Sinan Kurt
Richard Sukuta Pasu
Savio Nsereko
Samed Yesil
Deniz Naki
Richard Sukuta Pasu
Savio Nsereko
Samed Yesil
Deniz Naki
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Touted wonderkids who made no impact in football
- Thread starter SambaBoy
- Start date
There was an argentine kid who Ronaldinho played against and said he would be a phenom, he eventually came to my club and he was awful and has been jumping around relegation fodder clubs in brazil for years. His name is Canteros
edit: Holy crap he's 31 already! I keep forgetting 2011 was practically 10 years ago =(
edit: Holy crap he's 31 already! I keep forgetting 2011 was practically 10 years ago =(
@Alex99 Joaquín is a legend 
He's 38 and still playing with over 700 games in top flight. The reason he didn't get his 52nd cap is that he spoke out against Luis Aragones. It's not like Spain were starving for midfielders at the time.
He's 38 and still playing with over 700 games in top flight. The reason he didn't get his 52nd cap is that he spoke out against Luis Aragones. It's not like Spain were starving for midfielders at the time.
Most of Fegies Fledglings from late 80s
https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Fergie's_Fledglings
Eg: Tony Gill, David Wilson, Russell Beardsmore, Deiniol Graham, Giuliano Maiorana.
The three whom made an impression from that group were Sharpe, Martin and Robbins.
Also obligatory Freddy Adu
https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Fergie's_Fledglings
Eg: Tony Gill, David Wilson, Russell Beardsmore, Deiniol Graham, Giuliano Maiorana.
The three whom made an impression from that group were Sharpe, Martin and Robbins.
Also obligatory Freddy Adu
My "did not properly read the OP" pick : Josh Mcechran
Maybe not a wonderkid, but remeber alot of hype about Harmeet Singh when he signed for Feyenoord. In 2019 he was realeased from HJK Helsinki .
Maybe not a wonderkid, but remeber alot of hype about Harmeet Singh when he signed for Feyenoord. In 2019 he was realeased from HJK Helsinki .
Zeki Fryers.
He's only made 112 appearances in his career and he's 27 now.
He's only made 112 appearances in his career and he's 27 now.
Bebe
Christ! He's actually only 27! He could potentially still flourish though, maybe a killer season in Freiburg or Eintracht.
Sonny pike is the one I have been trying to remember for years. He was on match of the day once in one of their interest pieces. Touted as the next big thing, went to Ajax briefly, etc. look him and you’re bound to remember him on sight
Scored the winning goal in the game's biggest game, yet mentioned in a thread about players that made no impact. Poor guy.
Gourcuff did score one of the most sexy goals ever, though
Canales has resurrected his career at Betis and now is seen as a very good player in La Liga. Atleast last time I checked.
Used to watch Sporting a lot back then when the hype was at its peak and I failed to see what everyone saw in him. He had a very good left foot for freekicks but could mess up the simplest of passes several times during games.
Quintero, the Colombian tore up one of the youth world cups, got a move to Porto and big things were expected of him. Made 42 appearances in 5 years at the club, now at River Plate which isn't a massive fall from grace but anyone who watched him at that world cup, he was sensational.
Adrian Doherty. He was considered by some more talented than Giggs and Scholes.
Note: I actually wanted to type miles bellow, not above
Pelé himself said he was going to be a player worthy of his name as a nickname. It probably didn't help that he became the world highest paid youth player at the moment, at 14 y.o. he was being one of the highest wages on MLS and having multimillion dollar publicity contracts with several brands.
I can majorly speak about his time at Benfica: he can't really complain about lack of opportunities and support: the fans generally liked him, the club hold him for three years and managed to give him some pretty decent loan deals: Monaco who was urgently needing players to assemble a functional squad at the time, and Aris Salonica who was a solid mid-table club with a very good fan-base (Salonika is the second largest city on Greece), and even got loaned out to Belenenses who is actually a club that used to rely a lot on youth player loans and had a weak squad that season, but putting it simple there was no development.
In fact some of his managers pointed that he did OK in the training ground, had a solid shot technique, but he was always on the comfort zone which let most of them worried. Also his personality was not very strong: form the minute he started being left outside team choices, things would go downhill from there. He simply couldn't cope with the fact that despite being more talented in some aspects of the game, in terms of tactical and training exercises less gifted players were showing much better output.
