Ten years have passed since the release of Football Manager 2015, prompting us to check in on what became of Manchester City’s much-hyped wonderkids from that particular edition of the wildly popular football management simulation game.
The likes of Vincent Kompany, David Silva, Sergio Aguero and Yaya Toure were in their prime under Manuel Pellegrini. There were also several much-hyped youngsters emerging after serious investment in the academy set-up.
Jason Denayer
Denayer never quite fulfilled his potential either at City or as the successor to Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld for Belgium, but he’s still had a solid career.
The defender won the Turkish Super Lig title with Galatasaray in 2017-18 and made over 100 appearances for Lyon, featuring for the Ligue 1 side as they memorably dumped out City en route to the 2019-20 Champions League semi-finals.
Still only 29, Denayer is playing in Saudi Arabia with Al Fateh.
Karim Rekik
Dutch defender Rekik joined City’s set-up in 2011 and made a small handful of appearances under Roberto Mancini amid loans away to Portsmouth, Blackburn and PSV.
He went on to earn four caps for the Netherlands and notched over 100 matches across Europe’s major leagues with Marseille, Hertha Berlin and Sevilla.
He now plays for Al-Jazira in the United Arab Emirates.
Chidiebere Nwakali
Nwakali’s career has followed a similar trajectory to many other promising wonderkids of yesteryear; no first-team appearances for his parent club, numerous loan spells away, a quiet exit to a European club, country-hopping for years before settling in the Middle East.
The Nigerian defender is playing Al-Sahel in the Saudi Second Division. Figures.
Rodney Kongolo
By the time of his departure from Manchester City in 2018, Kongolo failed to make a first-team breakthrough and made no first-team appearances for the side.
He’s spent the rest of his career in continental Europe, playing for Italian outfit Cosenza and both Heerenveen and Roda JC in the Netherlands.
Kongolo is currently with Roda and has scored once in 42 appearances for the club.
Seko Fofana
Fofana was a key member of the Ivory Coast side that overcame a dodgy start to win this year’s Africa Cup of Nations and is widely regarded as a fine midfielder.
Such quality often falls through the gaps at City – the competition is fierce – but learning that Fofana isn’t playing elsewhere in Europe was a surprise for a player of his quality.
The 29-year-old midfielder swapped Lens for Al Nassr in 2023, but has been loaned out to Steven Gerrard’s Al-Ettifaq after struggling to make much of an impact in Saudi Arabia.
Brandon Barker
Unlike many on this list, Barker has actually played for City. His sole appearance for the club came as a substitute in a 5-1 FA Cup defeat to Chelsea in February 2016.
But the majority of his time at City was spent out on loan (four in total) and was eventually sold to Rangers in 2019.
The midfielder has enjoyed a nomadic career since then, including spells with Oxford, Reading, Omonia and Morecambe, but is currently unattached after leaving the final of those clubs at the end of the 2023-24 season.
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Javairo Dilrosun
Despite his quality, Dilrosun failed to make an appearance for City before being sold to Hertha Berlin in 2018.
The winger performed admirably for the Bundesliga outfit, as well as Bordeaux and Feyenoord, before moving to Mexico and joining Club America in 2024.
He also has one cap for the Netherlands, won in 2018 and helped the Dutch earn a 2-2 draw with Germany, but has switched his allegiance to Suriname and aims to help them reach the 2026 World Cup.
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Rony Lopes
Listed as Marcos Lopes on FM2014, the Portuguese attacking midfielder was another part of that small army of youngsters that City recruited in the early 2010s.
Signed from Benfica originally, Lopes scored on his professional debut – off the bench in a 3-0 FA Cup victory over Watford in January 2013. But only four cup appearances followed before he left in search of first-team opportunities elsewhere.
An eclectic career has seen Lopes finish runner-up in four French cups with Lille and Monaco, win a Europa League with Sevilla and the Greek Super League with Olympiacos.
Nowadays he plays in Turkey for Alanyaspor.
Olivier Ntcham
Following in the footsteps of Paul Pogba, Riyad Mahrez and Dimitri Payet out of Le Havre’s famous academy, Ntcham continued his early development in City’s youth teams between 2015 and 2017.
The attacking midfielder never made a professional first-team appearance for City and went on to play for Celtic, Marseille and Swansea.
These days he’s turning out for Samsunspor. We’ve done enough of these pieces to realise all roads lead to Turkey for former wonderkids.
Thierry Ambrose
Guadeloupe international Ambrose joined City’s academy from Auxerre in 2013 but never progressed to make his debut amid a series of loans away. Rinse and repeat.
The forward is currently turning out for Belgian club Kortrijk.
Kelechi Iheanacho
Iheanacho was highly rated at City, but the striker fell behind Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus in the pecking order and joined Leicester for £25million in 2017.
He was instrumental in the Foxes’ FA Cup success in 2021, but eventually left the club after their relegation in 2023 and now plays for Sevilla.
Jose Angel Pozo
Pozo was a key member of Andoni Iraola’s promotion-winning Rayo Vallecano side and made over 100 appearances for the Madrid-based outfit.
The attacking midfielder actually made three Premier League appearances, including one start, for City in the unmemorable 2014-15 campaign. But he left for Almeria in 2015 in search of more regular game time.
He now plays in Cyprus for Karmiotissa.
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