England: The 'XI of the future' that was predicted in 2007 was horribly wrong

Predicting the footballing future is virtually impossible.

All of us have fallen foul of that fact at one point or another, but that doesn’t stop people from constantly taking a look into their own crystal ball.

One thing that seems to get predicted a fair bit is future England XIs and there have been some shockers down the years.

But The Sun’s attempt from 2007 might just be the worst of the lot.

The publication named what they believed was the ‘England XI of the future’ and looking back on it 15 years later, it’s safe to say they’ve had a bit of a mare.

Let’s take a look at the team…

Amos was with Manchester United at the time and represented England from U16 level to U21. But he never made the grade at Old Trafford and was instead sent out on loan numerous times. The shot-stopper is now with Wigan Athletic in League One after a spell at Charlton.

Injuries have really hindered Hutchinson’s career. He retired from football at age 21 in 2010 due to a recurring knee injury, but came out of retirement to re-join Chelsea a year later. The 32-year-old never broke into the Blues’ first-team on a consistent basis, though, and was sold to Sheffield Wednesday in 2014 – where he’s playing his football to this very day.

One of a few half-decent shouts. In his younger days at Manchester City, Richards looked like a potential world beater and that’s why he debuted for England at age 18. But like Hutchinson, injuries ruined his career somewhat and the defender-turned-pundit retired from the sport at age 31 following an underwhelming spell at Aston Villa.

Hoyte has actually played senior international football, but not for England. Between 2014 and 2015, he was capped three times by Trinidad & Tobago. The former Arsenal youth player