Most unexpected meteoric rises to the top levels in football?

Christian Vieri and Giuseppe Signori are two other forwards who took a long, scenic route through the lower leagues before suddenly establishing themselves as genuinely top-shelf footballers.

(Pippo Inzaghi also technically fits the same mold, but he broke through earlier, played for Italy's U21 team somewhat regularly, and generally just wasn't quite as good.)
 
Redplane said:
James Rodriguez is probably a classic example.
Superstar rise at the World Cup to secure a massive transfer to Real - only to be near forgotten today.
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He took Colombia to the Copa America final last year and won Player of the Tournament award.
 
Fortitude said:
The same Raphinha that was doing alright for Leeds is now breaking records set by Messi and has, I believe, one of, if not the best goal contributions this season (?). He’s also being hotly considered as the player in pole position for the Ballon D’or this season.

If you’d put a bet a £1000 bet on this being his career path when he was at Leeds, you’d have got enough back to buy a penthouse in Mayfair.

Can you think of any unexpected rises to the top that match or outdo this?
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Don’t think Raphinha was just doing alright. He was very good for Leeds. And I legit don’t think his rise is that crazy.

When Barca went in for him, I don’t think many were that surprised. I mean, look

Guirassy is a better example, in my opinion
 
How about the rise of Vinicius Jr? Remember a thread on this CAF that they would not swap Rashford with Vinicius, and he is just a Rashford without output.
 
David Platt. He was playing for Crewe Alex in 1988 in the 4th division and then went on to be one of England's best players at the 1990 World Cup.
Club wise, the original Wimbledon - didn't join the football league until 1977/78 season and were in the top flight by 1987 winning the FA Cup a year later.
Also, Nottingham Forest were playing in the second division in 1977 and were champions of Europe in 1979.
 
Seamus Coleman didn't make his schoolboy county team back in Donegal and in a few years was on PL PFA team of the season.
 
As far as teams go I would have to say Kevin Keegans Newcastle, facing relegation to league one and with the crowd on his back, they just kept on winning and winning all the way to the summit of the premier league. He replaced players like Mickey Quinn(Legend) with Andy Cole and an according to Merseyside washed up Peter Beardsley, along side home grown talent and kept continuing to add to it. They played scintillating football and then in true Keegan style he just quit. A football maverick in many ways, Keegan was unique in a way we probably won’t see again. Add to that he left us his “Love it” rant which was pure comedy gold as a Red
 
TsuWave said:
Don’t think Raphinha was just doing alright. He was very good for Leeds. And I legit don’t think his rise is that crazy.

When Barca went in for him, I don’t think many were that surprised. I mean, look

Guirassy is a better example, in my opinion
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His thread at the time of his transfer was a real mixed bag. From what he was then to what he has gone on to achieve feels like an astronomical leap, I mean, he’s now being spoken of as one of the top 5 on the planet so far this season. That’s mad!
 
Casemiro was unexpected as the "missing piece" for Madrid's midfield dominance era.
 
Back in the 1980s, early 90s you got far more of those players that came from nowhere - Ian Wright (as mentioned earlier), Stuart Pearce, Les Ferdinand, etc.

The academy system seems to spread the net far wider nowadays, so you don't get so many falling through the net. Vardy proves that there's always the exception to the rule.
 
Canada's Alfonso Aphonso Davies. From Edmonton to Vancouver Whitecaps to Bayern Munich. It was amazing to watch it unfold. What a great career he has had all ready and only 24 I believe.
 
Sir Erik ten Hag said:
How about the rise of Vinicius Jr? Remember a thread on this CAF that they would not swap Rashford with Vinicius, and he is just a Rashford without output.
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Heck, Benzema once went crazy at him and told teammates he swore Vini was playing against Madrid that game. Couldnt really get worse than that
 
Toto Schillachi would be a bit of a one.
Went to the World Cup with most people expecting him to barely play, Baggio and Vialli expected to be the star men.
Ended up top scorer and, along with Gazza and Roger Milla, the star of the tournament.
 
Bebe is one that stands out for me. To experience homelessness and passing through shelters and then being picked out by Sir Alex Ferguson playing in a tournament most people don't know about is a great story.

