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Where are they now? The 40 nominees for the 2014 Golden Boy award

Raheem Sterling won the prestigious Golden Boy award in 2014, but what has come of the rest of the nominees from that year’s list?

Established in 2003 by Italian newspaper Tuttosport, the award sees journalists from 12 different publications vote on the youngster they deemed to have been the “most impressive” throughout any calendar year.

Sterling is now one of the stars of Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City side, but not every one of the 2014 picks has enjoyed such success since.

Raheem Sterling

Sterling won the award after truly announcing himself as one of the best young players in the world with a string of excellent displays for Liverpool – and attracting the interest of Manchester City, of course.

The winger went on to join the Citizens for £50million and is now one of the first names on Gareth Southgate’s England teamsheet.

Calum Chambers

Chambers hasn’t quite kicked on as hoped, and he recently spent time on loan at Middlesbrough and Fulham. The defender will hope to finally become a regular at the Emirates under Arsenal’s next manager.

Kurt Zouma

Zouma signed a new six-year contract with Chelsea in the summer of 2017 before spending the next two seasons out on loan.

However, Chelsea’s transfer ban has helped the defender establish himself in the starting line-up under Frank Lampard this season.

John Stones

Another £50million Manchester City man who has played a key role in the England set-up, but he has struggled to find his best form this season.

Lazar Markovic

The winger flopped at Anfield after signing for Liverpool in 2014, and he spent most of his five years at the club out on loan.

Markovic had a brief spell at Fulham and the end of last season, and he is currently playing for Partizan Belgrade in Serbia.

Divock Origi

Origi had a slow start to life at Liverpool, but he has become a cult hero at the club over the last 12 months.

The striker has scored a winner against Everton, two goals against Barcelona and the second goal in the Champions League final.

Adnan Januzaj

Shortlisted in the year his career took off – and promptly descended. After much speculation over which nation he would choose – with the media reporting four options including England – he lined up for Belgium at the 2014 World Cup.

He left Manchester United in 2017 to join Real Sociedad and managed to work his way back into the national side before scoring against England in the 2018 World Cup.

Luke Shaw

Shaw has struggled with injuries since making the big money move to Manchester United in 2014, and he has fallen down the pecking order under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Nabil Bentaleb

Bentaleb joined Schalke on loan in 2016, and had a sly dig at Tottenham supporters when he said during a losing run: “We fight, and I think that’s why the fans are behind us.

“I do not know that from England. If you lose there, nobody will support you in the stadium.”

His move to Schalke was made permanent soon after.

Eric Dier

Another England regular, Dier was shortlisted in the year he joined Spurs, having moved from Sporting Lisbon.

He has struggled for game time this season, but he will hope to get his career back on track under Jose Mourinho.

Gerard Deulofeu

Deulofeu has had a bizarre time of it to say the least. After moving permanently to Everton following a successful loan spell (via a period at Sevilla), he joined AC Milan on loan, impressing enough to persuade Barcelona to activate their buy-back clause, only to loan him to Watford.

Confused? Same. Watford fans got their wish in 2018 though as they secured his services on a permanent basis.

Aymeric Laporte

The second of three defenders on the 2014 shortlist that Manchester City have paid at least £50million for.

Guardiola made Laporte the second most expensive defender in the world when he signed him for £57million in January 2018, but he is currently sidelined with a long-term knee injury.

Sandro

A questionable nomination, Sandro spent the majority of 2014 playing for Barcelona B, and though registered with Barcelona, the award is supposedly for players in top-flight divisions only.

He left Barcelona for Malaga in 2016 before moving to England and playing 13 times for Everton. The forward has since been on loan to Sevilla and Real Sociedad, and he is currently spending the season at Real Valladolid.

Munir El Haddadi

Another who was nominated despite only a handful of appearances for Barcelona’s first team in 2014.

Munir has recently been on loan to Valencia and Alaves but signed for Sevilla on a permanent deal earlier this year

After making his debut for Spain way back in 2014, Munir attempted to switch nationalities ahead of the 2018 World Cup, a move which was blocked by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Saul Niguez

Nominated thanks to a breakthrough season on loan at Rayo Vallecano, Saul has made over 200 competitive appearances for Atletico Madrid and formed part of Spain’s World Cup squad in Russia in 2018.

Domenico Berardi

Another who has stayed at the same club since progressing through the system, Berardi has made over 200 appearances for Sassuolo, averaging better than a goal every three games.

He is Sassuolo’s all-time record goalscorer. Not bad for a 25-year-old winger.

Federico Bernardeschi

After being half-owned by Crotone and Fiorentina as a youngster, Bernardeschi joined Juventus in 2018 for a reported €40million.

Unsurprisingly, he’s been completely overshadowed by Cristiano Ronaldo.

