Jaxa
Full Member
Anyone mentioned Alen Halilović ? The Croatian Messi ?
Ah yes. I was a huge fan of his when he was playing on the youth and reserve team. I'm shocked of how his career has turned out.Lee Martin. Plays for Exeter City now barely played at any decent level. Was ripping it up in the youth teams.
I did think about him, didn't mention him because he's still only 23 so there's a small chance he could still become a playerAnyone mentioned Alen Halilović ? The Croatian Messi ?
Fifa legend, him and Bakkali.Hachim Mastour was a youtube sensation and looked like he would be brilliant but it never happened for him.
Having a full career playing on the top division of a competitive league is, IMO, a very good career. You really need to be a very good player in order to play almost your whole career on a top division even if it's not on a top club, it is a very competitive and demanding environment. If you fail to deliver, there are hundreds of youth/lower league player in the queue to take your place.Like 99% of them? I guess you could strip that down to 90% failure rate for players who will make it in a top football league but not become superstars.
It's crazy that I remember this, but I was 15 at the time and you just know and remember way more about football when you're younger than you do as you get older. The kid was called Rhain Davis and it was in 2007, I remember reading about him in the paper on holiday that summer. I think he was about 9 or 10.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
Ah yes, signed for West Ham for £10m. No goals, went to Fiorentina. Around this time he faked his own kidnapping and asked a ransom from his family. Currently playing non league football in Germany.Savio Nserenko - went to Fiorentina with the age of 20 for quite some money and fecked up hard.
Breno - considered to be the bigger talent then Thiago Silva. Alc. problems and other issues. Gave new meaning to "being on fire"
Tiago Neves - Bra wonderkind. Never heard ever since.
Unfortunatelly some players suffer from career wrecking injuries and never recover.Don't know if he counts but one youngster I'm always sad for is Levan Kenia
Signed by Schalke at the age of 17 in 2008, he was already a Georgian international having played against the likes of Italy and Scotland at the age of only 16. I saw him a couple of times in his first season, played 10 times for and scored a great goal in the German Cup. After that though, he injured his ankle and didn't play another match for 2.5 years!
He was just brilliant, Schalke had recently sold Ozil then and he looked just as talented as him, albeit more of a winger than a playmaker. Left footed, dimunitive and quick with the ball at his feet (played exactly like Messi in his early days). I'm sure he was going to be a star for Schalke and world football, it's incredibly sad to see him injured for so long and never have the chance to reach that level. To have one or two injuries that keep you out for a year is tough enough, to not play for over 2 years consecutively is insanely tough!
After returning 3 years from last match, he had a spell in the German 2nd division, a midtable Ukranian team and now plays in the Belarusian League.
Video of him playing at 16 (skip to 3:00 for him against Italy)
Retired at 26. Came back after joining the Seventh-Day Adventist church which meant he couldn’t play on Saturdays which meant his career at any club didn’t last that long. I’m not sure if he still holds the youngest goal scorer at the Euro recordWhatever happened to Volanthalan? Pretty sure he was youngest player at euro 2004 or something, Swiss forward.
Solskjær signed him at Molde. And yes, he was terrible.Lauri Dalla Valle was being hyped up as 'the new Torres' for Liverpool's youth team in 2009.
Yes I remember one of the commentators on the bbc or match of the day or something saying he's the most talented player hes ever seen when he was making his first few starts for SpursWas 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.
Sad story. He was the real deal apparently.Adrian Doherty. He was considered by some more talented than Giggs and Scholes.
Adem Ljajic went to the Italian league played for a few teams including Roma was okay player, but I remember from his earlier scouting videos he was unreal taking it around 6-7 players and scoring top bins like it was a piece of piss to him.Who was that Serbian kid we signed who somehow went from being a wonderkid to being so terrible we actually unsigned him before we had even signed him?
Lilac or something like that. He no longer even has a name I can remember.
Still one of the more bizarre United transfers in recent memory. I remember conventional wisdom at the time being that we took on Tosic just to get Ljajic, then Tosic was shit and we pulled out of the Ljajic deal before he ever signed. Always thought there must have been more to it than whatever issue we cited - work permit, etc.Who was that Serbian kid we signed who somehow went from being a wonderkid to being so terrible we actually unsigned him before we had even signed him?
Lilac or something like that. He no longer even has a name I can remember.
Nserenkos talent was insane, but he lost gravity.. Bit like Berkant GöktanSavio Nserenko - went to Fiorentina with the age of 20 for quite some money and fecked up hard.
See also Mitch Langerak? BVB had a few of these - Ibrahim Tanko, Vladimir But.. Later Isak, Leiter, Bittencourt, Passlack etc etc etcAustralian Goalkeeper Dean Bouzanis.
Liverpool signed him in 2007 and Rafa Benitez described him as the best goalkeeper in the world...for his age!
Apparently he was on a contract of 10k a week at the age of 16. Looking at where his career went after that, I think that was the best pay day he's ever had.
Jesus, what a terrible story.Another Manc wonderkid. Christopher Byrne. A magical left winger. Touted as "the best player to emerge from the lower leagues in 15 years" by Sammy Mcllroy, when managing him at Macclesfield Town. Byrne scored a hat trick within 30 minutes of his debut for Macc. The fans loved him straight away. And just 18 games later he was gone. But not before he scored another 30 minute hat trick (alongside 1 from ex red Peter Davenport) in Macc's final game of the season. A hat trick that secured Macc's promotion to the football league for the first time in their history. At just 21 his legend was secured. Sunderland came in for him. Peter Reid signed him alongside Kevin Phillips and Lee Clark. His debut came in the opening game of the season at the brand new Stadium of light.. vs Kinkladze's Man City. And despite chopping Kinkladze down to give away a consolation penalty. Sunderland won 3-1. With Byrne running the show. Black Cat fans went home raving about the trickiest winger they'd seen since "Shackleton" in his prime.. (me neither)
But just 5 games later it was all over. Byrne had disappeared from the first team forever. His contract cancelled for homesickness (aka harbouring a wanted murderer in his hotel room) and any hopes of a comeback were ended a few years later when he was shot in the leg a 10 minute walk from Old Trafford. Or maybe a 20 minute walk with a bad leg.