10 years of NXGN: Hachim Mastour, Ben Woodburn and the top 10 teenage wonderkids who failed to meet expectations

Peak NXGN position: 7th in 2016

Croatian football truly peaked in the late 2010s, and there was a buzz for the country to unearth their next gem to complement their senior pros. Ante Coric, with his twinkling toes and shaggy hair, seemed the perfect heir to Luka Modric, whom he rubbed shoulders with at Euro 2016.

And, well, that didn't quite go according to plan. Despite taking his young talent to Red Bull Salzburg as a schoolboy before returning home to Dinamo Zagreb once he turned professional, Coric failed to kick on at the highest level. A €6m move to Roma in 2018 ought to have been his big break, yet all it did was expose how his game didn't translate to the adult game.

Coric made only three appearances in the Italian capital in his debut 2018-19 season and spent the following years scarcely playing on loans at Almeria, VVV-Venlo, Olimpija Ljubljana and FC Zurich. He was released by Roma in 2022 and was a free agent for a year before signing a contract at Croatian side Rudes. However, he was sold to domestic rivals Varazdin a year later, before his contract was terminated at the start of 2025. Coric remains without a club.

Peak NXGN position: 16th in 2017

Real Madrid's sweep of South American football has seen them unearth some top talent over the years. That's why there was so much expectation placed on Sergio Diaz's shoulders when he swapped Paraguay's Cerro Porteno for the capital of Spain in 2016. He had torn up his domestic division as a teenager and was tipped to do the same in Europe.

Yet he didn't even get a sniff in Los Blancos' senior team, instead spending five years contracted to their Castilla reserve side, and only actually plied his trade in Madrid for one of those. That sole 2016-17 season saw him put up a measly five goals in 36 games, and he barely got a look in when he spent the next term at Segunda outfit Lugo. A fairly glamorous two-year loan at Brazilian giants Corinthians yielded four appearances before Diaz returned to Cerro Porteno for another two-year stint, scoring five times in 25 matches.

A move to Mexico with Club America followed in 2020, again doing little to restore his reputation. Madrid released Diaz the summer afterwards, and though he was able to sign for Cerro Porteno for a third time on a free transfer, he lasted only a 12 more months there before moving to Greek Super League team Panetolikos, where he has seemingly found a home at last.

Peak NXGN position: 1st in 2021

A harsh selection given his young age? Perhaps, but there's no denying that the world, rightly or wrongly, expected Ansu Fati to have made more of his career by now. He broke onto the Barcelona scene in such record-breaking fashion - youngest Barca scorer in La Liga, youngest player to score and assist in the same La Liga match, youngest player with a La Liga brace, youngest Champions League scorer, you get the idea - it seemed impossible for him to fail. This was a real talent with a real future.

There's still time for Fati to deliver on his promise, especially since he doesn't turn 23 until the autumn, but he's had some major wobbles in his formative footballing years, particularly for someone who actually topped a NXGN list. For the most part, injuries have derailed his progression, already nerfing his electric pace and ability to move both ways with the flick of a mental switch. He also spent time on loan at wonderkid factory Brighton, only to become a forgotten figure on England's south coast too. The emergence of Lamine Yamal, in the meantime, hasn't done Fati any favours considering the 17-year-old has already lapped him.

Fati remains at Barcelona but is a bit-part figure in Hansi Flick's setup, often left out of matchday squads altogether. Maybe he's one permanent transfer away from finding his feet again, maybe he's one ill-advised move from winding up out of the spotlight and into infamy forever.

Peak NXGN position: 10th in 2017

Louis van Gaal's time at Manchester United saw the Red Devils win their first major trophy in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era, but his greater impact came elsewhere, continuing both his and the club's long-standing philosophies of promoting youth. Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial were the main beneficiaries of the Dutchman's trust, and for a while, it seemed his compatriot Timothy Fosu-Mensah would stand as a cornerstone for United as well.

A versatile and intelligent player capable of playing in both defence and midfield, Fosu-Mensah at the very least looked someone who could be important as a squad member or off the bench. His diverse defensive skillset should have meant his floor as a player was a utility figure for a top-level side.

Fast-forward to 2025, and at the age of 27, Fosu-Mensah is without a club. He was last on the books at Bayer Leverkusen, where he didn't play a single minute in 2023-24, and was only a member of the matchday squad a handful of times. His last senior competitive appearance came on April 23, 2023, featuring for 11 minutes in a 2-0 win against RB Leipzig.

It seems Fosu-Mensah has been unable to totally recover from two ACL injuries - one in 2019 and the other in 2021 - and there are doubts over his future as a professional, which is a real shame considering how much potential he showed as a teenager.

