Youth Prodigies

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Every year we hear of youth players who are labelled as being the next "Pele", "Cruyff", or "Baresi". Is this all to create a headline and sell papers or is there some substance to the story? Moreover, how many of these youth prodigies end up being as good as they were advertise? Lionel Messi comes to mind. In fact I think he has surpassed everyone expcctations with his development. Off the top of my head I can think of few players who were billed as the next big thing but failed to live up to the enormous hype and expectation that was being placed on them: Robinho, Javier Saviola, Van Der Vaart. Lastly, can you name any youth players who were not hyped up to the moon when they were 17/18 and took the world by storm> The diamonds in the rough so to speak.
 
Ohhh there are a lot to start with Mourad Meghni said next Zidane and lost now, Jaouad Zairi epic dribbler said next C.Ronaldo lost too
 
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Nice thread. There are LOADS of them. I'd say less than 10% of these hyped up kids become anything great. Most don't turn out bad however, they just turn out quite mediocre. A few are complete flops.

Luckily we have the other side of the coin which I'm glad you mentioned as well. Players who were not at all highly rated at youth but turned out to be beasts by the time they hit the 'late' age of 24-25 and suddenly the world had its radar on them and they got big moves and proved themselves there as well.

Ruud van Nistelrooy and Didier Drogba, two of the greatest strikers over the last decade are perfect examples of this. At 18, nobody was talking about them. In fact in Holland people were talking about Patrick Kluivert at the time who has the same birthday I believe.

Similarly Drogba was just another big African forward. But by the time they were 24-25, PSV and Marseille had noticed them and a good season there prompted Chelsea and Man Utd to splash the cash and yet they were worth every penny and then some!

Mourad Meghni, Camel Meriem were both supposed to be next 'Zidane'.

Nasri had similar comparisons as well but he turned out very well and of course can get even better.

Ben Arfa was supposed to be the next big thing as well since he was a 17 year old in Lyon but up until last year where he had a good season with Newcastle and kinda revived his career and actually made Euro 2012 squad, he looked to be going nowhere and another 'wasted' talent.

Ricardo Quaresma of course is one of the biggest flops. Even if he had a great period in Porto, he almost always disappointed everywhere else and became nowhere near the player many were hyping him up to be. He also had chances at numerous clubs and numerous leagues but only ever really impressed briefly at Porto in my opinion.
 
From the stuff I've seen of Meghni he didn't look like the next Zidane. Just a normal playmaker. From what I remember Scolari was very high on Paim when he was at Chelsea. Quaresma is a good shout. Can't believe I forgot about him.
 
i'd say you forgot D'Alessandro he was supposed to be some world class playmaker that would leave a mark on football, a future Legend/Crack but his attitude & the hype that surrounding him never helped him break through, he's a great playmaker nowadays but nothing to do with what the media promoted him to be.

I would also add some names to the list like Keirrison, Aissatti, Víctor Vásquez, Freddy Adu....
 
amineken22 said:
i'd say you forgot D'Alessandro he was supposed to be some world class playmaker that would leave a mark on football, a future Legend/Crack but his attitude & the hype that surrounding him never helped him break through, he's a great playmaker nowadays but nothing to do with what the media promoted him to be.

I would also add some names to the list like Keirrison, Aissatti, Víctor Vásquez, Freddy Adu....
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Adu is definite, was being compared to Brazilian Ronaldo at 14 by some!
 
Giovani Dos Santos, Jeffren, Santon, Adiyiah, Pedretti, Bojan Krkic, Van der Meyde, Drenthe.
 
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Review said:
From the stuff I've seen of Meghni he didn't look like the next Zidane. Just a normal playmaker.
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Exactly. He was just an average player with good vision. But because of French nationality and Algerian roots and position on the field, media said he might be next Zidane and crap like that.

Same with Camel Meriem and many others.

D'Alessandro is a good shout as is everyone else mentioned so far. Only one I don't agree with is Jeffren. This kid was barely ever hyped. Very low profile in fact until his very last season with Barca when he finally made a handful of appearances for senior team. I don't think anyone expected that much from him and he was shortly let go of. Someone like Gio dos Santos is a much better example.

Santon can still become a very good defender in my opinion. Too early to write him off.

Anderson (Man Utd) is definitely an example to if he doesn't improve and stays as he is. He was supposed to be Brazil's next #10 and was player of year at Gremio at like 18. Had a great spell in Porto as well instantly becoming a key player but at Old Trafford everything went backward for him. Was definitely a far bigger star than Nani at the time they both signed (Anderson was one of the best players in the league while Nani was a promising youngster who still could've stayed longer and played more games for Sporting), and yet look at them now! One is far superior to the other and developed much more.

Carlos Alberto (Formerly Porto) is a GREAT example of a real flop by the way. Adu of course is the BEST one. I can't believe some of us forgot him!
 
Gaël Kakuta, back to Chelsea for this season i think after few months with Dijon, i think this player can do something in the futur.

