What Happened to 10 Wonderkids Lionel Messi Tipped for Stardom in 2015

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Lionel Messi backed 10 players to achieve great things in football back in 2015, including current Tottenham star Timo Werner.

Lionel Messi may be the greatest player to have ever set foot on a football pitch, but that doesn't mean he is necessarily the best judge of talent.

The Argentinian has done all there is to do in the beautiful game, including winning multiple Champions Leagues, the World Cup and a record eight Ballon d'Or awards.

Despite that, though, one thing that the 39-year-old has proven is that he cannot predict the future. In 2015, the forward partnered with Adidas for the launch of the ' Backed by Messi ' campaign.

As Cristiano Ronaldo also found out with some of his picks for football's next stars , it is incredibly difficult to guarantee success for anyone in football, no matter how certain it may seem. Messi chose 10 names that he thought would be at the top of the game in years to come, and here is what happened to all of them.

Back in 2015, Jeremie Boga was one of many young Chelsea players who were touted for success. In the same year that the likes of Tammy Abraham and Mason Mount were leading the Blues to the FA Youth Cup , Boga was on loan in France at Rennes. Other temporary spells at Granada and Birmingham City followed, before a permanent move to Serie A side Sassuolo.

After a four-year spell at Neroverdi, he moved to Atalanta and then OGC Nice a year later. However, he is currently on loan at Juventus and has been a regular for them, scoring four times in 20 games.

At international level, Boga has made 24 appearances for the Ivory Coast, and was part of the squad that dramatically won the African Cup of Nations in 2024. So, while he never followed in the footsteps of Messi or reached the ceiling he was expected to, Boga hasn't had a bad career.

Jeremie Boga - Career Statistics

In 2015, there was one soon-to-be superstar bursting through the ranks at Palermo. However, Messi opted not to choose future World Cup-winning teammate Paulo Dybala. Instead, he opted for the lesser-known Accursio Bentivegna. This, without doubt, was a mistake on his part.

The Italian winger had little success in Italy's top flight, playing just seven games in Serie A. He has managed to gain more experience in the country's lower levels at clubs like Juve Stabia and Carrarese Calcio.

In the summer 2024 transfer window, the 30-year-old completed a move to Delfino Pescara 1936, who play in Serie C, before making a sideways move to Casertana. It's hardly been the rise Messi thought he would have had.

Accursio Bentivegna - Career Statistics

Kenedy made the move to west London from Fluminense in the summer of 2015, but he would never develop into the player that many, including Messi, thought he would become. During his time at Stamford Bridge, the Brazilian would only make 30 appearances and would spend time out on loan at multiple clubs, including Newcastle and Getafe.

The attacker only departed the club in September 2022, ending his seven-year stay with Chelsea by signing for Real Valladolid on a permanent deal. It did not prove to be the restart that Kenedy might have hoped for, though. The Brazilian scored just twice in 44 appearances and, shortly after suffering relegation at the end of the 2024/25 season, he was shipped out to Mexican side Pachuca.

Kenedy - Career Statistics

A young Maxwel Cornet caught the eye of Messi while at Lyon. He scored 51 times while at the French club and created a further 29. There was talk of a big Premier League move, but he could only make the move to Burnley in 2021. The Ivorian was a bright spark that year, but couldn't prevent relegation.

His efforts at Turf Moor persuaded West Ham to take a chance on him, and he would move to east London for a reported fee of £17.5 million . Cornet would endure a tough first campaign, though, managing just 14 appearances for the Hammers in the Premier League and not scoring any goals at all.

He did, however, make five outings in the Europa Conference League as West Ham lifted the trophy. He has still only managed to score one goal for the Hammers. Cornet is still on the books at the London Stadium despite loans to Southampton and Genoa in recent seasons.

Maxwel Cornet - Career Statistics

Aleksei Miranchuk impressed while at Moscow, scoring 43 times and creating an additional 46 in 228 matches. After seven years at the Russian club, he was rewarded with a move to one of Europe's top five leagues as Italian side Atalanta brought him in.

