From Mbappe to Fosu-Mensah: Where are FIFA 17’s best wonderkids now? | OneFootball

The football world was quite a different place when FIFA 17 was released in September 2016.

It was called FIFA, for one thing. Marco Reus adorned the cover. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo were still at the absolute peak of their powers and dominating the goalscoring charts with Barcelona and Real Madrid. And a number of today’s household names were only just emerging.

A decade on from the game’s release, we’ve consulted SOFIFA‘s database and compiled an XI of the best wonderkids in world football at the time (Age: 19 or under, sorted by potential rating) and checked in on whether they reached the heights expected.

GK: Gianluigi Donnarumma

The second-youngest goalkeeper ever to debut in Serie A, it’s probably fair to say that Donnarumma has lived up to his immense early promise. A potential rating of 92, the joint-highest rated in the game, is evidence of what was expected of him.

Silverware with boyhood club AC Milan was lacking, but he represented them over 250 times before winning four Ligue 1 titles in four years with PSG. He’s also won the Champions League, a European Championship with Italy, and is the current holder of the Yashin Trophy for the best goalkeeper in world football.

Not bad for a 27-year-old. Winning a Premier League title with Manchester City and captaining the Azzurri to finally make it back to a World Cup are next on his to-do list.

RB: Timothy Fosu-Mensah

A throwback to the Louis van Gaal era at Old Trafford, the veteran Dutch tactician was a big believer in Fosu-Mensah.

But it just never clicked into place for the Ajax academy graduate, who only featured intermittently after Van Gaal’s departure and never really kicked on with so-so loans at Crystal Palace and Fulham.

Fosu-Mensah suffered a horror knee ligament a month after signing for Bayer Leverkusen and never really recovered to play regular football again.

He left the Bundesliga club in the summer of 2024 and has been without a club since. He hasn’t officially retired, but you’d have to assume that’s that. Sad.

CB: Malang Sarr

Sarr left Nice for Chelsea back in 2020. He spent four years on the Blues’ books but never made it beyond the fringes and was chewed up and spat out after a couple of forgettable loans away.

The defender rebuilt his reputation back in Ligue 1, and last season was excellent for a Lens side that punched well above their weight to challenge PSG for the title and qualify for the Champions League. Then he signed for Neom FC. Booooo.

Another talented French prospect who has disappointed us by taking the Saudi Pro League riches.

CB: Matthijs De Ligt

One the one hand, De Ligt helped take Ajax within a whisker of a Champions League final. He’s won league titles in three countries, and represented three giant clubs in Italy, Germany and England.

That’s obviously pretty good going on paper. And yet you look at the manner in which Juventus and Bayern binned him off, and his issues with form and fitness at Manchester United, and you wonder if that’s where he saw himself after bursting onto the scene so spectacularly almost a decade ago.

Still plenty of time to come good and have a brilliant second act. But we’re starting to have our doubts.

LB: Theo Hernandez

It was an unconventional early career for Marseille-born Hernandez, who grew up in Spain and developed his skills in Atletico Madrid’s academy. He was catching the eye on loan at Alaves when FIFA 17 was released and never made an appearance for his hometown club.

The following summer he controversially signed for hated city rivals Real Madrid after they paid out his release clause, but he never made it beyond the fringes under Zinedine Zidane (although he does technically boast a Champions League winner’s medal from his one season there).

Unlike older brother Lucas Hernandez, he wasn’t in the picture for Les Bleus when they won the World Cup in Russia and didn’t make his international debut until 2021, but he played a prominent role in their run to the final in Qatar, directly replacing his sibling in Didier Deschamps’ favoured backline.

In his club career, he eventually settled at AC Milan. He was outstanding in their surprise 2021-22 Scudetto, and for a time looked among the best left-backs in world football, but he fell off the footballing map in his mid-twenties by signing for Saudi Pro League outfit Al Hilal.

CM: Youri Tielemans

We can’t quite believe Tielemans is not yet 30. He seems to have been around forever.

But he is an old 29, and you wonder if the minutes in his legs might catch up with him. He’d already notched over a hundred appearances for Anderlecht when he was just 18 years old.

There have been some pretty cool achievements along the way. A third-place World Cup finish with Belgium. An FA Cup with Leicester City. A Europa League with Aston Villa.

And now he’s at Manchester United, set for the biggest challenge of his career to date. You’d like to think he’s got at least a few more years in him.

CM: Esequiel Barco

A lesser-known name from Argentinian football. No relation to Jude Bellingham’s nemesis Valentin.

It’s probably fair to say that this Barco hasn’t quite reached the zenith of the game. He was part of Argentina’s squad for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo but has never received a full senior cap for La Albiceleste.

He left Independiente and joined Atlanta United for an MLS record $15million back in 2018. He won an MLS Cup there before returning to Argentina with River Plate, where he won a Primera Division title. Nowadays he’s turning out for Spartak Moscow, with whom he lifted the Russian Cup last term.

Intermittent silverware, but hardly a career that’s seen him become a household name.

FWR: Gabriel Jesus

More of a striker, but FIFA 17 was released not long after Manchester City had signed the highly-rated but relatively unknown quantity from Palmeiras. At that stage it was believed he could play pretty much anywhere across the frontline, so onto the right wing he goes.

Five Premier League titles isn’t bad going, to be fair. But he’s won most of those as something of a second fiddle, and he was very much on the periphery at Arsenal last term.

It’s a shame that injuries have curtailed him, because he made an instant impact at The Emirates and looked capable, for a short while, of being The Guy.

Now fate has thrown him a bone and taken him to Hansi Flick’s free-scoring Barcelona side. He doesn’t get into their favoured XI, but he’s made the most of his short cameos so far.

CAM: Ousmane Dembele

The only Ballon d’Or winner in this XI.

Kylian Mbappe recently said that while his France team-mate was always a talented player, he was never seen as the ‘chosen one’. A FIFA potential rating of 91 and a £135.5million transfer to Barcelona, when he was just 20 years of age, suggest otherwise.

“I’ve always been like that—in the back of the class, working hard,” Dembele responded.

“Since the start of my career, I haven’t said a word. I was never the ‘chosen one’; I worked incredibly hard. Last year, I was rewarded after a fantastic season with Paris Saint-Germain. This year, we’ll see—no pressure, just taking it easy.”

Fair play.

FWL: Marcus Rashford

FIFA 17 was released a few months after Rashford announced himself to the world by scoring on his debut in pretty much every competition he played in.

Whether Rashford has fulfilled his potential is a can of worms far too big to open here, but he’s taken the long road back to Manchester United. It’ll be interesting to see where things go from here.

ST: Kylian Mbappe

Whatever happened to that guy?

Mbappe is a World Cup winner. The all-time top goalscorer on that stage. He’s won tons of trophies and scored well over 400 career goals.

We’re surprised that the Champions League still evades him. The Ballon d’Or, too. We didn’t see that coming a decade ago.