Biggest waste of talent

Auvers

following on from the "Flash in the pan footballers"

who do you consider the worst case of a footballer who wasted their talent?

mine has to Ronaldinho from being the one of the best and most skillful players in the world to a fat lazy uninterested playboy in two seasons, a terrible example of God given ability washed down the toilet

also Lee Sharpe is another one of the top of my head

Kerrydude1981

Lee Sharpe has to be the top of this list,his carrer went downhill fast when he left Utd and I would also include Robbie Fowler

IRISHSPORTSGUY

Ronaldinho had already won everything worth winning in the game, both individually and team-wise. That seemed to be the peak of his desire though. I wonder if Messi will go down that road - does he have the hunger to be the greatest player ever or will he be happy with his lot soon?

L'prof

IRISHSPORTSGUY wrote: »

Ronaldinho had already won everything worth winning in the game, both individually and team-wise. That seemed to be the peak of his desire though. I wonder if Messi will go down that road - does he have the hunger to be the greatest player ever or will he be happy with his lot soon?

I think Ronaldo's hunger is enough to spur them both on!

Auvers

IRISHSPORTSGUY wrote: »

Ronaldinho had already won everything worth winning in the game, both individually and team-wise. That seemed to be the peak of his desire though. I wonder if Messi will go down that road - does he have the hunger to be the greatest player ever or will he be happy with his lot soon?

why continue playing so? if you couldn't be bothered

I think Messi will continue on like the greats of the past i.e Zidane\Maradona\di stefano also his name will be revered by future generations, surely if you had the ability of Ronaldinho and look back when your playing career is over and say fcuk "that could of been me" instead of a joke

Ordinary man

Collymore has to be on the list

dor83

Adriano, he looked like he could become the best striker in the world at one stage but he had personal problems and never seemed to get his head right.

Moneymaker

Ronaldinho a waste of talent????

He won everything there is to win in football, was widely regarded as the best player in the world for quite some time. Yeah he's a shadow of his former self but he certainly wasn't a waste of talent.

Alvaro Recoba. He won a few leagues with Inter but his career never reached the heights it should have. Absolutely unplayable on his day but injuries and woeful inconsistency meant it never happened for him the way it should.

Auvers

Moneymaker wrote: »

Ronaldinho a waste of talent????.

he was the best player in the world at the time he was 24-25 had one injury plagued season but came back playing when he was 27ish when you should be at the height of your powers as a footballer but instead just started to coast and party, that's why I say its the biggest waste of talent I have seen

Helix

luke moore

melb

Me.

A wizard on the wings, a rock in defense, the metronome in midfield and the all-encompassing centre-forward.

Kept sticking me in goals though

mike65

Stan Collymore would be with a shout, Paul Gascoigne also, his career was effectively over in 1992, Lazio was largely a waste and banging them in for Rangers does not count!

doncarlos

JP Kelly. Looked an outstanding talent with Bohs that was sure to make it across the water. He was captaining the Irish U21 side and for some reason went completely off the rails and dropped out of football altogether.

Smegball

Even though he won quite a few medals with his time at Chelsea - Joe Cole never truely lived up to his potential. He had a few terrific seasons with Jose at Chelsea but other than that has been largely very inconsistent.

Vanbis

Mark Bosnich for me.

Augmerson

Kerrydude1981 wrote: »

Lee Sharpe has to be the top of this list,his carrer went downhill fast when he left Utd and I would also include Robbie Fowler

Why Robbie Fowler?

mike65

Fowler is an interesting one, scored over 120 goals for Liverpool, wins a treble but is frozen out by Ged, joins Leeds just at the wrong moment and its downhill from there in terms of "club prestige" Never really had an England career.

TonyD79

Fowler is a LFC legend..hardly a waste of talent...every player cant have a 10/15 year career with success all the way through-very rare! Harry Kewall could be considered but then can you classify injuries as being a waste?!! Le Tisser would be a good choice imo

mike65

Le Tiss simply wanted to play for Soton and had no ambition beyond that at all. I dunno if he regrets not raising his sights, he certainly could have moved.

eugeneious

Steven Ireland is in with a shout. City's best player by a mile in Hughes' 1st season but his form has dropped like a stone since and shows no sign of improving.

Smegball

:pac::pac:

stevoslice

mike65 wrote: »

Le Tiss simply wanted to play for Soton and had no ambition beyond that at all. I dunno if he regrets not raising his sights, he certainly could have moved.

