Where are they now? Arsenal’s 6 wonderkids from Football Manager 2015

Calum Chambers is now playing in the EFL Championship.

It’s been a whole decade since Football Manager 2015 was released, prompting us to check on that edition’s six Arsenal wonderkids to see where they are these days.

Back in November 2014, the Gunners had recently ended their nine-year trophy drought and had a squad packed with talents like Mesut Ozil and Alexis Sanchez. Surely the good times were just around the corner?

We’ve gone ahead and scrolled back through the FMScout archives, picked out Arsenal’s six wonderkids from Football Manager 15 and checked in on where they’re at 10 years later.

Calum Chambers

Having shone under Mauricio Pochettino at Southampton, Chambers was snapped up by Arsenal in the summer of 2014. Arsene Wenger paid up to £16million for the defender widely regarded as a future England international.

But reality didn’t match the expectations for Chambers. Injuries and inconsistency hampered his development and his departure to Aston Villa eight years later went almost entirely unnoticed.

An equally low-key move to Championship side Cardiff City in 2024 wasn’t what most people had expected of Chambers. He’s still only 29.

Hector Bellerin

Bellerin was a popular figure in north London during his 11-year stay with the club. However, upon the arrival of Mikel Arteta as head coach, the Spanish full-back’s days were numbered as Ben White promptly replaced him.

After enjoying short stints with Barcelona and Sporting Lisbon, he now plays for Real Betis and has made nine appearances for the Seville-based club in 2024-25.

Dan Crowley

Crowley spent time at Aston Villa and Arsenal as a youth player, but never made the grade at Premier League level.

After leaving the Emirates permanently in 2017, the midfielder played for Hull, Birmingham and Cheltenham in between spells with Dutch side Willem II.

He joined Morecambe before signing for Notts County following their return to the Football League in 2023. Crowley has 19 goals in 63 appearances for the club.

Interestingly he is also a devout Christian, after being introduced to the Hillsong London megachurch by his friend Benik Afobe.

READ NEXT: Where are they now? The 10 youngest Arsenal players handed CL debuts by Arsene Wenger

TRY A QUIZ: Can you name every player Mikel Arteta has signed for Arsenal?

Gedion Zelalem

You’d be forgiven for allowing Zelalem’s existence to slip your memory.

The midfielder was handed some minutes in the cup competitions for Arsenal, but after sensing his first-team opportunities would be limited, the German midfielder forged a career elsewhere.

Zelalem spent four years in MLS but struggled to establish himself as a regular for Sporting Kansas City or New York City FC.

Following his stint in the United States, the 27-year-old returned to Europe to play for Dutch second-division side Den Bosch for two seasons.

He now plays for NK Lokomotiva Zagreb in the top league of Croatian football.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

Oxlade-Chamberlian spent six years at Arsenal and made nearly 200 appearances for the club.

During that time he realised his early potential on many occasions, if not consistently, before going on to become an important member of Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool side for a short period.

The midfielder won all there is to win at Anfield, although due to injuries he was peripheral at best in most of those trophy triumphs.

Injuries have continued to hamper the midfielder over recent years, although he managed 30 appearances for Besiktas last season. He remains in Turkey at the time of writing.

READ: Where are they now? The top 10 Premier League wonderkids from FIFA 15

Serge Gnabry

Undoubtedly the most successful player on this entire list and one of the biggest fumbles of the Wenger era. Arsenal sensed they had a talent on their hands back in 2014 with Ganbry, but they were unable to harness his full potential.

After a sub-par loan spell with West Brom, the winger returned to Germany and hasn’t looked back since.

In the seven-and-a-half seasons he’s had with Bayern Munich, he’s managed to get his hands on 13 trophies while scoring a bucketload of goals along the way.

He’d walk into the current Arsenal starting XI too. What were they thinking by letting him go?