With this year’s 40-man shortlist for the annual award having been announced, Joe Brewin and Greg Lea look at where its previous winners wound up
2003: Rafael van der Vaart (Ajax)
In 2008 he was snapped up by Real Madrid for €13m, spent two trophyless seasons in the Spanish capital and then moved to Tottenham, where he was a popular figure for two campaigns before re-joining Hamburg
Van der Vaart was earmarked for greatness from very early on in his career.