Touted wonderkids who made no impact in football
- Thread starter SambaBoy
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) and Imran (@Annihilate Now!) are here to discuss three 1-1 draws.
The first got us knocked out of the FA Cup, the next puts us in a good position in our Round of 16 Europa League game, and the latest was an actual decent performance against Arsenal at Old Trafford.
All hopes for the season now rest on the Europa League - does Amorim have the squad to win it?
Technically sound is not something associated with most players, let alone midfielders; it’s something isolated for praise when seen, so if that’s your bar, your gripes make sense. And you definitely don’t need to be tidy to be a decent or even very good midfielder, so long as your specialist skilset is commensurate with what you lack in other facets.
From your posts, you didn’t like the player he was nor really regard the things that were earning him the praise to be overrated in the first place. Those attributes of his, taken on an uninterrupted trajectory would have had him be a very useful player indeed. We never got to see the organic conclusion, for reasons stated, and I feel that that is a shame.
Most of la Masia players
Yeah, that’s the one.
Oh, he did.
So he didn't excel at anything, he was just clean and tidy. Got injured for a month, and what, was less clean and less tidy? Again, I actually watched his games at the time, he was the same player. What was his specialist skillset you mentioned?
If you think he lost something after his injury fine, he didn't as someone who watched him regularly but your opinion, what exactly warrants wonderkid status, when he didn't look any better than tom cleverly at the time?
There’d be no point me rolling out things as it would sound condescending, given you watched games as well as I did at that time. Your take is your take and I think it’s best left at that, suffice it to say you believe the player was overhyped and others did not based on what they were seeing him do, or better to say how he was progressing up to that point in time. If you recall, that was a big day for him and was supposed to be his chance to showcase what he had been doing on a grander stage. You seem to dismiss that and all that he was, which is your prerogative.
With regard to Cleverly, are you continually trying to play down one by usage of the other with the benefit of hindsight, or Cleverly’s standing at the time?
Every season start now will have all those "analysts" crack their skulls about how none of Ajax/PSV/Feyenoord picks him up and then 3 games later they remember why.
I had high hopes for Danny Szetela for the US when all the hype was on Adu. Danny simply never made that progress but did put in a few decent performances for Brescia and earned 3 caps before fading into obscurity. Injuries along the way took their toll, talent never fulfilled.
Mostly just Van der Vaart.
Everton have had few top prospects over the years who started brightly then fizzled out Branch, Cadamarteri, Vaughan, and to a lesser extent Rodwell and Jeffers.
Freddy Adu, Wayne Harrison, Ravel Morrison spring to mind.
Márcio Sousa is probably a good shout. Almost signed for Manchester United after amazing performances at youth level.
People from all over the world were calling him the new Maradona.
His career was spent Almost entirely on lower division clubs.
People from all over the world were calling him the new Maradona.
His career was spent Almost entirely on lower division clubs.
Freddy Adu is the first name that comes to mind.
I think Pedro also deserves a shout. He had a good career but nowhere near what was expected of him.
Ravel Morrison or Macheda are probably the two from Utd that has the biggest hype / potential that did basically nothing.
I think Pedro also deserves a shout. He had a good career but nowhere near what was expected of him.
Ravel Morrison or Macheda are probably the two from Utd that has the biggest hype / potential that did basically nothing.
This would be a who's who of Tim Vickery in South America. How this guy still has a job or that people give him the slightest bit of attention is beyond me. The epitome of throwing shite at the wall to see what sticks, except in Tim's case it never sticks, it's just shite.
He scored match winning goals in his first 2 games. One against Villa and second against Sunderland I think.
United players:
Ravel Morrison
Januzaj
Macheda
Nick Powell
Giuseppe Rossi
Bellion
Mads Timm
Others:
Freddy Adu
Le Tallec
Michael Johnson
Giovani Dos Santos
Dele Alli
Ibrahim Ba
Francis Jeffers
Denilson
Bojan Krkic ("the new Messi").