Peak NXGN position: 8th in 2020

The PSV production line of fine talent churned out Mohammed Ihattaren in the late 2010s. An attacking midfielder with twinkling toes, his undoubted ability appears to have never quite gone hand-in-hand with his commitment and attitude.

He has been frozen out, at least to some extent, at every club he's played for beside current side Waalwijk. Ihattaren was sold by PSV to Juventus in 2021 after falling out with manager Roger Schmidt and having previously been pictured turning up at the training ground of Nice earlier that summer. Straight after joining Juve, he was sent on loan to Sampdoria, where issues over his adaptation to life in a new country first arose, even with the help of a designated personal assistant to help him settle. This loan was terminated in January 2022 without having made a single appearance, and he joined Ajax on similar terms instead, only he underwhelmed to the point where the Dutch giants declined to trigger their option to buy.

Juventus and Ihattaren mutually terminated his contract in July 2023, but that's just where his manic summer started. Ihattaren was announced as the star signing of Turkish Super Lig newcomers Samsunspor a few weeks later to much fanfare, only for the club to rescind and cancel their offer when his agent reneged and attempted to agree new, far more lucrative terms - "You're a problem player, why should we pay you if you don't play?" was the rebuttal of chairman Yuksel Yildirim.

Ihattaren had to wait a few more months before signing another contract, this time in the Czech Republic with Slavia Prague, where he was relegated to the reserve team weeks after joining due to his physical conditioning. This deal was terminated at the end of March 2024. He headed back to the Netherlands with Waalwijk in the summer and, to his credit, is now playing 90 minutes on a regular basis in the Eredivisie. Ihattaren is still only 23 and getting a lot of game time in a developmental league, so maybe he could piece it all together after all.

Peak NXGN position: 8th in 2019

After the era of Carlos Vela and Giovani dos Santos, Diego Lainez was in line to become Mexico's next prince of football. He burst onto the scene as a 16-year-old with the country's most famous side, Club America, and was soon snapped by up Real Betis in La Liga.

Yet Lainez never took to the European game. A traditional winger who likes to get chalk on his boots, he couldn't get to grips with the physicality, his 5'6 standing making him a pushover at the worst of times. Lainez racked up only four goals in 72 games for Betis before he was loaned out to Portugal with Braga in 2022, where he played 13 times in all competitions and decided to bring his odyssey away from Mexico to an end with this deal terminated midway through the season.

Betis sent Lainez to Tigres UANL on loan in January 2023, and though they made a loss of around €8m on him, were probably thankful when the Mexican side opted to trigger their €6m purchase clause a few months after. Lainez is still at Tigres today, though is not a regular in the first XI and has only accumulated 29 senior caps since his debut for El Tri in 2018.

Peak NXGN position: 25th in 2016

Who remembers Hachim Mastour? You must remember Hachim Mastour. He was the king of YouTube starlets, the Freddy Adu of his generation. Clips of the Moroccan often went viral when he was only 14, fresh off a €500,000 move to AC Milan from local side Reggiana. Looking back, Mastour felt this fanfare was detrimental to his development: "Let's put it this way: the media attention surrounding my move to Milan ensured that clubs and advisors saw me more as an opportunity to make a profit than as a sporting opportunity that you have to be patient with. That damaged my athletic development, especially because I just wanted to play."

Mastour was football famous before he had even made his senior debut, which arrived in November 2015 on loan at Malaga, his only appearance for the Andalusians. Another unsuccessful loan at Dutch side PEC Zwolle came next - then-manager Ron Jans explained, "He can do wonderful things with a ball but he must start adding more depth to his game," - before Mastour returned to Milan and saw out the rest of his contract, later signing for Greek outfit Lamia. Disputes over injury treatment eventually saw Mastour released less than a year into his deal, and he opted to take his talents back to Italy, first with Reggina and then Carpi.

Having grown up in Italy, Mastour decided to move to Morocco, the country of his parents, with second-division side Zemamra. His more mature showings got him a move up to the country's premier division with Union de Touarga, the final club of his professional career to this point at 26 having departed last summer.

So where is Mastour now? Well, you can find him in the seven-a-side Kings League. In fairness, such a spectacle might be better suited to his style and game. Perhaps more importantly, he is happy again having struggled mentally in recent years. "I've been through difficult times. I suffered from depression but I came out of it stronger. I've found my smile and pleasure in football again," he said in 2024.

Peak NXGN position: 4th in 2020

Remember what we previously said about Real Madrid signing Sergio Diaz? How they almost never miss on South America's finest talents? Well, take that, multiply the sentiment by a thousand, and that's what you get with Reinier.

