Where are they now? Top Teenage XI in Europe from 2012/13

 

Last week's edition of the Where Are They Now? series looked into the Top Teenage XI in Europe from 2011/12. With players like Marc-Andre Ter Stegen, Isco and Roberto Firmino all making the cut, the XI shared eight Champions League winners' medals between them, as well as a lot of league titles.

 

Stepping forward by another 12 months, we think the 2012/13 is our favourite yet. There is a lot of talent in this XI and, as ever, we have teamed up with Transfermarkt (TM) to compare market values from seven years ago to now. Collectively valued at £126.8m in the summer of 2013, the same group of players are now valued at a cool £496m. It's safe to say most have come through on their early promise.

 

Goalkeeper: Marc-Andre Ter Stegen (Gladbach) - 6.95 rating / £9.9m TM Value

 

Into his second full season at Gladbach, Marc-Andre Ter Stegen was still flying under the radar. His value only increased by £900k in the space of 12 months but it wouldn't be much longer before some of Europe's elite clubs took notice of the German shot-stopper.

 

2012/13 wasn't quite as good as his breakthrough season of 2011/12 but Ter Stegen still managed 3.5 saves per game and kept nine clean sheets in the Bundesliga. Fast forward seven years and Ter Stegen is Barcelona's No.1; regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in Europe and valued at £64.8m by TM.

 

Right-back: Serge Aurier (Toulouse) - 7.29 rating / £5.4 TM Value

 

After joining Toulouse midway through the 2011/12 campaign, 2012/13 was Serge Aurier's first full season at the club. He made an immediate impression at Toulouse and that continued into 12/13 where he started 28 league games. The Ivorian right-back played a direct hand in four goals in that time (one goal, three assists) but notably averaged 3.4 tackles per game and 3 interceptions per game.

 

After one more season with the French side, Aurier would sign for Paris Saint-Germain before joining Tottenham in the summer of 2017. His TM value peaked at a career-high £19m in December but has dropped to £14.4m post-Coronavirus and now Tottenham are looking to replace the 27-year-old.

 

Centre-back: Marquinhos (Roma) - 7.21 rating / £13.5m TM Value

 

The 2012/13 campaign was Marquinhos' first taste of European football and he certainly adapted well. Signed from Brazilian giants Corinthians, Marquinhos would only end up spending one season at Roma before completing a £27m move to Paris Saint-Germain at the age of just 19.

 

He returned 2.7 interceptions per game and 7.4 clearances per game in Serie A, which remain personal bests in a single-league campaign for the Brazilian. Marquinhos initially struggled to get regular playing time at PSG and was often used at right-back but is now a first-team regular for PSG and is often deployed in midfield in the big matches. As his reputation soared, so did his TM valuation, hitting a peak of £58.5m in December. Adjusted for the Coronavirus pandemic, it has now dropped to £46.8m.

 

Where are they now? Top Teenage XI in Europe from 2012/13

 

Centre-back: Samuel Umtiti (Lyon) - 7.10 rating / £7.2m TM Value

 

Samuel Umtiti started 11 league games the season before but was a first-tem regular for Lyon in 2012/13. The French centre-back quickly made a name for himself for Lyon and even claimed three WhoScored Man of the Match awards that year. Even more impressive when you consider he has picked up just two in his subsequent 169 league appearances.

 

Barcelona eventually moved for Umtiti three years later and his market value peaked at £63m in the summer of 2018 after France won the World Cup. Since then, however, it has been downhill for the centre-back, who has never properly recovered from persistent knee problems. With limited gametime under his belt over the last two seasons, Umtiti is now valued at just £28.8m by TM.

 

Left-back: Luke Shaw (Southampton) - 6.96 rating / £6.3m TM Value

 

Luke Shaw was a revelation for Southampton when he burst onto the scene as a 17-year-old in the 2012/13 campaign. The bustling left-back rapidly caught the eye for Saints and was very quickly on the radar of some major Premier League sides. Despite interest from boyhood club Chelsea, Shaw eventually joined Manchester United in a 2014 in a deal that saw him become one of the world's most expensive teenagers.

 

Shaw started life at United well but a horror-injury in 2015 completely set the youngster back. A poor relationship with Jose Mouirnho appeared to end Shaw's United career but he has, to his credit, enjoyed a resurgence under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and finally looks every bit a United player. He is still only 24 despite having eight years of Premier League football under his belt.

 

Central midfield: Mateo Kovacic (Inter) - 7.27 rating / £13.5m TM Value

 

Mateo Kovacic joined Inter midway through the 2012/13 campaign from Dinamo Zagreb. Billed as 'the next Luka Modric', 18-year-old Kovacic was a first-team regular from the moment he signed, featuring in all but three league matches available.

