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Southampton's 18--year-old left-back Luke Shaw celebrates following a 1-0 Premier League win away to Liverpool, Anfield, Liverpool, 21st September 2013

Revisiting the Daily Mail’s list of ‘future England stars’ from 2013

In January 2013, the Daily Mail published a list of 15 English “teen stars” they were adamant you should get excited about – but how have they fared since?

Almost a decade on, we’re able to look back and judge how strong their shouts were. It’s fair to say that the players on this list have enjoyed ‘mixed’ success.

Nine years on, we’re starting to doubt some of these will ever play for England…

George Green (Everton)

The then 17-year-old had signed a professional contract with Everton after moving from Bradford, apparently “drawing comparisons with Paul Gascoigne”.

However, he never went made a senior appearance for the Toffees, admitting in 2015 he “moved too fast” and left the money go to his head, sometimes not even bothering to turn up for training.

He suffered from depression but turned down help, and after a brief spell at Oldham following his Everton release, he found himself playing in the eighth tier for Ossett Town.

Green has since got his life back on track and has played in the Scottish and Norwegian top flights with Kilmarnock and Viking respectively, while he is currently back in English football with non-league Ossett United – which rose from the ashes of his former club.

Jerome Sinclair (Liverpool)

Sinclair became the youngest player to ever appear for Liverpool when he was handed his debut by Brendan Rodgers in a League Cup tie in 2012, but the pacy forward only went on to make a couple of further appearances for the Reds.

The 25-year-old is currently a free agent and hasn’t played professionally since being released by Watford in the summer of 2021. He was last seen turning out on loan at CSKA Sofia, having been recruited for the Bulgarian club by then technical director Alan Pardew.

Jordan Rossiter (Liverpool)

According to Robbie Fowler, the young midfielder could have been “the next Steven Gerrard”, but the actual Steven Gerrard didn’t appear to fancy him.

He left Liverpool for Rangers in 2016 but struggled to get games at Ibrox. He then left the Scottish giants in 2020 and spent a couple of years at Fleetwood Town before joining Joey Barton’s Bristol Rovers in the summer.

John Lundstram (Everton)

The Liverpudlian had six loan spells at various Football League clubs as he spent three years on Everton’s books between 2012 and 2015 before eventually making the permanent move to Oxford United.

Lundstram became a key part of Oxford’s team as they won promotion from League Two in 2016-17, before making a mark at Chris Wilder’s Sheffield United, making 36 appearances as they punched above their weight in their first season back in the second tier before going up the following season.

He then became a Fantasy Premier League cult hero and nowadays is turning out for Rangers. Still waiting for that senior England cap, though.

READ: 9 of the best Fantasy Premier League cult heroes ever: Michu, Dele, Dallas…

Ruben Loftus-Cheek (Chelsea)

An actual England international, Loftus-Cheek earned rave reviews for his performances in midfield as England made the semi-finals of the 2018 World Cup.

A rare example of one of those “rising stars” that lives up to the hype, albeit briefly, it’s been an up-and-down of it for Loftus-Cheek, who has shown undoubted flashes of his quality and Stamford Bridge but never quite nailed down a regular starting spot.

Still, he’s surprisingly only 26 and has featured intermittently for the Blues this season. He was never really in contention for Qatar 2022, but never say never when it comes to future tournaments. Stranger things have happened.

Luke Shaw (Southampton)

Shaw looked like a bona fide, ready-made Premier League star as he emerged for Mauricio Pochettino’s Southampton.

Looking likely to be the heir to Ashley Cole as left-back for England, his career was somewhat stunted by a double leg fracture, not to mention the torment of having Jose Mourinho as a boss.

But he put all that behind him and went on to fulfil his potential under the arm-around-the-shoulder management of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Gareth Southgate.

The first and only player to score for England in a major final since 1966, so we can say this shout was fair enough. Has nailed down his place in Qatar, especially with Ben Chilwell sidelined.

