5 players Cristiano Ronaldo named as future superstars in 2015

Speaking ahead of the release of his biopic in 2015, then Real Madrid superstar, Cristiano Ronaldo picked five footballers who he thought could be the next world-beaters of the game.

750 career goals for Cristiano Ronaldo 🤩How many more before he retires? 👀 pic.twitter.com/kvbEK1pqWl

— Goal (@goal) December 3, 2020

The Portuguese forward picked the likes of Neymar, Eden Hazard, Paul Pogba, Memphis Depay and to everyone's surprise, a 16-year-old Martin Odegaard.

Ronaldo explained, "You see many players with potential, I will mention Odegaard of Madrid for example. At 16, he's still young but you can see he's a very good player."

The entire Real Madrid team is playing on a different wavelength from their most cretaive player, Odegaard. That's Zidane's biggest task this season: getting the team to play quicker, and through Ø + getting all the older players guys to unlearn this slow build up/sideways play.

— Deji Faremi (@deejayfaremi) December 1, 2020

He continued, "Hazard, for example, the No 7 of Manchester, Depay, is a good player too. Pogba... and maybe Neymar."

Who was Cristiano Ronaldo right about?

Neymar has been one of the best players in the world since 2015

Of the five names, Neymar seems to have come the closest to living up to Cristiano Ronaldo's expectations. The PSG forward has since become the world's most expensive player and was a serial winner for club and country.

Eden Hazard's Real Madrid career hasn't been great so far

Eden Hazard was probably the Premier League's best player of the decade before his dream move to Real Madrid. The Belgian won the Premier League and the Europa League with Chelsea twice.

However, things haven't panned out for him at Real Madrid so far, as his spell has been ravaged by injuries. Cristiano Ronaldo still has time to get this prediction right, is definitely still very talented.

Manchester United's Paul Pogba hasn't lived up to his potential

Manchester United midfielder Paul Pogba has not lived up to his standards since joining his boyhood club. The former Juventus midfielder left the Serie A as one of the best players in the world but has underwhelmed since joining the Red Devils.

He has won the League Cup and the Europa League in his time at United and was also part of Didier Deschamps' squad that won the 2018 World Cup in Russia. Pogba has probably hit his ceiling at United and a change of scenery would probably bring him closer to Cristiano Ronaldo's prediction.

Depay was linked with a move to Barcelona in the summer

Memphis Depay joined Manchester United from PSV Eindhoven in 2015 but the Dutch forward had a torrid time in England, leaving the club for Lyon in 2017. Since joining Lyon, Depay has rejuvenated his career and was even linked with a move to Barcelona in the summer.

The Dutch livewire will probably never reach the heights that Cristiano Ronaldo expected from him, but he's still a very good player nonetheless.

Odegaard will look to establish himself as a Real Madrid player this season

Perhaps the most surprising pick by Ronaldo was his then Real Madrid teammate, Martin Odegaard. The 21-year old Norwegian had loan spells at Heerenveen and Vitesse before his breakout season at Real Sociedad last year.

The young midfielder returned to Real Madrid this season has been fighting for his place in Zinedine Zidane's squad.