Barcelona had just embarked on one of their best-ever seasons when FIFA 16 was released – but how have their seven wonderkids in the game fared in the decade since?
Spearheaded by the strike trio of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez, Barca had just won their second continental treble and looked pretty much unstoppable on route to doing so. All this and having some promising young players in their ranks.
Using SoFIFA, we have found Barca’s seven wonderkids from FIFA 16 and have checked out what they are each up to these days.
Munir
All the signs pointed to Munir becoming a star at Barcelona, breaking into the first team the following season as they won the treble and scored five goals in the Copa Del Rey in 2015-16.
The striker stuttered after a bright start, though, and eventually left in 2019 after a series of loan spells. His most notable spell was three successful years at Sevilla.
Capped once by Spain in 2014, he switched allegiance to Morocco a year later and has been capped 11 times.
Munir currently plies his trade with Esteghlal in the Persian Gulf League.
Sandro
Best known in England – or perhaps not – as an Everton flop, Ramirez scored seven goals in 32 appearances for Barca after being promoted to the senior squad by Luis Enrique.
The forward followed that with 16 goals in 31 appearances at Malaga to earn his Premier League move only to spend the majority of his time at Goodison Park back on loan in Spain with Sevilla, Real Sociedad and Real Valladolid.
His goalscoring touch appears to have deserted him since that move to Everton, having notched just 27 goals in all competitions since the start of the 2017-18 season.
Sandro is now at Las Palmas, where he did score nine goals last season in all fairness.
Sergi Samper
“To debut in the Camp Nou in the Champions League is never easy,” Luis Enrique said after handing Samper his bow in a 1-0 win over Apoel Nicosia in September 2014.
“Samper has a lot of quality and I think he played well.”
Many believed that would be the first appearance of many, but the Barcelona-born midfielder was yet another who struggled to make that transition from the reserves to the first team.
The midfielder made just one La Liga appearance for La Blaugrana and in 2019 left to join up with Andres Iniesta at Vissel Kobe.
Samper spent four years in Japan, making over 100 appearances for the J League club, before moving to FC Andorra.
Still only 30, Samper now plays in Poland for Ekstraklasa club Motor Lublin.
Alex Grimaldo
Having been named in the Team of the Tournament as a part of the Spain side that won the Under-19 Euros in 2012, Grimaldo was talked up as being a prospect capable of challenging Jordi Alba.
But the left-back only ever received opportunities for Barca B. Eventually, he left in search of first-team opportunities, joining Benfica in December 2016.
He shone for Benfica before moving to Bayer Leverkusen in time for their Bundesliga triumph in 2023-24, establishing himself as one of Europe’s finest left-backs. He remains in Germany to this day.
Jean-Marie Dongou
Like Kaptoum, former Cameroon Under-20 international Dongou arrived as a highly-rated prospect from Samuel Eto’o’s academy back in 2008.
The forward scored 29 goals in 132 appearances for Barca B and scored on his senior debut in the Copa del Rey but only mustered a further two appearances.
Dongou subsequently spent time in the lower reaches of the Spanish football pyramid before turning out in Finland (Honka), Greece (Anagennisi Karditsa) and Japan (FC Osaka).
Still just 30, he has been without a club since 2023.
Juan Camara
With a 72-rated ceiling on FIFA 16, Camara was always highly unlikely to make the grade at Camp Nou.
Signed from Villarreal’s academy in 2014, the midfielder spent four years at Barcelona and made one Champions League appearance under Luis Enrique.
Then he began a pilgrimage through teams such as Girona or Reus Esportiu, to which he went on loan and later toured different European leagues such as those of Romania and Poland.
He is now back in Spain and plays for Real Juan in the country’s fourth tier.
Macky Bagnack
Born in Cameroon, Bagnack arrived at Barcelona thanks to the Samuel Eto’o Foundation in 2008.
He made 43 appearances for the club’s B team before leaving for Nantes in January 2016. In the time since, Bagnack has played in France, Austria, Slovenia, Kazakhstan and Russia.
Aged 30, he’s currently playing for TSC Backa Topola in the Serbian SuperLiga.
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