And it looks like since leaving us he's done pretty well with his opportunity. Scored some amazing long range goals as well.
 
KingEric04 said:
Nemanja Vidić. He came to Man Utd as a relatively unkown player from the Russian league for a very small fee. Eventually, he became one of the best center backs in EPL history. Very few people could have predicted this, especially after Vidic's rocky start at Man utd.
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I think Vidic came to United at a better level than people realised, maybe because he was playing in Eastern Europe. He was Serbia’s best defender in 2006 WC qualifying when they conceded an amazing 1 goal in 10 games which was a record. He was Serbian footballer of the year for that and then missed the WC because of injury and they really struggled without him. He was also the most expensive defender in Russian football when he was there. Obviously he went up a level and there were many players with similar records coming here who failed miserably but just that he was quite highly rated.
 
KeanoMagicHat said:
I think Vidic came to United at a better level than people realised, maybe because he was playing in Eastern Europe. He was Serbia’s best defender in 2006 WC qualifying when they conceded an amazing 1 goal in 10 games which was a record. He was Serbian footballer of the year for that and then missed the WC because of injury and they really struggled without him. He was also the most expensive defender in Russian football when he was there. Obviously he went up a level and there were many players with similar records coming here who failed miserably but just that he was quite highly rated.
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I am Serbian and we knew that he was great. He was one of the youngest captains of the Red Star Belgrade and as you said he was very good in Russia. But very few people even in Serbia could have predicted that Vidic would be that great and one of the greatest defenders of all time.

He came to Utd dirt cheap and he had a worse salary in Utd than in Russia at the beginning. Vidic is kind of underappreciated both in England and Serbia. In England they always talk about Van Dijk, Rio or John Terry and Vidic was kind of forgotten. In Serbia he is more recognized but very few people will put in the GOAT conversation of Serbian football.

In my opinion, he is by far Serbia's greatest greatest ever player and the EPL's best ever center-back. I don't think that I've ever seen a better partnership in my life than Rio and Vidić. That was something truly special.
 
Kelly15 said:
Canada's Alfonso Aphonso Davies. From Edmonton to Vancouver Whitecaps to Bayern Munich. It was amazing to watch it unfold. What a great career he has had all ready and only 24 I believe.
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How the hell is he only 24
 
KingEric04 said:
I am Serbian and we knew that he was great. He was one of the youngest captains of the Red Star Belgrade and as you said he was very good in Russia. But very few people even in Serbia could have predicted that Vidic would be that great and one of the greatest defenders of all time.

He came to Utd dirt cheap and he had a worse salary in Utd than in Russia at the beginning. Vidic is kind of underappreciated both in England and Serbia. In England they always talk about Van Dijk, Rio or John Terry and Vidic was kind of forgotten. In Serbia he is more recognized but very few people will put in the GOAT conversation of Serbian football.

In my opinion, he is by far Serbia's greatest greatest ever player and the EPL's best ever center-back. I don't think that I've ever seen a better partnership in my life than Rio and Vidić. That was something truly special.
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I agree and thanks for your insight I didn’t know you were Serbian! Vidic is underrated here too, for me he was better than Ferdinand just because he wasn’t as ‘classy’ on the ball he was much more effective and consistent. It’s really annoying how people keep bringing up one game against Torres every time he’s mentioned these days when before that he was having maybe the greatest season by a centre back in the PL, he was the key defender when they didn’t concede a goal in a record number of minutes (Rio had a few injuries).

It is also interesting to me that at 22 Vidic was at Red Star, at 24 at Spartak Moscow. At 21 Van Dijk was at Groningen and at 24 he was at Celtic. These were arguably the two best CBs in the PL, so it shows that you shouldn’t judge young CBs too harshly, they could turn into monsters in their peak.
 
Kelly15 said:
Canada's Alfonso Aphonso Davies. From Edmonton to Vancouver Whitecaps to Bayern Munich. It was amazing to watch it unfold. What a great career he has had all ready and only 24 I believe.
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And even before that the odds were rather stacked against him. He was born as a Liberian refugee in Ghana.
 
