FM16 wonderkids revisited - the real careers behind Football Manager 2016’s most iconic names, from Balanta to Dybala.
The internet has decided that 2016 is nostalgic now.
A decade on, football from that era feels oddly distant. Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo ruled the sport without serious debate. Neymar seemed to unveil a new haircut every other week. Tactical trends were simpler, social media was less exhausting, and Leicester City were about to win the Premier League at odds of 5,000/1. Football felt more chaotic, more romantic and less predictable than it does today.
Back then, Football Manager 2016 captured that moment perfectly. The databases were stacked with players who felt inevitable, careers waiting to be unlocked with the right save, the right club, the right development plan. Some of those names went on to justify the hype. Others took far more complicated paths than FM ever suggested.
The teething problems with FM26 have sent many managers back to older editions. Sometimes it is worth taking a trip down memory lane, opening an old save file, breaking away from the Unity engine and playing some retro seasons.
Speaking to Gambling.com, the independent gambling review platform known for expert-led testing and its list of new casino sites, one player put it simply: "The game just isn't doing it for me this year, and with the 15/16 season being so iconic, it's good to revisit the past You feel for some of the lads now that waited so long, and while it's getting better, I'm liking the nostalgia of the old games."
Now, almost 10 years later, here's where some of FM16's most iconic stars actually ended up.
Éder Álvarez Balanta
In FM16, Balanta was almost a cheat code. Quick, powerful and left-footed, he looked destined for Europe's elite. In reality, his career took a steadier path.
After leaving River Plate that summer, Balanta spent his prime years in Switzerland with Basel, becoming a reliable defender rather than a superstar. He earned silverware and continental experience but never made the leap to a top-five league mainstay.
More recently, his career has shifted towards less intense footballing environments with Cali, a far cry from the Ballon d'Or trajectories many FM saves imagined for him.
Paulo Dybala
Dybala is the clear outlier, proof that FM sometimes gets it absolutely right. Highly rated in FM16, he quickly justified the hype at Juventus, becoming one of Serie A's standout attackers.
While injuries and tactical shifts prevented him from reaching true global-icon status, his technical quality and intelligence never disappeared.
A move away from The Old Lady marked a new chapter in Rome, trading spotlight pressure for influence and leadership. Dybala didn't quite become Messi's heir, but he carved out a genuinely elite career, something very few FM favourites can claim.
Saido Berahino
Few FM16 players had a sharper contrast between potential and outcome. Berahino looked like England's next elite striker, combining physicality with finishing and movement. His real-world career stalled after a failed move away from West Brom, followed by a loss of form and off-field issues. To think, Spurs nearly paid £20 million for him.
Spells outside the Premier League, including a transfer to India, never reignited his trajectory, and his international career faded early.
Today, Berahino's name is often cited as a cautionary tale, a reminder that development isn't linear, no matter how convincing the attributes look on a screen.
Jordon Ibe
Ibe was an FM16 favourite among players looking to build high-tempo, counter-attacking sides. Quick, direct and fearless, he seemed tailor-made for modern football.
In reality, consistency proved elusive. After early promise at Liverpool and Bournemouth, confidence issues and limited end product slowed his progress when Jurgen Klopp took over at Anfield.
His career gradually moved away from the Premier League spotlight, with football taking a back seat at times to personal challenges, before reigniting his love for the game in non-league with the likes of Hungerford and Ebbsfleet, before signing for FC Loomotiv Sofia in Bulgaria.
Sergi Samper
In FM16, Samper was the classic Barcelona midfielder prototype: press-resistant, intelligent and technically immaculate.
Unfortunately, timing worked against him. Emerging during Barcelona's golden era in midfield, opportunities were limited, and repeated loans disrupted continuity.
Despite strong footballing fundamentals, Samper never settled long enough to define himself at the elite level. His career became a sequence of short-term solutions rather than long-term growth, bouncing across Japan and Andorra before winding up in Poland playing for Moror Lublin.
While he remained a technically gifted professional, the commanding deep-lying playmaker that FM managers adored never fully materialised.
Max Meyer
Meyer entered FM16 as one of Germany's brightest attacking midfielders, already featuring regularly for Schalke. Early promise translated into senior international caps, but his development plateaued.
Tactical uncertainty and frequent role changes blunted his influence, and later career moves failed to restore momentum. Still technically gifted, Meyer drifted away from the elite conversation earlier than expected, though he was fairly decent for Crystal Palace.
His career sits somewhere between success and disappointment, not a failure, but a reminder that early exposure doesn't always equal sustained progression.
Conclusion
The summer of 2016 gets romanticised for good reason. Football felt less algorithmic, less predictable, and the gap between potential and reality seemed smaller. FM16 captured that optimism perfectly, offering databases full of players who looked destined for greatness if you just gave them the minutes and the tactics.
A decade later, the reality has been messier. Some became world-class, others faded, and most landed somewhere in between. That unpredictability is what makes both real football and Football Manager compelling, the knowledge that no amount of scouting data or attribute ratings can guarantee how a career unfolds.
This summer brings the World Cup, and with it a new generation of wonderkids for FM players to obsess over. The cycle begins again. In 2035, someone will write an article like this about FM26's stars, reflecting on who made it and who didn't. For now, there's something comforting about revisiting those old saves, where Balanta still becomes a Ballon d'Or winner, and Berahino still leads England's attack. Sometimes the fantasy is better than the reality.
