Players you had forgotten existed

This is a useful thread for tempering expectations of all those who are calling for us to sign the latest starlet or flavour of the month "next sure thing".

There have been loads of players down the years who fans were enraged that we didn't sign or clamouring for players they'd barely seen that have since slipped into obscurity.
 
Can anybody remember a short, stocky winger/attacker from 10~20 years ago who played for (I think) Wigan?

Been going mad trying to remember him, although I may have the wrong club which wouldn't help! :lol:
 
That world cup had a lot of those kind of players by the way: Oscar, Schürlle, Götze (though he resurfaced somewhat), Jackson Martinez, Julian Green, etc.
 
EngimaMK said:
Can anybody remember a short, stocky winger/attacker from 10~20 years ago who played for (I think) Wigan?

Been going mad trying to remember him, although I may have the wrong club which wouldn't help! :lol:
Click to expand...

from Wigan I can only remember Moses and Malouney. Hoilett was still playing for Blackburn in those days, maybe it's him you were thinking about.
 
Ramos said:
Basically Brazil's 2nd star player, attacking-wise, after Neymar in their 2014 WC. Kinda hard to believe now.
Click to expand...

If I’m not mistaken, scored the only goal for Brazil in the infamous Germany beatdown. That’s all I remember him for now :lol:
 
At one point I thought Andros Townsend had retired when he was a TV pundit for a while. Then he started playing again.
 
Giggsy13 said:
If I’m not mistaken, scored the only goal for Brazil in the infamous Germany beatdown. That’s all I remember him for now :lol:
Click to expand...
And Neuer was furious that the defense allowed that goal. One of the most strange games that ever happened :wenger:
 
EngimaMK said:
Can anybody remember a short, stocky winger/attacker from 10~20 years ago who played for (I think) Wigan?

Been going mad trying to remember him, although I may have the wrong club which wouldn't help! :lol:
Click to expand...
If it's Wigan during the PL years, then it could be Shaun Maloney (as others have suggested), Gary Teale, Callum McManaman (more recent times)?

The description of a short stocky winger also fits Damien Duff (or Junior Hoilett) who were at Blackburn around 10-20 years ago?
 
EngimaMK said:
Can anybody remember a short, stocky winger/attacker from 10~20 years ago who played for (I think) Wigan?

Been going mad trying to remember him, although I may have the wrong club which wouldn't help! :lol:
Click to expand...

Short and stocky, Andy Reid springs to mind, or Andy Sinton but neither played for Wigan.
 
EngimaMK said:
Can anybody remember a short, stocky winger/attacker from 10~20 years ago who played for (I think) Wigan?

Been going mad trying to remember him, although I may have the wrong club which wouldn't help! :lol:
Click to expand...

Do you mean Amr Zaki?
He didn't play on the wing, but was definitely short and stocky.
 
I thought strootman would have retired by now as he seemed a complete different generation.
 
The Purley King said:
Do you mean Amr Zaki?
He didn't play on the wing, but was definitely short and stocky.
Click to expand...
Thank you!!! Scored a few screamers if I remember correctly. I bought him for my team on Pro Evo and wanted United to sign him because he was so good on it (I was young, okay!?)
 
The Purley King said:
Do you mean Amr Zaki?
He didn't play on the wing, but was definitely short and stocky.
Click to expand...
EngimaMK said:
Thank you!!! Scored a few screamers if I remember correctly. I bought him for my team on Pro Evo and wanted United to sign him because he was so good on it (I was young, okay!?)
Click to expand...
Zaki is a perfect warning to fans not to always buy into the old 'kissing the badge, waving to fans' antics.

I know a few Wigan fans and he joined them on loan and in the first half of the season was playing really well, scoring goals and kissing the badge, and saying how he loved the club and fans, etc. When there was talk of him earning a move to bigger clubs in the January market that never materialised he started being really unprofessional, and not returning from international duty, etc - to the point that Steve Bruce, Wigan's manager at the time, said by the end of the season loan that he was the most unprofessional player he'd ever worked with.
 
Just seen Pandev score against Germany. I remember him a long time ago with Inter and thought he had retired.
 
Bojan11 said:
Just seen Pandev score against Germany. I remember him a long time ago with Inter and thought he had retired.
Click to expand...

Yeah, thought the same. Wasn’t he part of Inter’s treble winning team in 2010? He looked 30 back then.
 
VorZakone said:
Does Lewis Holtby still exist? Marko Marin? Where are these guys :lol:
Click to expand...
I use to post on a blog, where one of the more prominent members was convinced Marko Marin would be as good if not better than Messi. Literally every other day would be going on about how United simply can't miss out on the once in a generation talent Marin.

Made few appearances for Chelsea I guess.
 
SalfordRed18 said:
I use to post on a blog, where one of the more prominent members was convinced Marko Marin would be as good if not better than Messi. Literally every other day would be going on about how United simply can't miss out on the once in a generation talent Marin.

Made few appearances for Chelsea I guess.
Click to expand...
I thought Marin was going to be the dogs balls as well, mainly due to football manager though and nothing to do with his actual skill set.
 
SalfordRed18 said:
I use to post on a blog, where one of the more prominent members was convinced Marko Marin would be as good if not better than Messi. Literally every other day would be going on about how United simply can't miss out on the once in a generation talent Marin.