Sir Erik ten Hag said:
How about the rise of Vinicius Jr? Remember a thread on this CAF that they would not swap Rashford with Vinicius, and he is just a Rashford without output.
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Signed for 50m as a 16 year old, exploded as one of the very best in the world at 21

Nope
 
Sergio Busquet for me.

Knowing how Barcelona have no problems playing their youngsters - to the point of burning them out sometimes - it was interesting that there was no hype around a gangly defensive midfielder from their academy at the time. Fabregas and Iniesta were pretty well known at the time, as was Messi.

I believe the played Toure/Marquez and Keita in defensive midfield at different times before or just after he broke out too. And then a certain bald manager took the job and Busquet became a monster, a genuine all timer.

Ridiculous meteoric rise.
 
Bokito said:
Ruud van Nistelrooij. I saw him at FC Den Bosch a couple of times. A young, decently talented midfielder. At that time he definitely didn’t show world-class potential. It wasn’t until he was transformed into a striker at Heerenveen when he started to show a real class potential.
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Spotted by Darren Ferguson who was on loan in Holland at the time
 
Eric was another one doing alright at Leeds before becoming the most influential player in PL history.

Madrid bought Benzema at a time when they were buying every single big name going and then selling the ones that didn't work out (which obviously wasn't a reflection on most of the players. Robben and Sneijder for example becoming a huge success once they were sold) There was some hype around him back then (even linked with us at one point) but did I think 20 goal seasons would become as normal as breathing for him? Nope.

Modric - see above except he's a midfielder and Madrid had cooled off a bit on the whole a/b testing of players strategy by then. Would have thought you were crazy if you told me he would still be playing top level football at age 39.
 
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killerboi2 said:
Madrid bought Benzema at a time when they were buying every single big name going and then selling the ones that didn't work out (which obviously wasn't a reflection on most of the players. Robben and Snjeider for example becoming a huge success once they were sold) There was some hype around him back then (even linked with us at one point) but did I think 20 goal seasons would become as normal as breathing for him? Nope.
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Benzema was extremely hyped and considered one of the biggest - if not the biggest - striker talents in his age group. We were also interested in him big time, he was a real deal since the young age
 
killerboi2 said:
Eric was another one doing alright at Leeds before becoming the most influential player in PL history.

Madrid bought Benzema at a time when they were buying every single big name going and then selling the ones that didn't work out (which obviously wasn't a reflection on most of the players. Robben and Sneijder for example becoming a huge success once they were sold) There was some hype around him back then (even linked with us at one point) but did I think 20 goal seasons would become as normal as breathing for him? Nope.

Modric - see above except he's a midfielder and Madrid had cooled off a bit on the whole a/b testing of players strategy by then. Would have thought you were crazy if you told me he would still be playing top level football at age 39.
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Benzema was extremely hyped before his move. I think both he and Modric don’t belong into this thread at all.
 
HTG said:
Benzema was extremely hyped before his move. I think both he and Modric don’t belong into this thread at all.
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I'd say they belong because of their rise to the top. Lots of players are hyped. I wouldn't have expected Benzema to be having 20+ league goal seasons for Madrid in his mid 30s after scoring 8 and 15 league goals in his first couple of seasons.
 
killerboi2 said:
I'd say they belong because of their rise to the top. Lots of players are hyped. I wouldn't have expected Benzema to be having 20+ league goal seasons for Madrid in his mid 30s after scoring 8 and 15 league goals in his first couple of seasons.
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I think they are both very much the type of player you’d expect to rise to the top. Otherwise we could post every single player in here except for Messi.
 
Raphinha is having a great season at Barca and could be a Ballon d’Or candidate if Barça wins the CL. But, I wouldn’t call this a meteoric rise just yet. For me, a true meteoric rise requires sustained greatness. I need to see him perform at this level for another 4-5 seasons before considering it as such. The two players who truly fit that description for me are Salah and De Bruyne. Both were rejected at Chelsea as young players but improved at other clubs. Salah at Roma and De Bruyne at Wolfsburg before returning to the Premier League. Since then, they have been instrumental in leading Liverpool and City to sustained success being their teams best players for nearly a decade. You could even argue they are their clubs greatest players of all time as well as top five Premier League greats.
 
