ONE of the hardest things in football is to predict the future – particularly when it comes to so-called “wonderkids”.
In 2007, the Daily Mail took a punt at predicting England’s “Team of the Future”.
The top ten nominees for the 2010 Golden Boy award
Unfortunately for them, they included Jose Baxter – now at Oldham – and long-retired Manchester City flop Michael Johnson, along with the likes of Sam Hutchinson, Robbie Threlfall, Gavin Hoyte and Scott Sinclair.
If nothing else, it should have served as a lesson to pundits to steer clear of such predictions.
Despite that, every year Italian publication Tuttosport release their Golden Boy nominations and crown a future star.
And as we enter the “roaring 20s”, we’ve taken a look back at the 2010 Golden Boy nominations.
Ten youngsters were tipped to become the future of football and while some have gone on to do incredible things, others never quite lived up to the hype.
A decade ago, Mario Balotelli, then of Inter Milan, was crowned champion of the prestigious award.
But since his days at Inter, the Italian has desperately struggled at the likes of Manchester City, Liverpool and AC Milan, becoming arguably more famous for his off-pitch antics.
Amongst the flops on the 2010 list, ex-Manchester United striker Federico Macheda was one – thanks in no small part to his dramatic, late winner against Aston Villa in 2009.
The Italian is now at Panathinaikos after a spell at Serie C side Novara Calcio between 2016 and 2018.
Another forgotten Premier League would-be wonderkid is former Chelsea forward Gael Kakuta, now plying his trade at Ligue 1 minnows Amiens after stints in China, Spain, Italy and Holland.
However, the rest of the list actually reads very well – with a host of the world’s best players of the current era present.
Liverpool’s Joel Matip, then at Schalke, was nominated in 2010, along with Inter’s former Man Utd, Chelsea and Everton star Romelu Lukaku, during his time at Anderlecht.
Juventus star Miralem Pjanic was at Lyon when he was nominated, along with then-Banfield star James Rodriguez, now of Real Madrid.
Another Los Blancos star Eden Hazard, then of Lille, prior to his Chelsea days, was on the list – along with Borussia Dortmund legend Mario Gotze and Bayern Munich’s former Liverpool ace Philippe Coutinho, then at Inter.
Of course, Macheda and Kakuta are not the only Golden Boy nominees to flop.
In fact, Renato Sanches WON the award in 2016 after his heroics at that year’s European Championships with Portugal.
But he has since struggled at Bayern Munich and Swansea. Sanches is now plugging away at Ligue 1 giants Lille.
Joao Felix won the most-recent Golden Boy crown, following Matthijs De Ligt and Kylian Mbappe.
Paul Pogba, Isco, Raheem Sterling, Mario Gotze and Anthony Martial also won the gong in the 2010s.
Flamengo’s Reinier Jesus shows off his header skills in youth match in Brazil
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