Ninety-eight games, 13 goals and 19 assists later, the Russian international put in some modest performances and, while not reaching the heights Messi expected, has still had a career to be proud of. The highlight of which was ending Bayer Leverkusen's record-breaking unbeaten run to win the Europa League in 2024, before then electing to make the move over to MLS club - with a similar-sounding name - Atlanta United.

Over in the US, he's now come face to face with Messi, playing vs Inter Miami six times, winning twice, losing twice and scoring one goal as well as picking up two assists.

Aleksei Miranchuk - Career Statistics

Out of everyone on this list, Timo Werner is perhaps the one who can say he has had the most successful career, even if he has faced some stiff criticism throughout his career. The German striker lifted the Champions League after moving to Chelsea in 2020, but returned to the Bundesliga after the Blues sold him in the summer of 2022.

GIVEMESPORT Key Statistic: Timo Werner is RB Leipzig's all-time top goalscorer with 113 goals.

After recapturing some of the form that brought him to London in the first place, Werner returned to the capital, as he signed for Tottenham on a two-year loan deal. The move was not successful, though, and Spurs didn't sign him permanently. In 2026, the German then signed for MLS outfit San Jose Earthquakes but has yet to score for them.

Timo Werner - Career Statistics

Snapped up by Manchester City from Benfica as a teen, Rony Lopes would only go on to make five outings for the Premier League side. In 2015, he moved to Monaco permanently and started to find his feet, scoring 15 league goals for the French side in the 2017/18 season.

He was sold to Sevilla in 2019, with Wissam Ben Yedder going the other way, but a series of loans to Nice, Olympiacos and Troyes followed. Lopes was then let go by the Spanish giants and secured a move back to his homeland with SC Braga for another brief stint. He now plays for Motor Lublin in Poland.

Rony Lopes - Career Statistics

Another promising talent in Manchester when Messi caught wind of him, United fans thought James Wilson was destined for greatness when he emerged at the end of the 2013/14 season and bagged a brace on his debut against Hull.

That and his record at youth level had many people believing that he would emerge as United's next big academy star , but he fizzled out slowly under Louis van Gaal. Wilson trickled down the football pyramid after failed loan spells and his 2019 departure to Scottish side Aberdeen.

He spent time at Salford City and then joined Port Vale in 2021, but the 30-year-old now finds himself without a club after a brief spell at Northampton Town, the former home of strongman Adebayo Akinfenwa.

James Wilson - Career Statistics

Long before Messi had made his move to the MLS, he was keeping an eye on some of the most exciting prospects coming out of the United States. Ripping it up as a prolific striker in the youth ranks of football in the country, Gyasi Zardes scored 16 goals as LA Galaxy won the MLS Cup in 2014 and became the first homegrown player to score in the cup's final that season.

An incredibly bright start to his career burned out in the years following, and interest in Zardes faded away as injuries began to stack up. He moved to Columbus Crew in 2018 and would go on to win the 2018 MLS Comeback Player of the Year award for his rebound. Now 35, he is retired after stints with Colorado Rapids and Austin FC. The last of his 68 United States caps came in 2022.

Gyasi Zardes - Career Statistics

Khiry Shelton was selected as the second overall pick in the MLS SuperDraft by New York City FC in 2015 and was described as the 'top guy', despite still being so young, by then head coach Jason Kreis. It didn't work out, though, and he left for Sporting Kansas City in 2017. He earned a chance to impress in European football in 2019 with SC Paderborn in Germany, but the winger couldn't make it stick.

A year after his move abroad, Shelton was back at Sporting Kansas, playing 191 times for the club in total, failing to do enough to earn a senior cap for the United States. He was then released in 2025, and the 33-year-old has yet to find a new club.

Khiry Shelton - Career Statistics

All statistics courtesy of Transfermarkt - accurate as of 12/10/2026.

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