Where are they now? Real Madrid’s 10 wonderkids from Football Manager 2015

Real Madrid wonderkids from Football Manager FM2015 10 years later including Marco Asensio, Martin Odegaard and Marcos Llorente

Ten years have passed since the release of Football Manager 2015, prompting us to check in on what became of Real Madrid’s 10 much-hyped wonderkids from that particular edition of the wildly popular football management simulation game.

Real Madrid’s La Fabrica academy doesn’t quite boast the same exalted reputation as their rivals’ La Masia, probably because fewer make it into Los Blancos’ first team, but a lot of talented footballers have come through the club’s youth ranks.

Having picked them out via the FMScout archives, here are Real Madrid’s 10 wonderkids from Football Manager 2015 – and where they’re at a decade later.

Jose Leon

Born and raised in Madrid, homegrown centre-back Leon rose through the ranks to make almost a hundred appearances for the C and B teams but never really made it to first-team contention.

He moved to fellow capital side Rayo Vallecano in 2018 but couldn’t break through there either and has since gone on to earn a respectable, honest living in the lower tiers of the Spanish game with Fuenlabrada, Alcorcon and Tenerife.

Marcos Llorente

Another defender who hails from the Spanish capital, Llorente made his senior debut in the 2015-16 season and went on to represent his boyhood club 39 times in all competitions.

But having struggled to find regular starting opportunities, the all-action utility man made the controversial switch direct to rivals Atletico Madrid in the summer of 2019.

He played a big role in Diego Simeone’s side pipping his former club to the La Liga title back in 2020-21 and remains something of a stalwart at the Wanda Metropolitano, having made over 200 appearances for the club since his cross-city transfer five years ago.

Alvaro Medran

Another academy graduate that became a regular in the reserve teams, midfield man Medran made a few appearances for the first team during Carlo Ancelotti’s first stint but never looked all that likely to nail down a prominent place in the squad.

In a series of loans and short-lived moves, Medran went on to play for Getafe, Valencia, Rayo Vallecano and Alaves in Spain before travelling further afield, going on to play in MLS (Chicago Fire) and the Saudi Pro League (Al-Taawoun and Al-Ettifaq).

He’s currently playing under Steven Gerrard and shares an eclectic dressing room with Georginio Wijnaldum, Demarai Gray, Moussa Dembele (the Celtic one) and Karl Toko Ekambi.

Aleix Febas

Another that never made it beyond Los Blancos’ reserves, for whom he regularly turned out for up until 2019, Febas has since lived a presumably pretty sweet life turning out for Mallorca and Malaga. Considerably worse places to earn your living.

Since 2023 he’s been turning out in the Spanish second tier for Elche.

Mink Peeters

Picked up from Ajax’s academy back in 2014, former Netherlands youth international Peeters was talked up as a potentially great future Dutch talent from scouts who witnessed his prolific record with Madrid’s Juvenil teams.

But he’s never quite lived up to that early promise and agreed to terminate his contract in 2019 following a series of unsuccessful loans away at modest clubs VVV-Venlo, Almere City and Lleida Esportiu.

As a free agent, Peeters made the leftfield choice of signing for Serbian side Cukaricki and has since spent time in the Dutch second tier (FC Volendam), the United Arab Emirates (Gulf United) and – currently – Austria (SV Lafnitz).

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Martin Odegaard

Signed as a 15-year-old, having already excelled at senior level for his boyhood club Stromsgodset, Odegaard is that rare beast that has actually lived up to the ridiculous hype from his days as a prodigiously talented teenager.

During his six years on Madrid’s books, he demonstrated his immense potential both for their reserve team and wildly impressive loans away at Heerenveen and Real Sociedad.

But there was never really a place for him amid fierce midfield competition and he only made eight La Liga appearances for the club before his 2021 sale to Arsenal.

His current status as one of the Gunners’ very best and most important players has recently been underlined by his struggles in his injury-enforced absence.

READ: Martin Odegaard: Revisiting the four alternatives Arsenal chased in 2021

Marco Asensio

The winger often caught the eye with a penchant for beautiful long-range strikes, something he most famously demonstrated in the 2017 Champions League final dismantling of Juventus.

After a couple of early, eye-catching loans away, Asensio spent seven years as a more than useful member of Madrid’s first-team squad – amounting to a fine return of 61 goals in 286 appearances for the club.

But while he enjoyed some decent runs of form, there was often the sense he was best as an impact sub or rotation option and rarely felt like an undisputed starter in their star-studded squads.

In 2023 he reportedly rejected a contract extension offer and left on a free transfer to Paris Saint-German in search of a new challenge. But he’s once again found himself a frequent substitute under Luis Enrique in Paris.

Cristian Benavente

Peru international Benavente was born and raised in Spain and developed his skills in Madrid’s academy since joining the club as an eight-year-old.

Another that never made it beyond the reserves, the attacking midfielder’s wonderfully strange career is surely the only one that includes stops in Milton Keynes (MK Dons, 2015-16), Egypt (Pyramids, 2019-22) and Peru (Alianza Lima, 2022-23).

He’s still turning out in Peru, currently for the excellently named Sport Boys.

Borja Mayoral

The striker was only 17 years old when he was touted as one to watch on FM15, having boasted an excellent goalscoring record for Madrid’s B team and Spain’s Under-19s.

He remained at Madrid up until 2022 and actually featured for them semi-regularly as a fringe squad player under Zinedine Zidane back in 2017-18, but he was otherwise something of a perennial loanee during his time on their books.

After a fifth and final loan to Getafe in 2022, Mayoral evidently did enough to earn a permanent move. He remains at the La Liga side today and notched a more than respectable return of 17 league goals last term.

Raul De Tomas

“I left because of a gut feeling,” De Tomas explained back in 2019.

“I travelled with the team to the pre-season stage, I felt well and I got excited picturing myself playing for the club. The days went by and I noticed some things.

“Perhaps a certain coach wants you to be there but only if you accept a certain role. Some players would accept that role but I did not want to. I have improved as a player by competing consistently and I wouldn’t have had the chances I wanted in Madrid.”

Never shy of confidence, the striker has enjoyed some very decent spells of goalscoring form over the years – particularly on loan at Rayo Vallecano in 2018-19, which earned him a big-money permanent move to Benfica from Madrid.

He failed to score a single league goal for Benfica and promptly returned to Spain, firing Espanyol back to the top flight with 23 Segunda goals in 2020-21 and 17 in La Liga once they were back up.

After returning to Rayo Vallecano in 2022, De Tomas has unfortunately looked a shadow of his former self with just six goals in 47 appearances. He’s yet to make an appearance this season and appears out of favour under their current boss.