Soon after acquiring Vinicius Jr and Rodrygo, Los Blancos returned to Brazil to strike a €30m deal for Flamengo attacking midfielder Reinier in January 2020. Through the first few months of lockdown, he made a few appearances for the Castilla side - impressing with two goals in three games to boot as well - and was then sent to Borussia Dortmund on a two-year loan. The pathway was clear for his development and it seemed a no-brainer he would return to the Bernabeu in 2022 a far better player. Somehow, he came back a shell of the prodigy he was when he left.

Reinier was a bit-part player at Signal-Iduna Park. "I just wanted to get out of there. I did my part, I trained, I went home and I was there every day. I always arrived on time. I respected all the people who worked at the club. I have a clear conscience," he later said. When he returned to Madrid, his stock had fallen so far that the only team willing to take a flyer on him were mid-table Girona, again as a bench-warmer rather than a regular. He likewise failed to impress at Frosinone the following year, and is now in the Segunda Division with Granada, once more not a guaranteed name on the team sheet. Reports have suggested his communication with Madrid over the last 12 months was sparse at best, often considered an afterthought in their plans, despite his contract still having another year to run.

If nothing else, at least Reinier helped Brazil to Olympic gold at the delayed Tokyo games in 2021, which is a huge deal back home. That and his Madrid unveiling have been the two high points of his career so far, sadly.

Peak NXGN position: 7th in 2017

When you consider the main attributes you want in a centre-half - experience, strength, composure - it's a bit of a mystery why Malang Sarr's career has panned out this way, let alone why he didn't make it at Chelsea.

Sarr was the defensive jewel of France's youth teams and had 119 senior appearances under his belt with Nice before heading to Stamford Bridge in 2020 as a 21-year-old. The deal felt incredibly low-risk and high-reward, especially coupled with the fact he was immediately loaned to Porto to earn further spurs. He then chose to stay and fight for his place for the 2021-22 season, which was appreciated by manager Thomas Tuchel, who used Sarr in 21 games and continued building his stock.

Everything since has been a blur, and more so in an amnesiac way rather than an ecstatic one. An inconsequential loan at Monaco came in 2022-23 amid Chelsea's new scattergun approach to signings in the BlueCo era, and when he returned to west London, new head coach Mauricio Pochettino admitted to forgetting about Sarr entirely, which the defender disputes to this day: "He knew me. He even tried to sign me at Tottenham. I didn't ask for an explanation."

Le Havre tried to loan Sarr for the rest of his Chelsea contract, only for the Blues to knock back the offer and leave him isolated until his deal ran out in 2024. He then joined Will Still's Lens on a free transfer and has become a key player following this January's sale of Abdukodir Khusanov to Manchester City.

Peak NXGN position: 20th in 2017

To paraphrase Gary Neville, Ben Woodburn was the banker, the no-brainer, the one who couldn't fail. He had all the trademarks to become Liverpool's next great homegrown hero. The attacking midfielder joined the club at Under-7s level, worked with future assistant coach Pep Lijnders due to his obvious talent, left school at 15 to move up an age group at their former Melwood training complex, and quickly caught the eye of Jurgen Klopp.

The legend didn't stop there. Woodburn signed a professional contract at the same time as Trent Alexander-Arnold, and broke Michael Owen's record as the club's youngest scorer at the age of 17 years and 45 days when he netted against Leeds United in a League Cup tie. Rob Hawthorne's commentary on Sky Sports, screeching 'Woodburn!' at the top of his lungs, felt eternal.

Yet further opportunities to showcase his talent failed to arrive. For 2017-18, he was named by then-youth coach Steven Gerrard as captain of the Under-18s, before being marginalised during three successive EFL loans with Sheffield United, Oxford United and Blackpool. Woodburn's final year at Liverpool saw him loaned north of the Scottish border to Hearts, and he was subsequently released.

Preston picked Woodburn up in 2022 on a one-year deal plus the option of a further 12 months, and even though they triggered that extension, he was let go at the end of that agreement. Woodburn is now in-and-out of the starting line up of League Two side Salford City, co-owned by Neville to bring this tale back around.

Though some have looked at Woodburn's career and claimed the expectations set upon him were overblown, he has insisted that was not the case. "I was training with the best players in the world at the time, so I was always getting better," he said after signing for Salford. "It was an unreal experience. I learned so much. They were winning so many games and you saw a lot into their mentality. I just needed more game time. If I'd had lots and lots of that early on I probably could have kicked on earlier."

Injuries while away on loan also played a major role in Woodburn's stagnation, and he has at least shown the humility to drop down the divisions in order to finally get his hands on some consistent game time.