Will Hughes (Derby)

A revelation when he first came through at Derby, things had begun to stall a little at the permanent second-tier outfit before he moved to Watford in 2017.

After four years and over a hundred appearances for the Hornets, Hughes moved to Crystal Palace last summer and appears every so often for Patrick Vieira’s side in the Premier League.

Nathaniel Chalobah (Chelsea)

Yet another member of Chelsea’s extensive loan army, Chalobah finally made a permanent move away from the club when he joined Watford in 2017, after thoroughly impressing during the 2012-13 season on loan, before spells with Middlesbrough, Burnley and Napoli.

He was a firm favourite of Gareth Southgate, who managed him in England’s Under-21s as they won the 2016 Toulon Tournament, and he made his senior England debut against Spain in October 2018.

But as yet that remains his only cap, while his club career has stalled somewhat in recent years. He’s achieved back-to-back promotions with Watford and Fulham, but was a relatively peripheral figure for Marco Silva’s side, making 11 starts in their Championship-winning campaign last term.

Jack Grealish (Aston Villa)

Many had speculated that Grealish would go on to throw away his obvious potential as tabloid stories about his lifestyle coincided with Villa’s relegation.

But he established himself as Villa’s most important player during their time in the Championship and lit up the Premier League upon their return.

We still feel we’re yet to see the best of him in an England shirt, but he’s a £100million player and a Premier League winner with Manchester City. Safe to say he’s reached his potential, then.

Diego De Girolamo (Sheffield United)

The Chesterfield-born striker played for Italy’s youth teams due to his Italian heritage, but he’s failed to pick up a senior international cap after making intermittent appearances in the lower reaches of the Football League.

He’s currently at non-league Buxton FC.

Diego Poyet (Charlton)

Gus Poyet’s son had quite the start to his career, winning Charlton’s Player of the Season award as he broke through as an 18-year-old.

A technically proficient midfielder, he’s been unable to match those early heights, failing to make the grade at West Ham or rekindle his form in a subsequent loan move back to The Valley.

Poyet ended his playing career aged just 23 when he left Cypriot side Pafos in the summer of 2018.

Izzy Brown (West Brom)

Brown was picked up by Chelsea as a 17-year-old after generating hype coming through West Brom’s academy, and he lived up to that helping Huddersfield get promoted when spending the latter half of the 2016-17 season on loan there.

He suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury in January 2018 during another loan spell at Brighton, however, and spent the entire calendar year recovering.

Spells at Leeds, Luton and Sheffield Wednesday followed before a permanent move to Preston last summer. The 25-year-old is currently a free agent, with a horrible sense that injuries have denied Brown the chance to become the player he looked destined to be.

READ: The 3 Chelsea kids Mourinho tipped for stardom in 2014 & how they fared

Joe Gomez (Charlton)

Once a first-choice fixture in the starting XI for Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool and a regular in Gareth Southgate’s England squads, injuries have hampered Gomez’s progress somewhat.

Still, he’s won all there is to win the club game and remains a trusted player at Anfield. In the summer he extended his contract with the Reds until 2027, and we’ve recently started seeing more of the talented and versatile defender than we have in recent years.

We wouldn’t rule out more England caps, either, despite not having been selected since 2020.

Max Clayton (Crewe)

The local lad, who played at various youth levels for England, went on to make 74 appearances for Crewe Alexandra before moving to Bolton in 2014.

He’d been touted to join a Premier League club, but that appears much less likely now. The 27-year-old’s football career appears to be behind him, having been released by non-league Altrincham after making just one appearance for the club back in 2020.

Callum Burton (Shrewsbury)

The former Shrewsbury goalkeeper inevitably drew comparisons with Joe Hart, but he’s not had quite the same career path as the Premier League winner.

Burton, still just 26, is currently on Plymouth Argyle’s books after a nomadic few years around the lower reaches of the English football pyramid.


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