Where were these football superstars when they were 16?

Martin Ødegaard – the 16-year-old prodigy from Norway who was recently unveiled as Real Madrid's latest capture is a talent that everyone is talking about right now. As the modern era of football develops, the hunt for signing the best talents available in the world, has become somewhat of a usual practice for clubs now.At the age of 16, Ødegaard is perhaps one of the few players in the history of the game who had the option to reject almost every major club in Europe, including the likes of Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Liverpool, the Manchester clubs, Paris Saint-Germain, Arsenal  – you name it, and that club wanted him. But, it was Real Madrid where he wanted to be and rightly so, the club acquired his services. Ødegaard’s contract with Real Madrid offers him an allowance of €80,000 a week. This brings us to the question: What was I doing when I was 16? What were you doing when you were 16?And, most importantly what were the current superstars in the game doing when they were 16? He made his debut for the first team last night as he became Real Madrid’s youngest ever player at the age of 16 years, five months and six days. For this slideshow, I’ve managed to churn out a few clips, fan opinions and headlines related to some of the leaders in football right now.

#1 Neymar - from Santos to Barcelona

I presume I am not wrong when I say that we have all known about how great a player Neymar was destined to be for quite a while now. From being that skinny, pacy teenager at Santos to partnering Lionel Messi in Barcelona’s attacking line – Neymar has definitely come a long way. At the age of 22, he is already Brazil’s captain and their best player by quite a margin.

Looking back at some of the old forums and fan pages from 2008, I was startled to find this thread. Certainly the Football Manager engine for the game’s 2008 version got it wrong, as clearly Neymar’s potential exceeds that of Tottenham Hotspur’s Emmanuel Adebayor.

The headlines he was making back in the day

Since it wasn’t until 2013 that the current Barcelona star made his switch to a European club from Santos that the 16-year-old Neymar’s popularity among European newspapers wasn’t the same as back home in Brazil. Things do change eventually, say after a year or two, when not a day went by when he wasn’t linked to either Real Madrid or Barcelona.

But how good was he back then anyway?