to watch at Monaco at decade ago.
Gabriel Barbosa – 86
Gabigol had everything in his locker – including a brilliant nickname – to suggest that he’d be the next lethal South American goalscoring sensation to tear it up in Europe; the next Batistuta, Ronaldo and Aguero rolled into one.
…or not. After leading Brazil to Olympic Gold in the summer of 2016, Barbosa made his seemingly inevitable big move to Europe, leaving Santos for Inter.
But the Brazilian striker immediately looked an awkward fit at the San Siro and never settled. He notched a grand total of one goal in 10 appearances for the Nerazzurri and was soon sent out on a series of loans, eventually settling at Flamengo.
He’s won two Copa Libertadores and loads more silverware with Flamengo and is now into his sixth year with the club. Destined to go down as a cult hero in his home country and a head-scratching curiosity on this side of the Atlantic.
Adnan Januzaj – 86
The one bright spark from the short-lived David Moyes era at Manchester United, it feels like a long time ago that reams of tabloid column inches were dedicated to the battle for Januzaj’s international allegiance.
The winger eventually settled on Belgium, representing the country at two World Cups, but it would be safe to say he never quite kicked on as hoped following his eye-catching breakthrough at Old Trafford.
Loans to Borussia Dortmund and Sunderland were underwhelming before he spent five solid but unspectacular seasons at Real Sociedad. A move to Sevilla in 2022 never quite worked out and he now founds himself out on loan at relegation-battlers Las Palmas.
Maximilian Meyer – 86
You may or may not remember Meyer from his fairly forgettable three-year stint at Crystal Palace.
The midfielder earned four call-ups for Germany as a youngster, who looked full of promise at Schalke.
But once again this looks a case of unfulfilled potential; since departing Selhurst Park in 2021, Meyer has had short stints with Koln, Fenerbahce and Midtjylland. He fared better across two full seasons with Swiss side Luzern and has since joined Cypriot champions APOEL.
Memphis Depay – 86
France Football named the Dutch winger as the Best Young Player in world football back in 2015. At that point he was firmly established as a Netherlands international and had evidently outgrown the Eredivisie, having shone consistently at PSV.
Ten years on and we’re still not quite sure what to make of Memphis. He’s just shy of a hundred appearances for his country, closing in on Robin Van Persie’s goalscoring record, and was largely brilliant across his four years with Lyon.
And yet we’re left feeling distinctly underwhelmed – a few moments aside – after all three of his big moves; Manchester United, Barcelona, Atletico Madrid.
We admire him for being that rare European who takes the lesser-trodden path to South America, currently turning out for Brazilian giants Corinthians, but we can’t help but wonder if there’s an alternate reality in which he’s tearing it up for an elite European club.
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Luciano Vietto – 87
Lining up in the best XI of wonderkids alongside Gaya, FM15 rated Vietto as the very best young striker in world football.
You only need to take a look at his career stats – full of single-digit goalscoring records at clubs across Europe – to conclude that he was certainly not that. Not to mention zero caps for Argentina.
Nowadays he’s back where it all began, Racing Club, following four years out in the Middle East.
Donis Avdilaj – 87
Another Schalke academy graduate alongside Meyer, Kosovan striker Avdilaj was rated as highly as highly as Vietto – yet has proven just as baffling a pick.
A journeyman career that includes inauspicious stints with Willem II, Hearts, Trabzonspor, AEL Limassol and FC Zurich has eventually led him to Austrian Bundesliga outfit TSV Hartberg.
He actually scored a career-best 12 league goals last term, but he hasn’t received an international call-up by Kosovo since 2018.
Denis Suarez – 87
The Spanish midfielder was out on loan at Sevilla, from Barcelona, when FM15 was released.
He actually featured fairly regularly for the Rojiblancos that year but it was still in the era in which it felt like we were waiting to see the talent that he’d been talked up from his time in Man City’s academy and La Masia.
It’s now 2024 and safe to conclude that he was never going to be the future of Spain’s midfield. After a respectable few years of decent-ish football at Celta Vigo, he’s now into a second stint with Villarreal but struggling to make an impact.
READ: Where are they now? Barcelona’s 18 wonderkids on Football Manager 2015
Oliver Torres – 87
The midfielder caught the eye in the 2014-15 campaign, on loan at Porto from boyhood club Atletico Madrid, named the Primeira Liga’s Breakthrough Player of the Year. He’d already made his Atleti debut a couple of years before and those in scouting circles tipped him for big things, which never really materialised.
Torres represented Spain on no fewer than 43 occasions from Under-18 up to Under-21 levels and was part of the Under-19s squad that won the European Championships in 2012. But he never received a senior call-up for Spain, which tells its own story.
He later returned to Porto on a permanent basis and won a league title before returning to Spain, where he won two Europa League titles with Sevilla. He was released by the club in the summer and has since joined Mexican outfit Monterrey.
Martin Odegaard – 88
Whatever happened to that guy?