Saw a sports saturday with him telling a story about ringing up southampton after an fa cup draw, to try and put away a couple of tickets for him and his son. Think it was against united, anyways, was told that he would have to go and queue with everyone else if he wanted tickets.
Great way to repay your greatest ever player eh? I'm sure he regretted a few of his decisions that day.

Kerrydude1981

Augmerson wrote: »

Why Robbie Fowler?

One of the best strikers ever to play in the Premiership but after his Pool career finished he went down hill after that,could have been one of the best strikers England ever had but never really happened and the way his career in English club football finished up was pretty sad for a player so talented

The_Kew_Tour

Ya have agree Fowler could done more.

wynters

Hopefully Stephen Ireland still has time to turn it around.

What about the likes of Winston Bogarde, content to play reserve team football and collect a wage rather than play first team football. 'Only made one first team appearance in 4 years or something when he should have been at his peak???

A professional waster.

Ferris_Bueller

Some brilliant shouts in this! Adriano has to be one of the biggest wastes of modern times, JP Kelly on an Irish scale. Don't know why but when I read the thread title Robinhos name was screaming at me, he is still a good player playing for a huge club and his country, but just his talent doesn't seem to match what was once tipped of him for me, probably down to his attitude.

WhiteRussian

I think Steven Gerard could have a load of trophies for a top European Club if he had gotten out of Liverpool after they won the Champions League. In that respect it does seem that his talent was wasted.

EDIT: Especially after Alonso left.

stevoslice

some players like duffer, kewell and fowler peak much earlier than others and then fall off very quick after that, not a waste of talent imo, more a pity that their bodies start to give up on them.

Liam miller should have stuck it out for another year at celtic imo, the move to utd never suited him and he failed to realise his potential, isn't he in oz now?

Say Your Number

Javier Saviola
Patrick Kluivert

Kerrydude1981

thebhoy wrote: »

some players like duffer, kewell and fowler peak much earlier than others and then fall off very quick after that, not a waste of talent imo, more a pity that their bodies start to give up on them.

Liam miller should have stuck it out for another year at celtic imo, the move to utd never suited him and he failed to realise his potential, isn't he in oz now?

Ya moved down there from Hibs.

orourkeda

eugeneious wrote: »

Steven Ireland is in with a shout. City's best player by a mile in Hughes' 1st season but his form has dropped like a stone since and shows no sign of improving.

Stephen Ireland isn't what I'd class as a waste of talent. It's more down to an appalling attitude. Whether this is the same thing or not is open to question. Most of the players already mentioned careers stalled due to laziness, bad luck or injuries. Stephen Ireland has made a conscious decision that he doesnt want to play for Ireland and and his response to criticism by Gerard Houllier was poor. If he keeps this up his premiership career will be dead by the time his contract expires at Aston Villa and he'll have noboby to blame but himself.

eugeneious

orourkeda wrote: »

Stephen Ireland isn't what I'd class as a waste of talent. It's more down to an appalling attitude. Whether this is the same thing or not is open to question. Most of the players already mentioned careers stalled due to laziness, bad luck or injuries. Stephen Ireland has made a conscious decision that he doesnt want to play for Ireland and and his response to criticism by Gerard Houllier was poor. If he keeps this up his premiership career will be dead by the time his contract expires at Aston Villa and he'll have noboby to blame but himself.

I'd class that as wasting his talent.

Hannibal

Kerrydude1981 wrote: »

Lee Sharpe has to be the top of this list,his carrer went downhill fast when he left Utd and I would also include Robbie Fowler

Fowler has scored the exact same amount of career goals as Michael Owen, 258.. and is fourth on the all time list of PL scorers behind Shearer, Cole and Henry. Considering the knee injury Fowler sustained in 1998 it's a miracle he only retired recently.

doncarlos wrote: »

JP Kelly. Looked an outstanding talent with Bohs that was sure to make it across the water. He was captaining the Irish U21 side and for some reason went completely off the rails and dropped out of football altogether.

I won't go into details but JP Kelly liked the social life a bit too much and fell in with a bad crowd.

super_furry

John Paul Kelly. He was thought to have been destined for great things at Liverpool, but came home, against the club's wishes because he was 'homesick'. Which translated as he wanted to knacker drinking with some dodgy mates. He came home and was playing for Bohemians, where his ability was there for all to see, but even then he couldn't hold it together enough and was dumped. Drogheda picked him up but that didn't last long and he's totally out of the game now at the age of 24.

