Where are they now? The 6 players Cristiano Ronaldo tipped to become best in the world in 2017
Back in 2017, Cristiano Ronaldo named six players who he believed would become the best in the world, but where are all of those stars today?
In the peak of his powers back then, that year Ronaldo picked up a fifth (and final) Ballon d’Or after firing Real Madrid to a historic Champions League and La Liga double with 53 goals in all competitions.
“In the next generation there are at least 10 players with very, very great potential,” he said in August of that year, going on to explicitly namecheck six.
Seven and a half years late, we’ve revisited Ronaldo’s comments and have checked out where those six players that he named are today.
Marco Asensio
Twenty-one years of age back then, Asensio caught the eye as a youngster at Real Madrid with a canny knack for scoring long-range bangers, including Madrid’s fourth in their 2017 Champions League final victory over Juventus.
The sky looked the limit for the Spanish winger back then, but it’s probably fair to say that’s about as good as it ever got for him.
More regular starts would come, and he went on to make almost 300 appearances for Los Blancos, but it never felt like he nailed down a spot in their undisputed best XI.
Asensio sought a new challenge in 2023 and joined PSG on a free transfer, but he hasn’t really kicked on since then. He once again finds himself in and out of Luis Enrique’s teamsheets.
Now 28 and somewhere near his prime, it’s unfortunately all too easy to forget about Asensio entirely.
Kylian Mbappe
“Let’s see if their head is clear and good, and if they can deal with the pressure, because Real Madrid is not PSG,” Ronaldo said in December, speaking on Rio Ferdinand’s YouTube channel after Mbappe’s difficult start to life at The Bernabeu.
“I can’t tell you. Mbappe will go there now. How would you say Madrid is going to be better or going to be… We don’t know. Let’s see.
“I think Madrid will keep strong, but I don’t know if they will be better than last year. I don’t know. Let’s see. Only God knows. But they have a fantastic team, fantastic players.”
Anointed as Madrid’s biggest Galactico signing since Ronaldo himself way back when, Mbappe has taken time to settle at his new club but is just showing signs of getting back to his best level.
The Frenchman hasn’t quite secured his status as the undisputed best player in world football in the post-Messi and Ronaldo era, and still awaits a first Ballon d’Or or Champions League medal at the age of 26.
But you’d be daft to write him off tearing it up in the coming years at The Bernabeu.
Neymar
Ronaldo picked out Neymar at the time that he moved to PSG for a world-record €222million fee. Not exactly the biggest hot take in the world there.
While tennis had the big three of Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, football lacked a figure that could ever quite hold a candle to Messi and Ronaldo at their peak.
But there’s certainly an argument that Neymar was the closest thing football had to a third-era-defining icon in the 2010s. The Brazilian was unplayable on his day, an absolute joy to watch, while his numbers for club and country are outrageous.
Yet it would be fair to say that due to a mix of injuries and off-field decisions, Neymar hasn’t quite enjoyed the glittering career he might have.
He never won the Ballon d’Or and failed to deliver the Champions League at PSG, his six years with the club plagued by frequent visits to the treatment table.
He’s still only 32 but has unfortunately become something of an afterthought after barely kicking a ball for Al Hilal over the past 18 months.
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Ousmane Dembele
The French winger was hastily drafted in as a replacement for Neymar in the summer of 2017 following that earth-shattering move to PSG.
The panicking Catalan club undoubtedly overpaid for Dembele, still a teenager back then, who inevitably struggled to live up to the lofty price tag due to a mix of reported off-field indiscipline and injuries.
Nowadays he’s arguably the closest thing that PSG have to a superstar. That’s some departure from the days of Messi, Mbappe, Neymar and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
READ: 5 superstars Luis Enrique has fallen out with over the years: Dembele, Messi, Mbappe…
Eden Hazard
Four years before Mbappe’s long-awaited arrival at The Bernabeu, Madrid broke their transfer record to sign Eden Hazard for a reported fee well in excess of €100million.
The Belgian winger had long established himself as one of the most entertaining and talented players in the Premier League, having played a starring role in two Premier League titles for the Blues.
Ronaldo had left the year before and Hazard was probably the closest thing they had to a replacement in terms of star power and match-winning pedigree.
Safe to say that the move turned out to be a complete disaster. He struggled for fitness and never looked anything like the world-beater he did at Chelsea. In four years he notched just seven goals and 12 assists in 76 appearances for Madrid, and never once appeared in El Clasico.
Things went so badly for Hazard in the Spanish capital that his contract was terminated a year early and he hung up his boots at the age of 32.
Wild to think he’s only a few months older than Ballon d’Or frontrunner Mohamed Salah.
Marcus Rashford
Four of the players on this list have made high-profile moves to PSG… might Rashford make it five?
Having recently stated that he’s after “a new challenge”, the forward’s days at his boyhood club appear numbered.
He’s instantly fallen out of favour under new Manchester United boss Ruben Amorim and this sorry situation feels a far cry from back in 2016 when he broke through as a carefree teenager with the world at his feet.
Still only 27, there’s every chance that Rashford goes on to enjoy a brilliant next chapter elsewhere. It increasingly feels as though that would be best for all concerned.