 

Remarkably, Kovacic averaged more successful dribbles per game (4.4) than any other player in Serie A in 2012/13. After just two full seasons for Inter, Kovacic made a surprise move to Real Madrid in 2015 but was a never a first-team regular before eventually signing for Chelsea three years later. He boasts an impressive dribble success rate of 82.5% in the Premier League.

 

Central midfield: Adrien Rabiot (Toulouse) 7.06 rating / £2.3m TM Value

 

17-year-old Adrien Rabiot joined Toulouse in January 2013 to spend the remainder of the season on loan after, understandably, barely getting a kick for Paris Saint-Germain in the first half of the campaign. He was a first-team regular at Toulouse and it's no surprise his playing time increased at PSG the following year. Rabiot returned 3 tackles per game and 2.6 interceptions per game during his 13 league appearances for Toulouse and also chipped in with four goals and assists.

 

Unfortunately, things didn't quite work out for Rabiot at PSG. He was never the first-choice midfielder he wanted to be and eventually let his contract wind down before joining Juventus on a free transfer over the summer. Things haven't got better in Turin, however, with reports Juventus are already looking to cash in on the 25-year-old. Rabiot has made just 11 league starts this season and his TM value has dipped to just £22.95m when it was at £45m as recently as December 2018.

 

Where are they now? Top Teenage XI in Europe from 2012/13

 

Central midfield: Paul Pogba (Juventus) - 7.42 rating / £16.2m TM Value

 

Manchester United's loss was certainly Juventus' gain in the summer of 2012, as Paul Pogba swapped Manchester for Turin following a messy break up with the Red Devils. In Pogba's breakout season, he returned five goals in 27 league appearances for Juventus and claimed the WhoScored Man of the Match award four times. The best was still to come from the 19-year-old, however.

 

Pogba spent four season with Juventus in total, in which his TM value soared from £16.2m at the end of his first year with the club to £63m at the point of his return to United. Even though his performances haven't quite been as emphatic for United as they were at Juventus his valuation has continued to increase with the change in market climate. It peaked at £90m in December but with little-to-no gametime since then it currently sits at £72m.

 

Right wing: Raheem Sterling (Liverpool) - 6.97 rating / £11.3m TM Value

 

There has been a lot of hype around Raheem Sterling's career since he left QPR to join Liverpool in 2010 as a 15-year-old. After flirting with the first-team picture the season before, 2012/13 was Sterling's breakthrough campaign for the Reds. Starting the campaign as a 17-year-old, Sterling went on to make 19 starts. At the time, and for many years after, there were real doubts whether his finishing was up to scratch to cut it as an elite forward.

 

Since joining Manchester City in a controversial move in 2015, he has certainly since put that argument to bed for club and recently country too. He has reached double figures for goals in each of the last three league campaigns and scored 47 goals in that time. Real Madrid are reportedly keen on a move for the City No.7, who is now valued at £115.2m, even accounting for the Coronavirus pandemic. In three years his value has almost trebled.

 

Striker: Romelu Lukaku (West Brom) - 6.95 rating / £21.6m TM Value

 

Romelu Lukaku has always wanted to play and it's as simple as that. When it was clear he wasn't deemed ready to start for Chelsea as a teenager, he sought a move away. In 2012/13 he joined West Brom on a season-long loan deal and returned 17 goals in 35 Premier League appearances, even scoring a hat-trick in Sir Alex Ferguson's final ever game in charge of Manchester United.

 

Still forced to watch on from the outside looking in, Lukaku joined Everton the next summer before completing a permanent move to the Toffees. With bridges burned at Chelsea, he snubbed a return to Stamford Bridge in order to join United in 2017. He managed to return 28 goals in two league seasons with United but after dropping down the pecking order under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer he forced through a move to Inter last summer. In his first Serie A season he has 17 goals in 25 league appearances. After hitting £81m after his first season at United, his TM value has now dropped to £61.2m following the Coronavirus pandemic.


Where are they now? Top Teenage XI in Europe from 2012/13

 

Left wing: Julian Draxler (Schalke) - 7.41 rating / £19.6m TM Value

 

Retaining his place in the Top Teenage XI from 2011/12 is Julian Draxler. That season, age 18, Draxler took his reputation to a new level by scoring 10 league goals. Still to this day it remains his best haul in a single-league campaign by double.

 

Draxler moved to Wolfsburg as Kevin De Bruyne's replacement in 2015 but ended up joining Paris Saint-Germain 18 months later. A year after joining PSG, following a promising start, his TM value peaked at £36m but he eventually well to the wayside following the arrivals of Neymar and Kylian Mbappe. His current value of £21.6m is the same as it was four years ago and he must leave this summer in order to kickstart his career again.

Where are they now? Top Teenage XI in Europe from 2012/13