Some of the world's biggest names were once considered as good-not-great prospects, but will now go down as legendary players
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One of the easiest parts of football is to tell which players are good and bad. The tricky part comes when you're looking to judge how they may improve or decline. There are so many different factors which can affect careers that it becomes an almost impossible task.
Even the greats of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo had to get a couple of senior years worth of experience under their belt before they showed to the world just how legendary they could really be, how they had no ceiling to their ability whatsoever. You can find such stories throughout every generation of football – progress isn't linear.
For 10 years, we at GOAL have cobbled together NXGN lists to put a spotlight on the world's best teenage starlets, but even the best talent-spotters can underplay the potential of these kids. Here, we rank the 10 players who most exceeded our expectations over the last decade:
Follow GOAL on WhatsApp! 🟢📱Getty Images Sport10Josko Gvardiol
Defenders tend to peak a lot later than their other outfield contemporaries. With battle scars come precious experience needed for your later years. When you consider that Josko Gvardiol is still only 23, he's on pace to go down as a modern great. At the time of his peak NXGN inclusion, he was back on loan at boyhood side Dinamo Zagreb from wonderkid masters RB Leipzig, and his career since has gone according to plan.
The Croatian has already won nine major trophies (and one Community Shield, for those who keep count), and was the best player in his country's run to bronze at the 2022 World Cup, with his only blemish in Qatar being given the runaround by the literal best player of all time for crying out loud.
Only one defender in the history of the game has cost more than Gvardiol, who signed for Manchester City for £77m in 2023. Though Pep Guardiola's side have seen their standards slip at the back since Gvardiol arrived, he has taken his game to another level as an attacking full-back, coming up with some screamers – most on his weaker right foot – to help City add more trophies to their busy cabinet.
AdvertisementGetty Images Sport9Dusan Vlahovic
Dusan Vlahovic's name isn't the most glamorous on the list, but he may have had to battle the hardest in order to make it in his career. A return of three goals in 27 matches for Partizan Belgrade hardly screamed 'major prospect' even as an adolescent, but Fiorentina were convinced enough to acquire him on his 18th birthday regardless.
Slowly but surely, Vlahovic found himself becoming more comfortable in his own skin and the heavy Viola jersey. His first season in the first-team setup came and went without a goal, but his sophomore 2019-20 campaign yielded eight in 34 matches. By the end of the following 2020-21 season, he was the best prodigy in Serie A, netting 21 times in 37 games despite Fiorentina's struggles.
A fast start to 2021-22 – 20 goals in 24 matches – saw Vlahovic heavily linked with moves to north London rivals Arsenal and Tottenham, though he instead chose to continue in Italy with Juventus. His time in Turin has been far from plain sailing for a multitude of reasons, yet Vlahovic has always held up his end of the bargain, registering 55 goals in 136 games to date. No matter the crisis at Juve, you can bank on him to find the net, and maybe it's a matter of the club not realising what they've got until it's gone.
Getty Images Sport8Alejandro Balde
La Masia's absurd rate of churning out top talents remains a great footballing marvel, so much so that Alejandro Balde, now a leading left-back, wasn't considered among Barcelona's brightest prospects when he first broke through.
Sure, Balde was expected to make it into the senior side and maybe have a decent career in La Liga, but he's surpassed plenty of expectations already, and is now a firm member of Hansi Flick's team with just over 100 appearances already under his belt and three pieces of silverware to boot.
Balde was one of several young players thrown in at the deep end during Xavi's reign, though he did not bring the glitz and glamour of the Pedris and Gavis of the team. What he did provide was hope that the club wouldn't need to outsource to find a long-term replacement to the great Jordi Alba. Still only 21, Balde has over a decade left at the highest level, probably as a Barca regular, should he remain injury free.
Getty Images Sport7Brahim Diaz
When you think of Real Madrid, you'll be pondering for a while before your mind turns to Brahim Diaz, but he's one of the glue guys keeping their current Galacticos operation together. A versatile attacking midfielder capable of playing on either flank, the 25-year-old – yep, still only 25 – is the perfect embodiment of the club's next-man-up mentality needed beyond their superstar names.
Diaz has got to this point via a fascinating career path, too. He was snapped up by Manchester City from local side Malaga when he was only 16, but quickly returned to Spain with Madrid over a lack of first-team assurances at the Etihad Stadium under Pep Guardiola. Such opportunities were pretty hard to come by at Santiago Bernabeu as well, so he spent three-successive seasons on loan at AC Milan honing his craft and turning into the player Los Blancos had hoped for, playing a crucial role on the Rossoneri's way to ending their 11-year Scudetto drought in 2022.
Madrid decided to reintegrate a more mature Diaz into Carlo Ancelotti's setup in 2023, while the playmaker took the decision to change international allegiances and become the new face of Moroccan football. It's been one chaotic ride to this point for Diaz, and he's not done just yet.
