Where are they now? Man Utd’s 10 wonderkids from Football Manager 2016 | OneFootball

While we all like to brag about the wonderkids we discovered on Football Manager before they made it in real life, there are just as many examples of players failing to live up to their virtual hype.

A club the size of Manchester United means they can often bring in the best young talent but even that is no assurance they will go on to become first-team regulars.

With FM26 now on our screens, here are the 10 United wonderkids of FM16 and where they ended up.

Vanja Milinkovic-Savic

If there was ever a round of Pointless on Manchester United goalkeepers, Milinkovic-Savic may well be the answer you are looking for.

The Serbian was signed by United in 2014 before being loaned straight back to Serbian club Vojvodina but he failed to gain a work permit and was subsequently released by United in the same month that FM16 was released.

After his failed start to life at United, he spent a year at Polish side Lechia Gdansk before joining Torino in 2017.

A couple of seasons spent on loan allowed him to build up his experience before he became a permanent fixture in the Torino squad and this summer, Napoli came calling. The reigning league champions loaned the 28-year-old with an obligation to buy next summer.

Ilias Moutha-Sebtaoui

Another goalkeeper on this list is Moutha-Sebtaoui who actually never graduated from the United academy. Instead, he was released and signed on a free by Anderlecht but never played for them and would have to wait until 2023 for his first taste of senior football.

That came at Belgian third division side KVK Tienen where the 26-year-old is currently.

Timothy Fosu-Mensah

Something about Fosu-Mensah screams Van Gaal era United but the defender was actually at the club long after his compatriot had left.

Playing time though was limited and he had loans at Palace and Fulham before heading to Germany and Bayer Leverkusen.

It was a similar story there though and he left having not played a league game in the 2023-24 season, the year Leverkusen went unbeaten.

Still only 27, he has yet to find a new club.

Luke Shaw

The sole player to still be at Old Trafford, Shaw has had his injury problems over the years but when fit, he walks into the United side.

His early start at Southampton makes it easy to believe Shaw is older than his actual 30 years but he trails only Bruno Fernandes for current players’ appearances for the club and has time on side still.

Did he ever hit the heights that his youth promised? Maybe not but an 11-year career at Manchester United is nothing to be sniffed at.

Adnan Januzaj

The next [insert United legend here], Januzaj was hoped to be the future of the club when he impressed during David Moyes’ impressive year in charge.

However, like Moyes, Januzaj’s time at United ended in disappointment and he was sent out on loan, first to Dortmund and then to Sunderland to reunite with the Scot.

He left England in 2017 and rediscovered some of his former form at Real Sociedad before securing a move to Sevilla.

Callum Gribbin

Whatever potential the scouts of Football Manager saw in attacking midfielder Gribbin, it ultimately did not come to pass with the player dropping into non-league after his time at United came to an end in 2019.

He played his first senior game for Barrow before moving to Radcliffe in 2021 and in 2022, he moved to FC United of Manchester where he stayed for three years before leaving this summer. Since then, the 26-year-old has not found a new club.

Andreas Pereira

Pereira graduated from the United academy in 2014 but failed to make a noticeable impact on the team during his time at the club.

A number of loans followed to Granada, Valencia, Lazio and Flamengo before he left United permanently to join Fulham in 2022.

After three years at the Cottage, Pereira headed home to Brazil and joined Palmeiras this summer.

Marcus Rashford

Is Rashford’s United career over? That is a question he and Ruben Amorim will have to decide in the summer but after losing form in Manchester, he has fallen upwards to land a spot in Barcelona.

Perhaps signed as nothing more than cover, Barca boss Hansi Flick will have been pleasantly surprised by the club’s loan signing and he has eight goal contributions in his 12 La Liga games so far.

If Barcelona want to make the move permanent, they will have to pay £26m which is not outrageous in the grand scheme of things and may give Rashford a clean break from United.

Anthony Martial

Martial was not an awful signing for United but even his biggest supporters would fail to argue he was worth the ~£50 million United paid for him.

Falling out of favour with successive managers, Martial moved to Sevilla on loan before joining AEK Athens in 2024 on a free.

Last summer, he moved to Mexico and joined Monterrey but he has yet to score in his nine league games so far.

James Wilson

Wilson is not the first United player to drop down the divisions in search of a permanent home but the striker never really settled on one.

While on the books of United, he had four loan spells before joining Aberdeen on a permanent in 2019. That only lasted a year though and he moved to Salford in 2020, spending a single season there.

In 2021, he joined Port Vale where he stayed until 2024 before moving to Northampton Town where he made just nine league appearances.

Turning 30 in early December, Wilson has yet to find a new club since leaving the Cobblers in the summer.