Adriano
Ravel Morrison
Januzaj
Macheda
Nick Powell
Giuseppe Rossi
Bellion
Mads Timm
Others:
Freddy Adu
Le Tallec
Michael Johnson
Giovani Dos Santos
Dele Alli
Ibrahim Ba
Francis Jeffers
Denilson
Bojan Krkic ("the new Messi").
Adriano
I had high hopes for John Curtis. I remember he was hyped up to be better than Gary Neville. Future Man United and England Captain.
Haha I actually quite like Vickery on the radio! Has so much enthusiasm for the game and the South American leagues. Don't think he comes across so well in articles though.
Macauley Chrisantus
Didn't they have an argument on twitter last year?
I seem to remember Neville calling out his professionalism and his career in the game, might be someone completely different. Whoever it was - was in the United youth teams the same time the class of 92 were coming through but left United and played L1 level and below for most of his career.
Beppe Rossi was rounding into one of the best strikers in Europe until he had back to back to back ACL injuries.
Harsh.
Wasn't that John O'Kane?
I do remember Gary Neville having a spat with him a year or two back on twitter.
He was no wonder kid though. Pretty sure we kept him on the books because it’s part of Gill’s salary package.
Does Ilaix Moriba count? Not a wonder kid but still highly rated.
Mohamed Ihattaren
Diego Leon.
Linked with a £3m move to us 6 hours ago and not done one thing of note since.
Linked with a £3m move to us 6 hours ago and not done one thing of note since.
Djemba Djemba, touted as the next Roy Keane and Cleverly, touted as a replacement for Paul Scholes
He was the star for Nigeria in the 2007 under 17 world cup, he was the competition top scorer. I thought we would go on to be a superstar footballer. He didn't even make it to the senior team for Nigeria.
Im sure United were linked with him. He moved club almost every year and highest he played was for AEK Athens for 15 games
Souleymane Coulibaly fits the description well.
Was golden boot winner at U17 World Cup back in 2011, and signed for Spurs. Now playing for Pickering Town in non-league at the age of 29. Managed to score 8 goals in 21 appearances for Kilmarnock in 2016-2017.
There was another fella from that tournament who ran the show, Colombian, Quintero maybe? I'm sure he signed for Porto and was the next big thing but again didn't really feature for Porto and then fall of the radar.
Was golden boot winner at U17 World Cup back in 2011, and signed for Spurs. Now playing for Pickering Town in non-league at the age of 29. Managed to score 8 goals in 21 appearances for Kilmarnock in 2016-2017.
There was another fella from that tournament who ran the show, Colombian, Quintero maybe? I'm sure he signed for Porto and was the next big thing but again didn't really feature for Porto and then fall of the radar.
6th and 7th in the Ballon D'Or...
Some players named here are quite bizarre given the title it's quite extreme in the "NO IMPACT in football"
Adriano had 4 great seasons with Parma and Inter. But things went very wrong for him, and he battled with depression and alcoholism. Sure he made an impact for 4 season, and he was a wonderkid, but he burned out too soon and never made the impact he should have made.
You don’t get top 10 for Balon d‘Or while having NO impact on football
And I gave you my argument, but you ignored it when you quoted my post.But I would like to repeat myself in other words: Adriano was a great talent, but did not make the impact he should have made. He had 4 good seasons. He then struggled with depression, alcoholism and great weight gain.
So "yes" he made an impact for 4 years. But then he also failed big time and fell completely to the ground with a real bang. His decline was significant, and he was a wonderkid who did not manage to make the impact throughout his ENTIRE career that his talent otherwise warranted.
Incidentally, I also mentioned 16 other players in this thread.
Being half Italian. I was desperate for Rossi and Macheda to become stars at United . Rossi to be fair had a fairly decent career. 30 caps for the national team is good going. Unlucky time to be at United we had Rooney, RVN and Saha . Think he is a player who would of benefited from playing in todays game.
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Yet it's a VERY odd choice nonetheless given the thread title, he certainly had his impact in football and was quite great till it lasted, he in fact has won a lot at every level, even internationally...
Freddy Adu it's the sort of player this thread implies in its title, certainly not Adriano, nor Ganso and such
Kasper Dolberg.