killerboi2 said:
I'd say they belong because of their rise to the top. Lots of players are hyped. I wouldn't have expected Benzema to be having 20+ league goal seasons for Madrid in his mid 30s after scoring 8 and 15 league goals in his first couple of seasons.
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I remember Benzema being compared to R9 and all the top clubs being in for him, if anything he was doing ‘worse’ than the hype for a long time, Higuain was considered better for a while there and he got slightly overshadowed by Ronaldo. It was only in his later years that he became appreciated and had that massive season where he won the Ballon d’Or. If you asked French people when he was 20 if he would win the Ballon d’Or in his career, I don’t think people would have been that shocked. He already got a nomination for the Ballon d’Or at 21.

From an article from 2008 -

Jean-Pierre Papin has described as combining the qualities of the two best Brazilians of the past decade. "His power is reminiscent of Ronaldo," the former France striker said. "The stepovers and speed at which he runs with the ball is like Ronaldinho."

Patrice Evra:

"The manner in which he took his goal shows that he is really strong and a huge talent. It is important not to build him up too much but, after [Zinedine] Zidane, he could go on to be one of the greatest French players."
 
I was young but don't remember Zidane being regarded as some all time great in Juventus. He was 26 at the 1998 World Cup when suddenly he started rising to those conversations.
 
In think to be counted as meteoric a player has to be publicly unremarkable for a few years and then suddenly get good. So not Salah, Wright, etc. Eg someone like Irwin.
 
Malkovich said:
I was young but don't remember Zidane being regarded as some all time great in Juventus. He was 26 at the 1998 World Cup when suddenly he started rising to those conversations.
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He was already a recognised excellent talent/player that had been player of the year in France for Bordeaux and that Aime Jacquet had placed his faith in as a key player for the national team.

He wasn't a young phenom or dominant league legend in France and had disappointed at Euro 96, so it could have gone either way for him well into his career in terms of being seen as an all-time great or merely an excellent player from that era, but not really a meteoric rise.
 
BarryWinks said:
Sergio Busquet for me.

Knowing how Barcelona have no problems playing their youngsters - to the point of burning them out sometimes - it was interesting that there was no hype around a gangly defensive midfielder from their academy at the time. Fabregas and Iniesta were pretty well known at the time, as was Messi.

I believe the played Toure/Marquez and Keita in defensive midfield at different times before or just after he broke out too. And then a certain bald manager took the job and Busquet became a monster, a genuine all timer.

Ridiculous meteoric rise.
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Where's the rise though? He was in a treble winning setup at 20... and then key from then on for both Barca and Spain. It wasn't until after that generation, that an insane eye and oddity hype was put on every single youngster coming through La Masia, so that'd explain why he wasn't being recommended by everyone on Fifa 06 or FM06 etc. But he was highly rated within in the system.


It's almost certainly Vardy, he was actively in the conference at 25. I'd say others like Smalling and Watkins next, but by my basic timelines, they were out of the conference by 20. It's a big deal to lose your peak training years at such lower level training facilities.... and yet, Vardy still absurdly made it, and became legendary in every sense.
 
Sir Erik ten Hag said:
How about the rise of Vinicius Jr? Remember a thread on this CAF that they would not swap Rashford with Vinicius, and he is just a Rashford without output.
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You mean a £40m 18yr old from Brazil? His rise was meteoric in that sense but he was playing Madrid regularly.
 
fergiewherearethou said:
I'd say Gerard Pique, back to when he was with us, a cover for Vidic and Ferdinand, played from time to time but I wasn't that impressed when we sold him. He was a young talented CB but never expected him to reach the heights he reached afterwards.
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Was still not good at Barcelona. The midfield infront of him under Pep helped him alot. After Pep left, he was exposed numerous times.
Dave Smith said:
CR7 in his first few seasons look good, but then completely exploded in his third season. Maybe not from nowhere, but he did go from good talent to one of the top players ever and kept it up for 10 years+ in a relatively short span.
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This is correct except that he really did not look good in his 2nd and 3rd seasons overall. He was exciting, infuriating and inconsistent in his first season but it was his debut season i give him the benefit of the doubt. His rise was quite sudden over 1 season.
 
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