Made few appearances for Chelsea I guess.
Click to expand...
He was nicknamed the German Messi, the hype around him at Bremen was real as I remember making a long long thread in another forums convinced that we have to sign him. Made myself look a right idiot 2 seasons later.
 
On the subject of forgotten players you wrongly thought would become world class, I'll put forward Daniel Opare.

I watched him at the 2007 U17 World Cup with Ghana and he was an amazing attacking right back - getting up and down all game at pace, good on the ball, and making great contributions at both ends.

I was raving about him and he quickly joined Real Madrid and progressed to the Ghana national team. However he failed to establish himself with either and his career drifted for a number of years. I forgot all about him but, having checked, he seems to have had a couple of decent seasons in Belgium recently - although he's 30 now so really hasn't achieved anywhere near what I thought he might.
 
Steven7290 said:
He was nicknamed the German Messi, the hype around him at Bremen was real as I remember making a long long thread in another forums convinced that we have to sign him. Made myself look a right idiot 2 seasons later.
Click to expand...
It was you wasn't it :smirk:
 
Bertie Wooster said:
On the subject of forgotten players you wrongly thought would become world class, I'll put forward Daniel Opare.

I watched him at the 2007 U17 World Cup with Ghana and he was an amazing attacking right back - getting up and down all game at pace, good on the ball, and making great contributions at both ends.

I was raving about him and he quickly joined Real Madrid and progressed to the Ghana national team. However he failed to establish himself with either and his career drifted for a number of years. I forgot all about him but, having checked, he seems to have had a couple of decent seasons in Belgium recently - although he's 30 now so really hasn't achieved anywhere near what I thought he might.
Click to expand...
I thought Emmanuel Frimpong was gonna be solid, not world beater but solid premier League player for the likes of Everton, villa or spurs (at that time).

Royston Drenthe was another. Was so disappointed when he went to Madrid off the back of that u21 championship. So much talent in that particular tournament if memory serves.
 
SalfordRed18 said:
I thought Emmanuel Frimpong was gonna be solid, not world beater but solid premier League player for the likes of Everton, villa or spurs (at that time).

Royston Drenthe was another. Was so disappointed when he went to Madrid off the back of that u21 championship. So much talent in that particular tournament if memory serves.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I remember that Euro 2007 championship well. I still have loads of files on my computer with notes I made about players over about a decade - mostly youth tournaments. I had a dream of getting a job at a club as some kind of analyst or something - it never happened of course.

Anyway, just looked up that tournament and yeah, Holland had the likes of Krul, Aisatti, Drenthe, Babel.
England had Hart, Cahill, Milner, Noble, Young.
Portugal: Moutinho, Nani, Veloso.
Italy: Chiellini, Montolivo,
Serbia: Ivanovic, Kolarov, Krasic...
 
SalfordRed18 said:
It was you wasn't it :smirk:
Click to expand...

It could have easily been me :lol: However I doubt it since I never even thought of saying he was to be as good as Messi, that is borderline blasphemy.

SalfordRed18 said:
I thought Emmanuel Frimpong was gonna be solid, not world beater but solid premier League player for the likes of Everton, villa or spurs (at that time).

Royston Drenthe was another. Was so disappointed when he went to Madrid off the back of that u21 championship. So much talent in that particular tournament if memory serves.
Click to expand...

Great shout with Drenthe, I thought he was going to develop the same way as Alaba later on, starting out on the wing and then moving into a cracking DMF. Safe to say my footballing opinions do not hold much values.

On a side note, if you don't mind, are you in your early 30s? Your suggestions give me the impression that we started to really follow football around the same time.
 
Ayoba said:
Vandeborre

FM legend along with Kompany!
Click to expand...
I've never played many computer games but I was obsessed with Championship Manager around the turn of the century.

On that, some of the best players to buy were Belarusian, especially Maxim Tsigalko and Vitaly Kutuzov. Along with Armenian Wartan Ghazarian and some others.

I knew Tsigalko had to retire early due to injury. But I was sad to see that, apparently, he died on Christmas Day, 2020, aged just 37.
 
Bertie Wooster said:
Yeah, I remember that Euro 2007 championship well. I still have loads of files on my computer with notes I made about players over about a decade - mostly youth tournaments. I had a dream of getting a job at a club as some kind of analyst or something - it never happened of course.

Anyway, just looked up that tournament and yeah, Holland had the likes of Krul, Aisatti, Drenthe, Babel.
England had Hart, Cahill, Milner, Noble, Young.
Portugal: Moutinho, Nani, Veloso.
Italy: Chiellini, Montolivo,
Serbia: Ivanovic, Kolarov, Krasic...
Click to expand...

Insane amount of talent in that tournament. I remember I really wanted United to sign Veloso, we were constantly linked and I thought it was a given. Signed Hargreaves instead I guess.
Steven7290 said:
It could have easily been me :lol: However I doubt it since I never even thought of saying he was to be as good as Messi, that is borderline blasphemy.



Great shout with Drenthe, I thought he was going to develop the same way as Alaba later on, starting out on the wing and then moving into a cracking DMF. Safe to say my footballing opinions do not hold much values.

On a side note, if you don't mind, are you in your early 30s? Your suggestions give me the impression that we started to really follow football around the same time.
Click to expand...
Late 20s so close!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.