Edit - Doncarlos beat me to it.

Paully D

Sean Thornton.

steelcityblues

Stan Collymore without a doubt!

Could have been a big goalscorer for more seasons, and win about 50 England caps, played in major tournaments, etc.

Saw him for Forest at Old Trafford in 94/95, and his performance left me in some awe that day.

If he had toned down his arrogance and lifestyle of course. :rolleyes:

losthorizon

Auvers wrote: »

he was the best player in the world at the time he was 24-25 had one injury plagued season but came back playing when he was 27ish when you should be at the height of your powers as a footballer but instead just started to coast and party, that's why I say its the biggest waste of talent I have seen

Perfectly said. The The danger of too much money in football and players getting away with murder.

DOC09UNAM

Ravel Morrison could soon make it onto this list

GLaDOS

Alan Shearer? Fantastic player, one of the best to play in the Premiership and just one League medal to show for it

cm2000

Ricardo Quaresma

super_furry

ScienceNerd wrote: »

Alan Shearer? Fantastic player, one of the best to play in the Premiership and just one League medal to show for it

How is that a waste of talent? On the pitch he used his talent to the very fullest, was recognised as one of the best players of his generation and cemented his status as a hero in his home town.

Turning down Alex Ferguson is not a waste of talent.

event

Hidetoshi Nakata

one of my favourite players when he was with perugia. moving to roma was seen as his big step, but he never excelled really, playing really only when Totti wasnt.

he joined parma, then bologna on loan. 20 games in two years for fiorentina followed and a loan to bolton.

he retired at 29

he has won the italian league and cup and a cup back in japan. huge waste of talent

GLaDOS

super_furry wrote: »

How is that a waste of talent? On the pitch he used his talent to the very fullest, was recognised as one of the best players of his generation and cemented his status as a hero in his home town.

Turning down Alex Ferguson is not a waste of talent.

I think being one of the best players in a generation and winning **** all is a waste of talent, but maybe that's just me

DOC09UNAM

cm2000 wrote: »

Ricardo Quaresma

I used to love the way he smacked it with the outside of the right boot, nobody like him for it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A4PcqS9Nyp8

losthorizon

mike65 wrote: »

Le Tiss simply wanted to play for Soton and had no ambition beyond that at all. I dunno if he regrets not raising his sights, he certainly could have moved.

I dont see that as a waste of Talent. I mean he always played to the best of his ability - being loyal and trustyworthy should not be viewed as wrong imo.

The vast majority of english players do not try and broaden their footballing brain or skills by playing abroad even for a short time - is that collectively a waste of talent?

eagle eye

Lol @ putting Ronaldinho in this thread. I presume people do know how hard he trained at Barca to be the best and keep his weight down. He worked harder than anybody else during that time. He deserves credit for reaching the heights he did rather than being mentioned in a thread like this.

mike65

losthorizon wrote: »

I dont see that as a waste of Talent. I mean he always played to the best of his ability - being loyal and trustyworthy should not be viewed as wrong imo.

The vast majority of english players do not try and broaden their footballing brain or skills by playing abroad even for a short time - is that collectively a waste of talent?

I wasn't condemning Le Tiss, I think the fact he stuck with the club he loved right through is commendable in many respects. Cost him his England place though, that and being a too free a spirit (i.e. managers didn't know what to do with him)

Paully D

ScienceNerd wrote: »

Alan Shearer? Fantastic player, one of the best to play in the Premiership and just one League medal to show for it

I wouldn't class him as a waste of talent, but despite what he says publicly there's no way he can honestly say he doesn't have any regrets about not signing for Manchester United.

Knex*

For those who have yet to see this...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hQmlFzqJyo

Paully D

losthorizon wrote: »

The vast majority of english players do not try and broaden their footballing brain or skills by playing abroad even for a short time - is that collectively a waste of talent?

It's because they're not good enough and the majority of clubs outside of England aren't bothered with them because their technique is very poor, mainly due to the fact that at grassroots level in England unless you're 6ft + and built like a tank by the age of 16 you'll be booted out of academies up and down the country.

3hn2givr7mx1sc

Adrian Mutu?

Was fairly class at Chelsea, iirc, before being sacked.