When Lionel Messi makes a prediction regarding football, there will be many who will stop right in their tracks and listen to what one of the best to have ever played the game has to say. However, those who may have decided to go a little further and take what he said as gospel back in 2015 when he teamed with Adidas and placed a wager via the use of an online betting site might be second-guessing what the Argentine has to say in the future.
The Daily Mail has decided to run a report on the 10 players that one of the GOATs had identified six years ago to be the next biggest superstars within the sport and take a detailed look at just how well each of them have gotten on since.
Of course, we all know that making predictions is not the easiest of things to do and even Messi has shown that it is something that is a rather challenging task. Of the 10 that were chosen, a few have been able to do rather well for themselves, but the vast majority of them have had a rather negative time within football.
Let’s take a look at the players he identified at the time and see where they are now.
- Accursio Bentivegna – playing in Serie C with Juve Stabia
- Marcos ‘Rony’ Lopes – playing in Greece with Olympiakos (on loan from Sevilla)
- Kenedy – playing in Brazil with Flamengo (on loan from Chelsea)
- Maxwel Cornet – playing in England’s Premier League with Burnley
- Jeremie Boga – playing in Serie A for Sassuolo
- James Wilson – playing in League Two Port Vale
- Timo Werner – playing in England’s Premier League with Chelsea
- Gyasi Zardes – playing in MLS with Columbus Crew
- Khiry Shelton – playing in MLS with Sporting Kansas City
- Aleksey Miranchuk – playing in Serie A with Atalanta
By looking at the list that has been provided, it is clear that Messi has been rather hit and miss with his choices, although it should be noted that he had picked out these players based on what they had been doing in 2015.
Indeed, there are a couple of success stories – although the term success could be used loosely in certain cases – as Cornet, Werner and Boga are arguably players to have made it at the top level, whilst others have simply been unable to do what they would have liked.
For instance, Kenedy never got a chance at Chelsea, whilst Lopes would have been expected to do a lot more than he has managed to achieve, especially after starting rather well at the youth level of Manchester City.
To this day, Zardes’ inclusion always remains a little odd considering he was 24 when the picks were made, but he remains a crucial player within the MLS for Columbus Crew at the moment.
It would be interesting to know who Messi would pick as his future stars if he were to make a number of predictions this season, although some might be grateful that he doesn’t, given what has happened to some of the 10 in this list.