Kingsley Coman

Still just 23, Coman has won an incredible seven major league titles across France, Italy and Germany, and is currently at Bayern Munich.

Keita Balde

After spending a season on loan at Inter Milan, Keita returned to Monaco last summer.

Mateo Kovacic

Kovacic showed his true quality during time at Dinamo Zagreb, Inter Milan and Real Madrid, but he fell out of favour at the Bernabeu.

The midfielder joined Chelsea on a permanent deal in the summer, and he has been reborn under Frank Lampard.

Hakan Calhanoglu

Calhanoglu is now a key player at AC Milan and for the Turkish national team. He can take a pretty good free-kick too.

READ: Hakan Çalhanoğlu, a free-kick master and another Milan No.10 to idolise

Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg

Failing to get much first-team action at Bayern Munich, Hojbjerg spent time on loan at Augsburg and Schalke before joining Southampton in 2016, and he is now their club captain.

Gianluca Gaudino

Another who struggled for game time at Bayern is Gaudino, who left to join Chievo in 2017, and he now plays for Young Boys in Switzerland.

Matthias Ginter

Ginter was shortlisted the year he moved from Freiburg to Dortmund and won the World Cup as Germany’s youngest squad member – despite not making it onto the pitch. He switched to Borussia Monchengladbach in 2017 after asking to leave Dortmund.

Julian Green

Green made five appearances for Hamburg on loan from Bayern to earn a place on the shortlist. The US international joined Greuther Furth permanently in 2018 after a season-long loan from Stuttgart.

Maximilian Meyer

Meyer was regarded as a future star, and he made nearly 200 appearances for Schalke before his contract expired in 2018.

The midfielder then joined Crystal Palace on a free transfer but the 24-year-old has failed to make much of an impact in England.

Marquinhos

Just two months after his 19th birthday, PSG signed Marquinhos from Roma for over €30million. He has lifted 19 trophies so far, making over 200 appearances.

Adrien Rabiot

Rabiot made over 200 appearances for PSG before joining Juventus last summer.

Benjamin Mendy

The third £50million+ Manchester City defender to be shortlisted in 2014 is Mendy, who was unfortunate to sit out most of City’s title-winning campaigns through injury, seeing Fabian Delph and more recently Oleksandr Zinchenko take his left-back slot.

Lucas Ocampos

Ocampos moved from River Plate to Monaco for a Ligue 2 record fee in 2012, and is now at Sevilla.

Tonny Vilhena

Vilhena made over 200 appearances for Feyenoord, but he left the Dutch club to sign for FC Krasnodar in Russia earlier this year.

Jetro Willems

Willems became the youngest ever player to feature at a European Championships when he lined up for the Netherlands two months after turning 18 back in 2012.

He was a regular for PSV and moved to Eintracht Frankfurt in 2017, but he is currently on loan at Newcastle United.

Arkadiusz Milik

Milik smashed an impressive 47 goals in 75 games for Ajax, before joining Napoli in 2016.

The striker then suffered two cruciate ligament injuries in a short space of time, and he is now getting back to his best form.

Dennis Praet

Praet was voted as the best player in the Belgian first division in 2014, earning his first and only international cap in the same year.

He left Anderlecht in 2016 to join Sampdoria before signing for Leicester City in the summer.

Alexsandar Mitrovic

Playing alongside Praet for Anderlecht, Mitrovic attracted Newcastle’s attentions in 2015 after hitting 28 goals in 51 appearances in the 2014-15 campaign.

Supporters love him, and he even claimed to be a lifelong supporter, telling The Telegraph in 2016: “I have followed Newcastle my whole life. I had two Newcastle shirts when I was little. It was unusual … but for me, it has always been Newcastle.”

However, the striker joined Fulham on a permanent deal in 2018.

Oliver

The case of Oliver Torres is a strange one. Loaned to Porto in 2014-15, he returned to parent club Atletico with high hopes, and was a regular in their side with an outside chance of making the Spanish World Cup squad.

But while he was likened to Xavi, Simeone preferred others with greater physicality, with Saul Niguez progressing at the same time but seen as a tougher build. Oliver was cast aside.

He joined Porto permanently in 2017 before returning to Spain with Sevilla earlier this year.

Bruma

After spells in Portugal, Turkey, Spain and Germany, Bruma joined PSV last summer.

Derlis Gonzalez

The Paraguayan striker has been frozen out at Dynamo Kiev, and he is currently on loan at Santos.

Nikola Ninkovic

Ninkovic helped Partizan Belgrade to three league titles in five years before joining Genoa, but he now at Serie B side Ascoli.

Luka Zahovic

Zahovic and his father Zlatko became only the second father-and-son duo to score in the Champions League – after Abedi Pele and his two sons Andre and Jordan Ayew.

Junior, meanwhile, has circled back to former club Maribor, after a brief stop at Dutch side Heerenveen.


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