Touted wonderkids who made no impact in football

[Chipper]

Not being a dick guys, but we've had plenty of wonderkids that didn't live up to their potential threads. OP specifically states some criteria and even lists Ravel Morrison as an example of who not to list, yet some people are specifically listing him. Maybe actually read OP's post?

I agree about not listing Morrison, that's the least people could do seeing as OP literally named him. Mind you, I think OPs criteria is so strict that we're going to be left with barely anyone that people have actually heard of to act as conversation points.

Michael Johnson has been mentioned - well he played 37 PL games compared Morrison's 18 PL + 4 in Serie A so did more in the top flight of major leagues. The dude I mentioned (Ongenda) played 27 times in Ligue 1 and I doubt that many people have heard of him. I know some people call that a farmers league but if recognised as a major European League then that's more than Morrison did in them as well. If they don't count, and they probably shouldn't if Morrison doesn't not many will and there's not much to talk about.

 

[Ace of Spades]

Pato.

 

[1950]

Not being a dick guys, but we've had plenty of wonderkids that didn't live up to their potential threads. OP specifically states some criteria and even lists Ravel Morrison as an example of who not to list, yet some people are specifically listing him. Maybe actually read OP's post?

To be fair, it's pretty difficult to find players who were good enough to catch the public eye at age 16-18 (almost senior football age), only to vanish from the game completely. It would need to be someone from a first or second tier league for it to make the news in the first place and those, even if massive failures, at least get offered chances in pro football somewhere before their career peters out, even if it's in the Cypriot league or the second tier in Belgium. If they don't even manage that, it usually involves injuries, mental issues or some other tragic story.

One I can think of is Samed Yeşil, who after a Silver medal and the Golden Shoe at the U17 Euros and a Bronze medal and a Silver Shoe at the U17 WC in 2011, a move to Liverpool with no appearance, some failed stints in Switzerland, Greece and the German third division, is now playing in the Turkish third division, aged 26.

If that doesn't count, then I really don't know.

 

[Nick7]

The Norwegian kid that went to Real Madrid, left foot, midfielder.

Odegaard

He has time and age advantages though. Let's see his progress.

What are you talking about? He had a fantastic season for Sociedad before COVID.

 

[Adisa]

Freddy Adu.

Had a friend who knew the family when they immigrated from Ghana. Said his age was bullshit.

 

[RedDevilRoshi]

Islam Feruz

James Wilson for us

 

[wrepdrep]

Alex Pato

Scored 63 goals for us, which occured against opponents such as Real Madrid, Barca, Inter, Juve & Napoli.
Played an important role in winning a league title and Super Coppa title.
Sure, his career didn't turn out the way we hoped it would do, but he certainly made an impact in his first 4 seasons in Milan.
If you read the OP, it makes no sense to mention Pato.

 

[DWelbz19]

Both downfalls triggered by mental health issues. Feel sorry for them both. Johnson has completely disappeared from the public eye and it's difficult to find any news about him because he's taken himself completely out of it which is fair.

Baxter IIRC had drug problems - cocaine, ecstasy, weed which caused him to go into severe depression and difficult to recover from when you're already at a low point.

I think I vaguely remember the Johnson stuff but I didn’t realise it with Baxter. It really is such a gigantic ask for footballers, really. People can laugh it off as being ‘soft’ and ‘modern’, and caveat it with the salaries they get — but the bottom line is they’re normally kids (or young adults) with a bundles of responsibilities chucked onto them. Not everyone can handle it. Heck, I don’t think I could.

Another recent one that was with us - Lookman. I hope it doesn't go that way but he's 22 now and isn't making much impact at Leipzig at all.

I think I remember you and I having a conversation about him once — I rated him quite highly of the limited football I’d seen of him. Strange how it’s panned out for him.

 

[Nick7]

Here’s one I think counts Souleymane Coulibaly. Top scorer with 9 goals in 4 games at the 2011 u17 World Cup for Ivory Coast while at Siena dubbed the new Drogba because reasons. Signed thereafter by Spurs. Now 25 at Etoile Sahel in Tunisia with his best season being 9 goals in 21 games at Kilmarnock.

 

[Berbaclass]

Pato.

Unfair to say he made no impact IMO. Didn't live up to the hype but he did make an impact.

 

[Champ]

Louis Holtby always springs to mind.
Was touted as the next big thing when Spurs bagged him, only to have a couple of failed loan moves and is now a squad player for Blackburn I believe

 

[Berbaclass]

Felix getting mentions

 

[Baneofthegame]

Mats Moller Daehli for us I remember being fairly hyped up, Ajax and Bayern were interested in him before we signed him.

