Touted wonderkids who made no impact in football

SambaBoy

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What wonderkids have been hyped in the past where they have made no real mark on the game? I'm not talking about players like Quaresma who didn't live up to his supposed potential or even players like Ravel Morrison as he's still played multiple teams in the PL. I'm talking about kids at 16-18 who were touted to be next big thing but then the highest they played was in non-league.

Players like Sonny Pike...

I always remember Adam Pepper being massively linked with big clubs and he was the next Gerrard out of Liverpool's Academy. He was rumoured to have a £5m price tag at the age of 15. There's not even a wikipedia page for what he's actually done in football. https://www.footballfancast.com/opinion-2/football-blogs/star-making-liverpools-adam-pepper

Wasn't there a 14 year old kid who United signed from Australia who was tipped to be the next big thing and haven't heard of him since (sure this was 7-8 years ago?). I'm sure Barcelona had an asian youngster as well
 
SambaBoy said:
What wonderkids have been hyped in the past where they have made no real mark on the game? I'm not talking about players like Quaresma who didn't live up to his supposed potential or even players like Ravel Morrison as he's still played multiple teams in the PL. I'm talking about kids at 16-18 who were touted to be next big thing but then the highest they played was in non-league.

Players like Sonny Pike...

I always remember Adam Pepper being massively linked with big clubs and he was the next Gerrard out of Liverpool's Academy. He was rumoured to have a £5m price tag at the age of 15. There's not even a wikipedia page for what he's actually done in football. https://www.footballfancast.com/opinion-2/football-blogs/star-making-liverpools-adam-pepper

Wasn't there a 14 year old kid who United signed from Australia who was tipped to be the next big thing and haven't heard of him since (sure this was 7-8 years ago?). I'm sure Barcelona had an asian youngster as well
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I believe Barcelona’s Asian youngster is Takefusa Kubo who is now at Real Madrid.
 
John Fleck and Ryan Gauld. They both had incredible hype surrounding them and even became FM legends.
 
Kerlon ?
Went to Italy ,possibly based on the hype of his novelty 'seal dribble', and hasn't been seen/found since.
 
Lee Martin. Plays for Exeter City now barely played at any decent level. Was ripping it up in the youth teams.
 
Doesn't fit "no impact" but threads like this always make me think of Saviola and the difference between the hype/promise and what he actually became.
 
JPRouve said:
John Fleck and Ryan Gauld. They both had incredible hype surrounding them and even became FM legends.
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Fleck has been a solid PL player this year in fairness to him. Gauld has had a good season in the Potuguese second tier which is disappointing progess for him.

Not exactly a wonderkid but Bruno Pilatos was in the England u17 2010 Euro winners squad but only made 1 app in professional football in Sweden and has disappeared since 2017 altogether.
 
SambaBoy said:
What wonderkids have been hyped in the past where they have made no real mark on the game? I'm not talking about players like Quaresma who didn't live up to his supposed potential or even players like Ravel Morrison as he's still played multiple teams in the PL. I'm talking about kids at 16-18 who were touted to be next big thing but then the highest they played was in non-league.

Players like Sonny Pike...

I always remember Adam Pepper being massively linked with big clubs and he was the next Gerrard out of Liverpool's Academy. He was rumoured to have a £5m price tag at the age of 15. There's not even a wikipedia page for what he's actually done in football. https://www.footballfancast.com/opinion-2/football-blogs/star-making-liverpools-adam-pepper

Wasn't there a 14 year old kid who United signed from Australia who was tipped to be the next big thing and haven't heard of him since (sure this was 7-8 years ago?). I'm sure Barcelona had an asian youngster as well
Click to expand...

Baneofthegame said:
I believe Barcelona’s Asian youngster is Takefusa Kubo who is now at Real Madrid.
Click to expand...
There was another from Asian, a south korea prodigy, maybe it was 8 or 9 years ago.

A lad called Lee Seung Woo, now playing for a Belgian team.
 
SambaBoy said:
What wonderkids have been hyped in the past where they have made no real mark on the game? I'm not talking about players like Quaresma who didn't live up to his supposed potential or even players like Ravel Morrison as he's still played multiple teams in the PL. I'm talking about kids at 16-18 who were touted to be next big thing but then the highest they played was in non-league.

Players like Sonny Pike...

