Adriano was the best striker in the world at one stage. You can’t have him lining up with Mads Timm and Freddy Adu!
Touted wonderkids who made no impact in football
- Thread starter SambaBoy
- Start date
Hachim Mastour has to be the biggest example of this.
There’s Fifa career mode classics too in Zakaria Bakkali, Simone Scuffet, Adryan.
There’s Fifa career mode classics too in Zakaria Bakkali, Simone Scuffet, Adryan.
Lulinha. I think Chelsea were heavily linked to him.
The other Belgian defender who was a wonder kid with Kompany. Van Den Borre i think?
Fabio Paim, Kim Kallstrom, Jadon Sancho.
The guy at Liverpool who was better than Sterling.. Ibe?
Fabio Paim, Kim Kallstrom, Jadon Sancho.
The guy at Liverpool who was better than Sterling.. Ibe?
Yes, exactly his injuries ruined what could still could have been very good.
True. He’d have been an all-timer had he held it together for a few more seasons.
I didn’t ignore what you posted. You simply ignored the purpose of this thread.
Did Adriano makes less of an impact than expected? Yes. Did he make any impact at all? Also yes.
This thread is not about players who underdelivered in regards to their potential. Otherwise you could also name Neymar or Thiago.
There is a big difference between deliberately ignoring part of a post to emphasize your own point and writing a message that does not 100% live up to the title of a thread. But if it means so much to you that all messages 100% live up to the headlines, you should be welcome to go through the threads here on the site. There will be a big job waiting for you. Go for it.
He did OK. Didn't really live up to the hype, but he's had a decent career and still only 27.
16 goals in 25 games this season at Anderlecht, more than 50 games for Denmark, played 2 World Cups, 2 European Championships, won an EL. Had a few years it didn't really worked out for him, but a decent player. It's not like he didn't make any impact.
Van de Borre was the biggest talent around in Belgium. He should have been up there with De Bruyne, Hazard, Vertonghen, Kompany and others.
Just crazy as feck.
Yeah I remember him being all the talk at the time, like levels above Kompany in most peoples estimation. Round 2007 or 2008 I think. Any idea what happened with him?
Just a really bad attitude. Too much talent, not enough effort. He played his first game for the national team at 16 and was absolutely unplayable. I remember a game against Spain in 2008. He was the best player on the pitch at 19.
Ended up playing 200-ish games in a career that lasted 18 years, playing in Congo in the end.
Waste of a talent. He was the right back version of Kompany, both came from Anderlecht youth setup at the same time.
If you have to take the wording "no impact" quite literally, it is difficult to find many players. Even Freddy Adu won something and thus made a small impact. He won the MLS Cup in the USA and was runners-up in the FIFA CONCACAF Gold Cup.
Yes...no impact it's a bit too much indeed.
Yet Adriano still is a very very very bad take man, come on.
Freddy Adu was touted the next Pele and the hype was inmense even after not delivering in many clubs. That's why it's like you've said the best example.
Did Sahin live up to his potential?
Probably not, but he still had a very nice career. Far from "no impact" on football.
"Living up to their potential" is stuff for another thread.
Anderson..Our own Anderson
Gotze, James Rodriguez as they underperformed surrounding the hype after the WC.
Adama Traore, if he counts, as a La Masia player (probably their best U-18 player att) not making big.
But the OP probably won't count this as they played league matches.
Adama Traore, if he counts, as a La Masia player (probably their best U-18 player att) not making big.
But the OP probably won't count this as they played league matches.
It’s amazing how many people struggle with the premise of this thread. 
What do you mean? A guy that scored the winning goal in a WC final clearly had no impact on football.It’s amazing how many people struggle with the premise of this thread.
James also had no impact at all, becoming the best goalscorer at a World Cup.
Apart from the 3 world cups, Pele made no impact in the UCL.
Samed Yesil, Anthony Le Tallec
Conor Clifford was one of those hundreds of Chelsea youth players tipped for big things, maybe more by Irish fans than by Chelsea ones, but in the end he spent most of his career as a League of Ireland journeyman.
Daniel Montenegro - "The new Maradona"
Linked with United in the late 90s/early 00s
Linked with United in the late 90s/early 00s
CL winning Anderson? That one?
I remember when Bojan was touted as the next Messi. He ended up at Stoke.
Anyone remember Richairo Živković? Maybe not "no impact", but strange career path nonetheless, from shining in the Ajax youth to Singapore and Thailand at 27.
Gotze is the worst answer so far. Only decided one of only 22 of the biggest games in football history.
Rhian Davies - still playing semi professional football in South Manchester, 99.99% certain I played against him when he was at Wythenshawe Town
We brought another Mexican forward either just before or after signing Javier Hernandez. He was hyped up quite abit from what I remember.
We bought a Chilean called Angelo Henriquez.
Angelo Henriquez - Chilean lad.
Rodrigo Possebon another that was hyped when we signed him
Angelo Henriquez? He was from Chile but good shout
He might never have lived up to the hype but he was still a squad member at a treble winning team, that has to count for something. Low impact but certainly not no impact.
Jordi Cruyff?
Ben Woodburn. Thought Liverpool and Wales had a whizzkid on their hands but now 25 playing for Salford.