A resurfaced XI of teenagers major Spanish outlet MARCA features Celtic’s Kieran Tierney, France superstar Kylian Mbappe and others.
The feature re-emerged this week, earning praise for aging impressively, relative to usual ‘wonderkid XIs’ that age like milk.
Enjoying his Celtic breakthrough at the time, Tierney was named in a team of the best talents aged 18 and under in 2016.
A decade on, he is now the club’s most expensive-ever academy graduate, with over 200 appearances for his boyhood heroes.
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Celtic’s Kieran Tierney and Kylian Mbappe in MARCA’s under-18 talents to watch in 2016
Also in the team were Gianluigi Donnaruma and Martin Odegaard, now captains of Italy and Arsenal respectively, as well as Mbappe, who had only just signed his first professional contract with Monaco at the time.
There are a few misses, and a few borderline. But overall, it’s a group of players who are mostly still playing at an international level a decade later.
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In fact, out of the XI, only Reece Oxford and Cristian Manea didn’t go on to play regularly at the highest level.
Oxford became West Ham’s youngest-ever player when he started in their opening Premier League match against Arsenal that season. He now hasn’t played a match in three-and-a-half years due to injuries and complications with long COVID.
Manea, on the other hand, has had a decent career in Romania. With 27 caps for the national team, he was signed by Neil Lennon at Rapid Bucharest in 2024. Small world.
Dominic Solanke was linked with Celtic several times earlier in his career, prior to his moves to both Liverpool and Bournemouth. He was signed by Ange Postecoglou’s Spurs for £65 million in 2024.
The 2015-16 season wasn’t supposed to be a breakthrough for Tierney. He had been used sporadically by the reserve side the season prior, only being brought into the first team after impressing Ronny Deila whilst making up numbers in a training session.
A red card for Emilio Izaguirre in the Europa League against Ajax opened the door for Tierney against Fenerbahce a fortnight later, and he never looked back.
By the end of the season, he was a full Scotland international, Celtic mainstay and the PFA Scotland Young Player of the Year.
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The road to Kieran Tierney’s Celtic return
Tierney’s £25 million sale to Arsenal in 2019 came as a surprise to some, as he had always worn his love for his boyhood club on his sleeve.
He became a fan favourite in North London and helped the club win the 2020 FA Cup and Community Shield. Despite his early impact, his time at the Emirates Stadium was frequently interrupted by significant injuries, leading to a season-long loan move to La Liga side Real Sociedad for the 2023/24 campaign.
He represented Scotland at Euro 2020 and Euro 2024, though the latter tournament was cut short by a hamstring injury that sidelined him for several months.
His long-awaited return to Glasgow had been the worst-kept secret in the country by the time it was announced.
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