L’Equipe, a renowned French publication, predicted that six young players would dominate the sport of football in 2019. Can you tell me where they are now, six years later?
As a part of their series titled “The Wonders of European Football,” L’Equipe selected six young players who they believed would go on to achieve the highest levels of success in the sport.
The question is, what became of them? An examination of the six players who were included on the list was carried out by SPORTbible.
A. Adeyemi, Karim
Among all of their choices, Adeyemi is the wonderkid that steals the show. Before earning a transfer to Borussia Dortmund, the 24-year-old player had a successful debut at Red Bull Salzburg, where he also enjoyed his breakthrough.
It is believed that Arsenal and Liverpool are keeping an eye on the development of the winger, who is known for his lightning-fast speed. He has scored 23 goals in 93 matches for Dortmund, which has alerted some of the most elite teams in Europe.
A teenager at the time, Ansu Fati Fati made his debut for Barcelona when he was only 16 years old. Because he inherited Lionel Messi’s No. 10 shirt, it was inevitable that he would have a successful career as a superstar.
On the other hand, a string of injuries prevented him from advancing in his career, and he was eventually loaned out to Brighton, which plays in the Premier League.
Even though he is back at Barcelona, he has only played eight times across all competitions so far this season.
Dembele, Karamoko the
The publication described the attacking talent as “vivid and agile, the British striker seems destined for a great career, although questions will escort him, especially about his choice of selection.” At the time, Dembele was impressing and making serious waves at Celtic. The publication also described the attacking talent as “vivid and agile.”
Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain, and Juventus were among the clubs that expressed interest in Dembele, who is now 22 years old; however, his major transfer never took place.
Before making his way back to the United Kingdom in the form of a loan move to Blackpool, he signed a contract with Brest in the year 2022.
In the summer of 2018, Dembele signed a loan agreement with Queens Park Rangers that would last for the entire season. Subsequently, the Championship club confirmed that the loan agreement would be permanent beginning in the summer of 2025.
Ihattaren Mohamed Amine Mohamed
When Ihattaren was a young player for PSV Eindhoven, he received a lot of praise. Following his participation in 74 matches for PSV, Juventus made a big move to acquire the services of the attacking midfielder.
After reaching an agreement with the Italian giants to terminate his contract, he was immediately loaned out to another team before going through a challenging period because of the agreement.
Initially, Ihattaren signed with the Turkish club Samsunspor, but the club later decided to back out of the agreement.
In December of 2023, he signed a contract with Slavia Prague; however, his contract was terminated because he did not make a single appearance for the Czechia team.
As part of his relocation to RKC Waalwijk, Ihattaren made his way back to the Netherlands in September of last year.
Theresa Esposito Sebastiano
Esposito began his career at Inter Milan, where he worked his way up through the ranks. However, his career has not yet begun to take off, and he has spent a number of loan stints away from the San Siro.
At the moment, the Italian forward is playing for Empoli on loan, where he has scored ten goals in a total of twenty-seven matches this season.
During his time at the Sporting CP Academy, Joelson Fernandes Fernandes had the aspiration of becoming the next big thing to break through.
Prior to joining the Turkish team Hatayspor in July 2023, he had a successful loan stint at Basel with a duration of two years.
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