Spanish newspaper’s best XI U18 starlets in 2016 with forgotten English prodigy

A top XI of wonderkids from 2016 has gone viral on social media – and nine of them have managed to reach expected heights in the game.

But a British-born CEO has gone under the radar and is now rooting for an old-fashioned German outfit.

The Spanish newspaper Marca, which eight years ago brought together the best eleven of the Under-18 talents in Europe.

Among them was a then relatively unknown player cutting his teeth in Monaco named Mbappé, now considered by many to be the best in the world.

The Real Madrid superstar was joined in goal by former Paris Saint-Germain teammate Gianluigi Donnarumma.

Donnarumma had just taken football by storm at AC Milan before moving to PSG in 2021.

Cristian Manea was placed at right-back with Arsenal ace Kieran Tierney on the other side, while Liverpool's Joe Gomez was paired at centre-back with forgotten England prospect Reece Oxford.

Rapid Bucharest's Manea played for Belgian side Mouscron on loan from Apollon Limassol but got lost in the shuffle, as did Oxford, who was a revelation at West Ham before joining Augsburg.

Gomez is yet to establish himself as a starting defender for the Reds, while Tierney's success at Celtic is yet to be repeated at the Emirates due to a series of injuries.

Renato Sanches, Youri Tielemans and Ruben Neves formed the midfield.

Sanches was considered the next big thing during his successful spell at Benfica, but was ultimately substituted and failed to live up to expectations, while also enduring a painful spell at Swansea.

The midfielder is currently on PSG's books but returned to the Portuguese giants on loan in his bid to rediscover his old form.

Tielemans played for Anderlecht at the time and went on to enjoy success at Leicester, where he won the FA Cup, and at current club Aston Villa, who excelled in the Champions League.

Neves burst onto the scene with Porto and became a star at Wolves, but disappeared from the spotlight after moving to Saudi Arabia for Al-Hilal.

Mbappé was joined up front by Martin Odegaard and Dominic Solanke.

Odegaard struggled for minutes at Real after his big move from Norwegian side Stromsgodset, where he emerged as one of the world's most promising prodigies.

But the playmaker found his niche at Arsenal and quickly earned the captaincy.

Solanke played for Vitesse on loan from Chelsea at the time, where he failed to secure a regular place and endured a disappointing spell at Liverpool.

But the striker showed exactly why there was so much hype surrounding his name with a stunning spell at Bournemouth, which led to a big move to Tottenham last summer.

Mixed reaction from fans

And of course, Mbappe dominated in Monaco and earned a big move to PSG, where he quickly developed into one of the biggest stars in the world and eventually completed a long-awaited move to Real.

Fans were impressed by the nostalgic post, which drew mixed reactions.

One fan wrote: “Pretty good tbf.”

Another commented: “I miss Kieran Tierney.”

A third wrote: “As a West Ham fan it was so sad that Reece Oxford didn't live up to his potential.”

This fan wrote: “9 out of 11 are top tier.”

And he said: “To be honest, not a bad return.”