But in terms of finances, his career was certainly successful unless he splashed all the millions he won.
A very gifted player, very strong on set-pieces but extremely inconsistent. Was mainly used as a power sub for Porto, but as his value wasn't rising it was time to move on. Teams on the PT league rely a lot on player transfers money and can't afford to keep a stalled player in the squad.
Was he ever a wonder kid? Was ok for the youth teams and ok when in the first team, bar that slipping incident. I also don't know why that transfer wasn't properly investigated, it was incredibly shady by Spurs and they just got away with it. Should be a cautionary tale for other youth players to not let agents dictate their development.
Jude Bellingham.
Just think two copa del reys is a lot less than he could have won. Never made that step up to the top tier of clubs.@Alex99 Joaquín is a legend
He's 38 and still playing with over 700 games in top flight. The reason he didn't get his 52nd cap is that he spoke out against Luis Aragones. It's not like Spain were starving for midfielders at the time.
Does Bojan, who came from Barcelona's academy count? He did end up in the Barcelona senior team for about one season and had loan stints at AC Milan so he did have his time in the spotlight, even briefly.
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Not exactly non-league, but Omar Abdulrahman comes to mind. Only 28, now playing in the Emirati league.
Xavi
Was touted as a wonderkid and ended up being a bit part player who was carried by Messi and Iniesta. He was fortunate enough to ride the coat tails of Spain's international success. He ended up in Qatar which was about his level.
Was touted as a wonderkid and ended up being a bit part player who was carried by Messi and Iniesta. He was fortunate enough to ride the coat tails of Spain's international success. He ended up in Qatar which was about his level.
Yes I remember him in a preseason friendly against Arsenal I think it was and he looked absolutely sensational and did early that same season. I really thought he could go on to be one of the worlds best. Thought similar about Javier Pastore, though I really do think he would have been a fantastic signing if he came to us, but PSG just bought and bought and bougth and he seemed to fade away there
Yeah, the hype when Xavi was a teenager was unbearable. He conned everyone.
Freddy Adu, that's a name I've not heard in a while. He was insanely hyped. He did a commercial with Pele when he was 14/15!
The Spanish Dean Whitehead
The next Pete? Crikey.
He was a B-Tech Cleverly
Anyone mentioned Adel Taarabt yet ?
Neymar never played for Sao Paolo, how did they wipe the league clean together there?
Does Hugo Viana count?
You can probably find a handful from that famous 2001 list.
https://www.planetfootball.com/quic...the-don-balon-100-best-young-players-of-2001/
I see Ramon Calliste's name mentioned further down, had forgot about him.
You can probably find a handful from that famous 2001 list.
https://www.planetfootball.com/quic...the-don-balon-100-best-young-players-of-2001/
I see Ramon Calliste's name mentioned further down, had forgot about him.
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I’d say Dale Jennings. Doesn’t really fit the op but played for Tranmere at a very young age, looked decent and I was told by one of the Tranmere coaches he was going to be a superstar. Moved to Bayern and don’t think he made an appearance for the first team. Plays at Runcorn west now
I assume he meant Santos
Was he touted as a wonderkid? My feeling is that Taarabt was what he turned out to be, i.e. a very inconsistent flair player suited to lower league football.
Well, I don't know, but remember there being alot of hype on him after his 2010-2011 season
Iturbe
Bojan Krkic was rated vey highly
Janujaz the next Ryan Giggs
Janujaz the next Ryan Giggs
What happened to Petrucci and was it Adam Ljajic? Think that was his name. Two players for us who were meant to be the next big thing about 10 years ago and I haven’t heard of at all since.
Actually I think Ljajić did have a career in Serie A but I’ve no idea about Petrucci.
Actually I think Ljajić did have a career in Serie A but I’ve no idea about Petrucci.
Islam Feruz
Lucas Piazon - amazingly still a Chelsea player despite being 26 and only having played about two games for them, 7 years ago
Ah yeah I remember Petrucci. Supposed to be our replacement for Scholes. To be fair, he had an excellent passing range and was very silky on the ball but I believed he suffered with bad injuries and nailing down a proper position. Without searching it, the last I heard he was playing in Romania.
Does David Bellion count?