 

[POF]

Dani Pacheco.

Liverpool legend.

 

[LiquidSnake]

Not being a dick guys, but we've had plenty of wonderkids that didn't live up to their potential threads. OP specifically states some criteria and even lists Ravel Morrison as an example of who not to list, yet some people are specifically listing him. Maybe actually read OP's post?

A lot of people just didn't read OP

The youngster Euro winning squads are full of guys like that. In France we had the "infamous" 1987 generation led by Benzema, Nasri, Ben Arfa and Menez... Their squad had some guys that fitted the OP. Two standout example :

Ahmed Yahiaoui, who I think was one of Nasri best friend growing up, he was touted as a gem signing his first professional contract with Marseille, people in circles said he was "the best" between him and Nasri IIRC... Two years later (19yo) he plays one game in Switzerland league and disappears not notifying his club and then proceed to go from french amateur club to club (and some algerians clubs also) and retired at 28 years old playing in amateur leagues.

Stéphane Marseille, the urban legend of Champagne Ardennes.

I was born and raised in that region so I will go a bit deeper on this one.

He started to play with Reims team at 17 years old in 2nd division as a very very rare (at the time) kid playing for the hometown and was part of the aforementioned hyper hyped french NT. Everybody talked about him in U13-U17 football circa 2004/2005 in the region. Long story short, by the time he was 20 he was playing at amateur level in CFA (4th division), then at 21 he was playing in DH (6th division), at 24 he was playing in PH (8th division).

By 25 he stopped football to concentrate on his wife and his kid. He tried to replay football at 28 only to have an achilles tendon rupture. He now works as a seller/cashier at Intersports (french equivalent to Sports Direct) in a small city.

What happened was that he left Reims because he couldn't agree on a professional contract (he said they wanted him to abandon trying to pass french equivalent to A Levels and didn't agree), went to Nancy in Ligue 1 and was about to start playing regularly with the main team but cameback to Reims for a girl (not his current wifey...) only to go back to the reserves and he was treated (I think rightfully) like a "everybody", wasn't a starter... and felt he fecked up then as the time passes went to lower and lower divisions.

 

[ValenciasDrilledCrosses]

The Norwegian kid that went to Real Madrid, left foot, midfielder.

Odegaard

He has time and age advantages though. Let's see his progress.

I hope you're joking, he's been one of the best players in La Liga this season and is 21. He'll probably be starting for Real next year

 

[Ali Dia]

Henri Saivet has faded into a nothing player after much hype. I don’t know how he’s held on at Newcastle for so long.

 

[André Dominguez]

As many people said: Saviola really can't be a part of this list. Sure, he was not a ballon d'or winner, but he was actually a very good overall footballer with a very solid football career who had good and bad seasons, but every season he would give you a sum of 20 to 25 in goals + assists . The only title he didn't win was the Champions League.

He actually started as a striker / support striker, but eventually moved to become a left winger later in his career, where he actually played his best football.

 

[Dr. Dwayne]

Sebastian Deisler is another one who just popped into my head. Retired at 27 or something like that because of injuries.

Deisler's problems were physical and mental.

Gonna throw Ryan Gauld into the mix.

 

[carvajal]

Sergio Santamaría, best player in a under 17 tournament(Egypt 97).
He managed to debut with Barcelona but after that he had a poor career in segunda and 2B.
I think Gai Assulin could be also a good example.
Javier Portillo. He could earn a living playing football but he was never the monster he showed at the Madrid academy.
In the children's tournament where Iniesta was discovered he shared the best player award with Jonathan Valle (Racing Santander).
I think Iniesta talked about him in some interview. Apparently really unprofessional in his youth, he had a very bad career. He still plays in the third division

 

[United58]

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.

At Altrincham now https://www.altrinchamfc.com/players/rhian-davis

 

[ThinkTank@Cafe]

Saviola had no impact on football?
Felix hasn’t even had a full season yet

Saviola had a half decent career. He was a journeyman but he played for the likes of Barca, Benefica, Sevilla and even Real Madrid. I wouldn't put him as a wonderkid who had no impact on football. You can put him with the likes of Quaresma as someone who didn't achieve as much as he could have, but he certainly doesn't belong in this discussion.

Everything is relative. I agree, Saviola had some impact on football. That impact, though, was nothing compared to the hype around him when Barca just bought a teenager for the record 15 million pounds. He was touted next Maradona and was as hot as Mbappé today.
Freddie Adu, one of the most popular choices on here, was superhot only in FM. Nobody knew him in real life. People also quoting Moukoko, Cherno Samba. They are all FM legends who didn’t perform but reality was a bit different.