Raphaël Varane can do something big apparently
 
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Pedro was completely unknown until Guardiola promoted him to Barcelona's first team, where he made an instant impact, scoring in six different competitions.
 
@Thomas & Aboutreika: I don't think you got the thread's idea right we're talking about the overhyped players that turned out to be flops not the ones that made it or can still make it ;)

@Cristiano Rossinho: Obertan was never hyped he barely made a season with Bordeaux before he got transferred to Man U i think it's mostly Fergie's fault the kid had bigger shoes to fill

BTW i'd like to add Gignac to that list he was never that covered but still from his early Lorient days everyone expected him to hit big
 
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The last part of the OP asked for players who hadn't been hyped but turned out to be good, of which I'd count Pedro as one.
 
Abou, You have a great point with Pedro.

I'm sure amineken meant that post for Thomas.

Varane is already impressive and can become one the world's best in future.

This thread is for flops Thomas.

Gignac is a decent shout but he did okay enough (French National team appearances, Ligue 1 scoring charts) apart from last 18 months and can still be prolific with reformed confidence at new club I think. So let's wait and see on that.

Kakuta might turn out to be a flop. Too early to say there as well so let's keep discussion on guys who've PROVEN they ARE flops OR the opposite (guys like van nistelrooy, Drogba who were unknown and obscure as youth but became GREAT!)
 
DamjanStefanov said:
Freddy Adu, Jozy Altidore, Oberman.
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I agree with you about Adu, but not Jozy. As far as I know, Jozy was never hyped to be the next best thing. He had one good season in MLS and then was bounced around from club to club because the management would sign him, but then the coaches would refuse to play him...until now. He still has a lot of upside at only 22 years old and is coming off of his best season at club level where I believe he led AZ in scoring and finished fairly high in the Eredivisie scoring charts. Heck, most US fans would be happy if he turns out to be another Brian McBride.
 
Kezman did BADLY flop after PSV period.

I'm with Steve on Jozy. He's a different story to Adu. And in my opinion he's decent anyway and can still get a lot better.

Freddy on the other hand has NEVER been good (excpet at like 14 years old level) and yet got hyped to DEATH some even calling him the Next Pele! lol

I doubt he'll ever turn into anything.

Saviola and Aimar (Especially Saviola) are perfect for this thread too. Because although they had some good periods in their career, a LOT more was expected of both! a LOT more!

Denilson of course is probably THE BIGGEST flop.
 
i dont know how high (or low) you'd rate them, but here in Mexico we're tired of media litterally blowing off Carlos Vela, Gio dos Santos, Chicarito, Guardado, Ochoa, etc etc like they're worldbeaters
 
A quote from Freddy Adu at age 14 - "One day when I'm holding that world cup trophy, someone's gonna take a picture"
The kid was hyped so much that even inter tried to sign him for £5m.

Here's some fairly (not massively) hyped failures.

Joe Cole -was expected by some to become England's next great No.10, career stagmented and has been little more than an average midfielder since.

Francis Jeffers

Jermaine Pennant - was being hailed as England's next tricky wing star, but became the original Walcott.

Stuart Taylor - in 2000 he was expected to challenge Seaman for both the Arsenal and England No.1 shirts.. He ended up being the 3rd choice keeper even after new people were bought.

Shaun Wright-Phillips - expected to be as good as his father, now just another winger with pace plying his trade at a mid table club.

Kris Boyd - came to the championship as the SPL all time top scorer and was expected to do big things with Middlesboro.. Where is he now?
 
Just remembered Frederico Macheda i think he fits here perfectly :)

@Taylor: i think you can write off Joe Cole he was amazing @ WHU
then at Chelsea especially on José's 1st year i still remmber what he did to Manchester that year (3-1) but once he got injured he lost pace, and started to let go a bit then came the dark period he's in right now but overall i think he gave his best and turned out to be a wonderful player
PS: i might be exaggerating since i'm a fan, still i think he lived up to his reputation
 
amineken22 said:
Just remembered Frederico Macheda i think he fits here perfectly :)

@Taylor: i think you can write off Joe Cole he was amazing @ WHU
then at Chelsea especially on José's 1st year i still remmber what he did to Manchester that year (3-1) but once he got injured he lost pace, and started to let go a bit then came the dark period he's in right now but overall i think he gave his best and turned out to be a wonderful player
PS: i might be exaggerating since i'm a fan, still i think he lived up to his reputation
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Macheda? He was *grits teeth* exceptionally.. Over rated, why won't Fergie just write him off already?! He's a feckin clumsy twat, remember seeing him try to head and knee the ball at the same time ended up tripping over and practically smashing his nose -.-

As for Cole, he was very good at one point I'd give him that first season for Jose but that was it, he was always a bit hot and cold.. The odd bit of magic but, he had a burden of expectation which I think he never lived up too.. Opinions.

Marcus Berg is another, meant to burst on to the scene and replace Ibrahimovic as Swedens star striker..
 
Also, I remember reading an article about 'new Maradonas'. Argentinians who were called that way but almost all failed to live up to any expectations.
 
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