Lionel Messi\u2019s latest adidas-backed list of rising players offers a useful checkpoint on how modern talent develops. The campaign includes Kees Smit, while the previous two editions, released in 2024 and 2025, give a wider picture of where Messi\u2019s earlier selections now stand.<\/p>\n
Some have moved forward quickly. Kenan Y\u0131ld\u0131z had already built a reputation when he earned Messi\u2019s backing, and he has since become a key figure for Juventus, taking the club\u2019s No. 10 shirt and establishing himself as one of the more advanced young forwards on the list. Vicky L\u00f3pez has also added to an already strong r\u00e9sum\u00e9 at Barcelona Femen\u00ed, where she has won 16 major honours and collected both the TuttoSport \u2018Golden Girl\u2019 award in 2024 and the Kopa Trophy a year later.<\/p>\n
Jaedyn Shaw continues to carry her reputation across club and country. After debuting in the NWSL as a 17-year-old, she now has 30 USWNT caps and 10 goals, while 2026 has brought another productive spell in the NWSL. Antonio Nusa has responded well to his move to RB Leipzig, where Martin Demichelis called him \u201cone of the best wingers in the world\u201d. Assan Ou\u00e9draogo has also started to emerge after a quiet opening season in Saxony.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, the picture is less settled. Joel Ndala has struggled to turn early promise into sustained progress and is now at Cercle Brugge. Claudio Echeverri, still on Manchester City\u2019s books, is spending the 2026-27 campaign with Benfica after loan spells at Bayer Leverkusen and Girona. Eliesse Ben Seghir, Rodrigo Mora, Lily Yohannes and Mika Godts have all shown flashes, but each is still at a different stage of development.<\/p>\n
There are also cautionary cases. Kendry P\u00e1ez has not yet made a senior Chelsea appearance, while Mohamed Kader Me\u00eft\u00e9 has yet to fully deliver at Al Hilal. Brajan Gruda, meanwhile, is on loan at RB Leipzig from Brighton & Hove Albion, where he recently scored a decisive Champions League goal. Messi\u2019s list, in short, has produced both clear successes and unfinished stories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Messi\u2019s 2024 and 2025 adidas picks have produced clear successes, setbacks and unfinished stories.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21817,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[961],"tags":[1162,59,182],"class_list":["post-21818","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-international","tag-analytics","tag-featured","tag-transfers"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21818","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21818"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21818\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21818"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21818"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21818"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}