Lionel Messi chose 10 emerging football players he identified as the next big thing in 2015, and it is honest to say that the goat missed the goal on a few
Lionel Messi Koos 10 football players that he believed to reach greatness in 2015. The Argentinian Great will go in the annals of history for his endless list of performance on the field for Barcelona, ​​PSG and Inter Miami.
He has 12 league titles, 17 domestic cups, four champion competitions, a world cup and eight Ballon d'Ors collected through his illustrious career. And although he can read the game like no other, he is not exactly the best in predicting the future in the long term and his predictions from a decade ago are something to start.
In 2015, Messi worked with Adidas for the 'Backed by Messi' campaign, in which he selected a top 10 list of players whom he believed would bring it to the next level and possibly on a similar career path like him in the coming years. And while some have been lifted the Champions League and achieve awards with their respective home countries, others have not succeeded in satisfying the expectations of the now 37-year-old.
Here are the names he has chosen, and how their career has worked out in the last 10 years …
Kenedy
Kenedy played for Fluminese at the time of the selection of Messi and broke through as an exciting left wing player with huge levels of deception. And while he insured a relocation of £ 6.3 million to Chelsea that year, he never succeeded in making a name for himself in the English top flight.
De Braziliaan slaagde erin slechts 30 wedstrijden voor de Blues in de loop van zijn zevenjarige ambtstermijn bij Stamford Bridge, in plaats daarvan genietend van leen spreuken met Watford, Newcastle United, Getafe, Grenada en Flamengo, voordat hij verder ging naar Valladolid in 2022. Nu 29, Kenedy heeft slechts twee doelpunten gescoord en een rock in 44 campagne in 44 campagne in 44 Campaign in 44 campaign in 44 campaign in 44 campaign. Bottom finish in the Spanish top flight this season.
Aleksei Miranchuk
Aleksei Miranchuk was in a seven -year -old Stint with Lokomotiv Moscow for two years when he attracted the attention of Messi. A promising attacking midfielder, the 29-year-old excelled in his home country, with 43 goals and 46 assists in 228 outings.
A move to the Serie A -side Atalanta followed in 2020 before a transfer to MLS -Outfit Atlanta landed four years later, where the Russian continues to drive its trade. The Georgians enjoyed ninth place in the competition last season and are currently 12 in the Eastern Conference in 2025 with ten games so far.
James Wilson
Messi had high expectations that James Wilson would follow in the footsteps of the will of Gary Neville, David Beckham, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs in graduating via the Manchester United Academy and a world class player. However, fate had other plans for the 29-year-old.
Wilson spent five years with the Red Devils between 2014 and 2019, but only 20 performances for the first team appeared in total – instead, he spent most of his term of office on loan to clubs such as Brighton, Derby, Sheffield and Aberdeen. A permanent step to the latter came in 2019, before the attacker enjoyed Salford City and Port Vale.
Fast Vooruit to May 2025, and Wilson is currently calling for his profession with Northampton Town at the back of the League One table. With his contract with the Cobblers that will end this summer, he can be moving again in the near future, unless he activates the 12 -month extension in his contract.
Gyasi zardes
A man who spent his entire career in the United States, played Gyasi Zardes for La Galaxy when Messi made his predictions. His incredibly clear start with the MLS side, however, began to take an injury before the striker moved to Columbus Crew in 2018.
A move to Colorado Rapids followed four years later, before Zardes landed with Austin FC in 2023. However, he was released by the club in December the following year and is currently in the MLS Pool without a club for the 2025 season at the age of 33.
Timo Werner
Messi was certainly not only in expecting great things from Timo Werner after witnessing his incredible pace and precision at VFB Stuttgart. After breaking the club's youth system in 2013, the striker spent three years with the Bundesliga side before switching to RB Leipzig.
After scoring 78 goals in 128 Bundesliga matches, Chelsea chose to take the German to the Premier League in 2020 in a deal that was estimated to be about £ 45 million. Despite the lifting of a Champions League and a FA cup with the Lions, Werner did not succeed in the English top flight in terms of personal game, where he found the back of the net only 23 times in two seasons before he returned to Leipzig for about £ 20 million less.
Werner returned to the Premier League with Spurs last January, but again did not score any goals for the wrestling North Londers, with only three goals in 41 games to his name.
Rony Lopes
Manchester City took Rony Lopes from Benfica in his forming years with the hope of forming him in the next big thing, but the right winger made only five performances for the blues before he was sold to Monaco in 2015. He certainly started to find his foot in Ligue 1, but 21 goals and 14 assists in front of his four -year contract.
Lopes made the switch to Sevilla in 2019, where he spent four years at the La Liga Club before he continued to Braga and then Alanyaspor. In 2025, Lopes was on loan with Farense, which is Rock Bottom of the Lia Portugal classification, which made 11 performances for the club this period.
Jeremie Boga
Jeremie Boga burst on stage in 2015 with Chelsea after having spent six years of his youth with the club, but, like other players on this list, the blues did not quite use him how he had hoped – him on loan to Rennes, Grenada and Birmingham City before he finally sold him to Sassuolo in 2018.
Boga spent four years at the club before a loan to Atalanta in 2022 became a permanent deal. Nice, then the attacking midfielder grabbed a reported £ 13 million in 2023, and the 28-year-old has excited in Ligue 1 since then.
While Boga, who was born in Marseille, initially represented France at international level in his youth, he faithfully changed to the Ivory Coast in his senior career – a movement that may have proved useful, given that he has lifted the 2023 African Cup of Nations with the country.
Khiry Shelton
After he was selected as the second overall choice of the 2015 MLS Superdraftfraft through New York City FC, expectations were certainly high for Khiry Shelton. His stint with the club, however, did not go entirely to plan.
After only having scored six goals in front of the side of 57 performances, Shelton went to the sporting Kansas City in 2018. While moving to SC Paderborn followed the following year, giving Shelton the opportunity to impress in Europe, he could eventually not cut the mustards overseas, so that only six performances for the first team were a barefage of the B side.
The now 31-year-old returned to Sporting Kansas City in 2020 and found his foot in the MLS with the franchise but has still received his first senior call-up for the American national football team.
Scursio Bentivegna
In 2015, Accursio Bentivegna broke through the youth ranks of Palermo and Messi the attacker above the Argentinian teammate Paulo Dybala in his predictions-a man who has lifted the world cup next to the legend of the game and enjoyed the playing time with Juventus and Roma.
To say that the pressure on Bentivegna to succeed was huge, an understatement would be – seeing how good Dybala did it in his own respective career – and it seems that Messi has missed the goal of ultimately selecting the Italian.
The winger found very little success in the Italian flight, instead, from Palermo to Carrares and Juve Stabia, before he went to Delfino Pescara 1936 in 2024 – who play in series C.
Maxwel Cornet
It is no surprise that Messi Maxwel Cornet has picked by hand for quantity, given that the winger made the headlines in 2015 for his move from Metz to Lyon. And unlike other players on this list who did not receive much in terms of opportunities from the larger clubs she adorns, Cornet turned out to be necessary for the success of Lyon in Ligue 1 during his six -year term of office.
The Ivorian scored 51 goals and added 29 assists in 252 games for the club, before switching to Burnley in 2021. Unfortunately it was a transfer with finally faint for the 28-year-old, because Burnley was relegated from the Premier League after an 18th place in the rankings.
A move to West Ham, however, came in 2022, where Cornet remains to this day, although currently on loan from his parent club to Genoa in the Serie A. Various injuries eventually played his time in Eastern London.