 

[1950]

Javier Portillo. He could earn a living playing football but he was never the monster he showed at the Madrid academy.

Is there any truth in Raúl sabotaging his path into the first team?

 

[Aidan Azar]

Gael Kakuta.

 

[Jordan_mufc]

John Bostock. Bought for 700k by Tottenham when he was 15.

Had a decent career but nowhere near what he was touted to achieve.

 

[André Dominguez]

Everything is relative. I agree, Saviola had some impact on football. That impact, though, was nothing compared to the hype around him when Barca just bought a teenager for the record 15 million pounds. He was touted next Maradona and was as hot as Mbappé today.
Freddie Adu, one of the most popular choices on here, was superhot only in FM. Nobody knew him in real life. People also quoting Moukoko, Cherno Samba. They are all FM legends who didn’t perform but reality was a bit different.

Saviola may not have reached his top potential, but he still was solid enough to make a very good career and display solid performances on the pitch most of the time. 99% of football players would switch their careers with Saviola in a blink.

Adu will always be the winner: all the hype, the ammount of media charming, the background history, etc. He actually made a few decent appearences in Benfica as a sub, but you could see he was miles bellow any player of the squad, either technically and tactically. He actually had a very decent shot technique tbh, but being fast and strong was clearly not enough for him when everything on his game was mediocre.

 

[Cornish]

Michael Johnson, the City boy?

Jose Baxter is now playing for Memphis 901 FC. Who? Exactly.

Baxter signed for Plymouth Argyle on a short term contract at the beginning of last season. I know it's league 2 but what I saw it him he looked a level above some of the other established league 2 players. He picked up an injury and never played again before being released in November. Most fans were hoping he'd at least have his contract extended until the end of the season

 

[Bole Top]

probably doesn't count as a wonderkid, but Yaya Sanogo hasn't done shit since those couple of goals in french second league, and that was almost 10 years ago. couldn't even score in dutch league.

 

[pastyfool]

Me.

I still believe in you!

 

[carvajal]

Is there any truth in Raúl sabotaging his path into the first team?

I think you mean an interview with Portillo's father, where he blames Raúl and Valdano for his son's problems.
He also said that they ignored Anelka. Hard to say, those promises often blame others for their failures (like Bojan) and it comes from his father.
What has been written a lot is that the dressing room was very toxic, with Raúl being a bit of a tyrant.
Sabotage seems too much to me.
In the end if you score goals you play, and many young players have trouble getting minutes.
In short, what the father says does not sound fanciful to me.

 

[Drainy]

Bruno Gomes

 

[gormless]

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

The Aussie was Rhian Davis
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www....igned-for-manchester-united-20200327.amp.html

 

[Sandikan]

Jordan Ibe.
Played for Wycombe at 15 for about 6-7 games then went straight to Liverpool.

Seemed to turn in a of a misguided character with run ins with the law and after making no impact after a 15m move to Bournemouth will be released this summer.

 

[gormless]

Kerlon had that ridiculous dolphin dribble that made all European teams want him.

Some others:

Keirrison (Barca)
Breno (Bayern)
Paulinho (Barca)

He was never a wonder “kid.” He was a good player who said he was a kid.

 

[Pughnichi]

Fabio Paim has to be outright winner here.
Touted as an absolute genius
Even Ronaldo, albeit a younger Ronaldo, would talk about this kids insane ability.
Fast forward 15+ years and he’s barely played any football. The football he has played has been with much smaller teams.
Mute point but he was/is a champ manager legend. Buy him at 14 and by 16 he was arguably the best winger on the game

 

[Web of Bissaka]

What are you talking about? He had a fantastic season for Sociedad before COVID.

Ah I see, didn't know that. I stand corrected.

 

[SerenityValley]

Freddy Adu, Sonny Pike and Nii Lamptey are the 3 that always spring to mind for me.

 

[phonics_tid]

Jack Wilshere? He’s had some impact but when you consider the hype around him when he first burst onto the scene, you’d think we were getting the second coming of Xavi. I think he rode on that performance against Barca for most of his career and the last few years have been nonexistent.

Also just listened to Savage interview him on BBC Sounds and he comes across as much of a bell end as I expected him to be. Him squaring up to Fellaini is still one of the funniest things I’ve seen in football to this day.

 

[RedTiger]

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

Your name reminds me of a kid back in the early noughties, his name was Cherno Samba and he was touted as a wonderkid while at Millwall.

 

[RedDevilRoshi]

Renato Sanches