I always remember Adam Pepper being massively linked with big clubs and he was the next Gerrard out of Liverpool's Academy. He was rumoured to have a £5m price tag at the age of 15. There's not even a wikipedia page for what he's actually done in football. https://www.footballfancast.com/opinion-2/football-blogs/star-making-liverpools-adam-pepper

Wasn't there a 14 year old kid who United signed from Australia who was tipped to be the next big thing and haven't heard of him since (sure this was 7-8 years ago?). I'm sure Barcelona had an asian youngster as well
Click to expand...
Rhain Davis. He shot to fame in 2006, I think it was when his father uploaded a YouTube video of his. Was dubbed the next Rooney and we signed him up at the age of 9. Never heard of him again.
 
Mandatory mention of Cherno Samba. I believe he was actually quite hyped in real life, not just CM, saw him play for some England U-team around 2000. Harldy played 50 senior matches before ending his career in Tønsberg, Norway.
 
Baneofthegame said:
I believe Barcelona’s Asian youngster is Takefusa Kubo who is now at Real Madrid.
Click to expand...
was he one of the underage transfers that got barca a transfer ban?
thats going to sting extra bad if he makes it at madrid
Anyway hes 18 years old so has no place being on this list (see below) - I mean at 18 hes got 7 full international caps and played 24 league games so far this season on loan at mallorca
I'm talking about kids at 16-18 who were touted to be next big thing but then the highest they played was in non-league.
Click to expand...
 
SambaBoy said:
What wonderkids have been hyped in the past where they have made no real mark on the game? I'm not talking about players like Quaresma who didn't live up to his supposed potential or even players like Ravel Morrison as he's still played multiple teams in the PL. I'm talking about kids at 16-18 who were touted to be next big thing but then the highest they played was in non-league.

Players like Sonny Pike...

I always remember Adam Pepper being massively linked with big clubs and he was the next Gerrard out of Liverpool's Academy. He was rumoured to have a £5m price tag at the age of 15. There's not even a wikipedia page for what he's actually done in football. https://www.footballfancast.com/opinion-2/football-blogs/star-making-liverpools-adam-pepper

Wasn't there a 14 year old kid who United signed from Australia who was tipped to be the next big thing and haven't heard of him since (sure this was 7-8 years ago?). I'm sure Barcelona had an asian youngster as well
Click to expand...

Rhain Davis or something?
 
MemphisDepay said:
He plays for Altrincham now in the big leagues.
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Hasn’t been for a while now. He’s been at Sheffield Uni and just graduated with a business and economics degree. He was over in Australia last year on trial and was offered a deal with CCM, Mike Phelan’s club. But Phelan left before the deal was finalized and it fell through. He’s back in England now and planning to work in finance.
 
Does Kakuta count?

sun_tzu said:
was he one of the underage transfers that got barca a transfer ban?
thats going to sting extra bad if he makes it at madrid
Anyway hes 18 years old so has no place being on this list (see below) - I mean at 18 hes got 7 full international caps and played 24 league games so far this season on loan at mallorca
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that’s not him.
 
"No impact on football" is probably harsh as he had successful career as a young footballer in Brazil - but I would have put my house on Ganso being a worldwide star when he and Neymar were wiping the Brazilian league clean together at Sao Paulo. Went to Sevilla and was shite.
 
Ole90+3 said:
"No impact on football" is probably harsh as he had successful career as a young footballer in Brazil - but I would have put my house on Ganso being a worldwide star when he and Neymar were wiping the Brazilian league clean together at Sao Paulo. Went to Sevilla and was shite.
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His knees gave out didn’t they?
 
Freddy Adu made more of an impact than most of these players
 
Red Star One said:
Classic mention of Freddy Adu.
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Got to be him.

He was supposed to be the next Pele and bring football to the US market. The closest he got was scoring twice during a short lived spell at Benfica.

I wonder if he would have turned out better had he come to a European club from the beginning.
 
JPRouve said:
John Fleck and Ryan Gauld. They both had incredible hype surrounding them and even became FM legends.
Click to expand...

Harsh to include Fleck. He's doing very well for Sheffield United, just signed a new contract and is back in the Scotland squad.
 
Nick7 said:
Does Kakuta count?


that’s not him.
Click to expand...

What happened to Kakuta? Always remember being unimpressed every time I saw him. Quick and technical but never looked up for the battle to me.
 
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