Manchester City have made a few errors with City Football Academy graduates in recent years.
As has been well documented, the decision to let Cole Palmer leave the Etihad Stadium for Chelsea in a £42m deal has backfired tremendously, with the England international now amongst the best players on the planet.
Furthermore, talents like Morgan Rogers and Liam Delap – who Chelsea want – have been sold after emerging from the City Football Academy, both of whom are now shining in the Premier League.
However, there was another talent in Rony Lopes – one Lionel Messi tipped for stardom in the Backed By Messi campaign – who Manchester City were right to let go in 2015.
What was the Backed By Messi campaign?
Back in 2015, Messi took part in a campaign with Adidas called Backed By Messi – in which the Argentine selected ten prospects who he believed would become superstars.
Each player received a pair of the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner’s signature boots and became involved in Team Messi – receiving widespread publicity – although his selections have proven to be something of a jinx for the ten footballers involved.
- Kenedy
- Maxwel Cornet
- Jeremie Boga
- James Wilson
- Timo Werner
- Gyasi Zardes
- Accursio Bentivegna
- Aleksei Miranchuk
- Rony Lopes
- Khiry Shelton
None have gone on to become superstars, with Lopes currently far, far away from such a status.
Where is Rony Lopes now?
The man from Belem burst onto the scene under Roberto Mancini following a £790,000 move from Benfica in 2011 at the age of just 15.
Lopes became the youngest-ever goalscorer for Manchester City at the age of 17 years and nine days with a strike against Watford in the FA Cup in January 2013, and remained involved with the senior side, also delivering a masterclass in the semi-final of the League Cup against West Ham in January 2014.
That display against Watford also saw Lopes become the fifth-youngest player in the history of Manchester City.
However, the attacking midfielder began to stagnate, and was later sold to Monaco for £9m in August 2015.
From that point on, Lopes has struggled to settle anywhere, spending time at Lille, Sevilla, Nice, Olympiacos, Troyes, Braga and Alanyaspor, who he is currently tied to.
Even the Turkish side – who sit 17th in the Super Lig – have no place for Lopes, opting to loan him to Portuguese strugglers Farense, who are also 17th in Liga Portugal.
With Lopes turning 30 in December, we doubt he will have enough time to turn things around and become the superstar Messi expected him to be.
