Player that people thought would be world class but turned out average.

Crazy Horse 6

I'll get the ball rolling.

Joe Cole

Nil Lamptey

Freddy Adu

Thiago Neves

And my personal favorite Darko Pancev. Scored 94 in 91 games for Red Star Belgrade before joining Inter and scoring three times in almost four years. Yes i know he won the golden boot and the European Cup for Red Star but just totally dropped off the radar after signing for Inter and i think eventually ended up his career playing for a Swiss team.

I remember watching him in his early days and thinking this guy is going to be a success no matter where he goes, how wrong i was.





Image above of Darko recieving his golden boot in 2006 some 15 years after scoring 34 goals in a season for Red Star.

Corvo

Pablo Aimar. Ton of promise, never quite made it to the big time. Still pretty good though.

Francis Jeffers. Ok I joke I joke, I kid I kid.

Melion

Javier Saviola.

The long blond haired striker Barca signed a few years ago, He was argentinan. Think his name was Rodriguez

That_Guy

Albert Luque. What a major disppointment.

kellso81

Gianlugi Lentini, remember him? World's most expensive footballer when he moved to Milan in early 90s but was involved in a serious car crash and never lived up to his potential after that

AgileMyth

Afonso Alves.

Crazy Horse 6

kellso81 wrote: »

Gianlugi Lentini, remember him? World's most expensive footballer when he moved to Milan in early 90s but was involved in a serious car crash and never lived up to his potential after that

Jesus yeah forgot him, good shout.

Dont be at yourself

That_Guy wrote: »

Albert Luque. What a major disppointment.

And Hugo Viana! Newcastle seem to have a penchant for these kind of players...

That_Guy

Dont be at yourself wrote: »

And Hugo Viana! Newcastle seem to have a penchant for these kind of players...

Oh Hugo..... :pac:

bijapos

Peter Barnes, before there was huge 24hr non stop hype I thought he would make it big time.

Nick Barmby, I never thought he'd be world class but he should have done so much better, he had such a promising start.

Robinho, had a couple of great seasons but never reached his promise.

Josimar , although to be fair he was already 24 at the 86 WC. If he did this today he'd be on the market for €30m +. Remember he was a right back and was only in the team due to an injury to Edison. Shows the depth the 82 and 86 Brazil squads had.

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvroUsu6VgM

mike65

Too early to pass judgement on Theo Walcott?

Slattsy

Djemba Djemba lol

Amirani

Denilson, considering the price that was paid: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Den%C3%ADlson_de_Oliveira_Ara%C3%BAjo

tommyhaas

Melion wrote: »

Javier Saviola.

The long blond haired striker Barca signed a few years ago, He was argentinan. Think his name was Rodriguez

Thought of Saviola as soon as I clicked on this thread

I think you mean Maxi Lopez? They signed him from River Plate

Randomly, when Liverpool were initially linked with Maxi Rodriguez, I just assumed it was Maxi Lopez. Thankfully I was wrong

In terms of the OP, Ivan De Le Pena I thought was going to be world class, and to a lesser extent Claudio Lopez and Gasika Mendieta

Liam O

Anderson but I suppose there's still some time...

Xavi6

Denilson
Kerlon
Jermaine Pennant
Darren Caskey
Stephen Ireland
Mateja Kezman
Ali Dia (well, one person did anyway)

AgileMyth

AgileMyth wrote: »

Afonso Alves.

Actually, while I'm on the subject of players banging in goals in Holland, Mateja Kežman should have been so much more than he was.

Edit: Beaten to it^^

Actually Huntelaar is another who fits the same bill.

Giggsy11

Melion wrote: »

Javier Saviola.

The long blond haired striker Barca signed a few years ago, He was argentinan. Think his name was Rodriguez

First name that came to my mind when I saw the thread title. Saviola.

HalloweenJack

Melion wrote: »

The long blond haired striker Barca signed a few years ago, He was argentinan. Think his name was Rodriguez

Maxi Lopez, maybe. Signed in January 2005, scored against Chelsea on his debut and seemed to struggle after that. He's playing for Calcio now.

The inclusion of Joe Cole is a joke. He was class at West Ham. He was always class at Chelsea, when he played. He got injured a bit and wasn't played as much as he should have. If he had got the pay-rise he wanted at Chelsea, he'd still be there and doing well. He went to Liverpool (a lesser team, in comparison to Chelsea right now) and he struggled so people think he's ****e, what a load of toss.

He won nearly everything at Chelsea and he had a big hand in some of those successes. He was good at Chelsea and he should've got more of a run.

His time at Liverpool's been poor but to say he's average is an insult to him. He is one of the best attacking players to ever play in the PL.

He was one of the players who could turn a game in an instant and did so several times, I remember in particular when he came on against West Ham at the Bridge. It was 0-0 and looked very much like it would peter out into a 0-0 until he came on and changed the game, scored the winner too.

Again, it's a joke to label his entire career as average. Maybe at Liverpool, that could be true but he was class at West Ham and class for Chelsea. That's not an average career.

Amazingly, Freddy Adu is still only 22. I find it a bit fair to say he's turned out average. He can still develop. Tbf, a lot of the hype about him wasn't his own making or based on anything he actually did, more so just the fact that he'd made his debut in the MLS at some insane age.

GavRedKing

Zlatan Ibrahimovic??










:pac:

That_Guy

Flamini has also been a real from grace. Held him in very high regard but is just average really. Barely getting a look in with Milan.

cgpg5

Jermaine Pennant when he was at Birmingham I thought he'd be the next big thing.
Jose Antonio Reyes is another. Juan Veron when he joined Utd. Thought Micah Richards would be a regular in the England team for years, he's playing well this season but I think it was in 2007 he certainly threatened to be world class but hasn't delivered.

Elano could've been but has never helped himself nor has El Hadji Diouf both had bundles of ability

cgpg5

Also there is no way Joe Cole should be included here, he was the unluckiest man to be left out of the England team in WC 2010. Was also very unlucky to be left out of the Chelsea team on certain occasions. Was outstanding for West Ham and Chelsea as well as being England's best player in WC 2006. Barring Liverpool he had a great career.

amiable

Xavi6 wrote: »

Denilson
Kerlon
Jermaine Pennant
Darren Caskey
Stephen Ireland
Mateja Kezman
Ali Dia (well, one person did anyway)

Supposedly the best England U21 at his time.

I think he may even have been captain of the U21's.

I heard recently his son is playing(just checked, on the books at Brighton)

Neil3030

Just about every striker developed by the Aston Villa academy.

Ordinary man

Stan Collymore

amiable

jose antonio reyes

I am pie

Gazza.

cgpg5

While I didn't think he'd be exactly world class I thought that Liam Miller would have a long and distinguished Irish career and would be an ideal replacement for Roy Keane in the United midfield. Oh dear.

tommyhaas

Surprised Cherno Samba or Maxim Tsigalko haven't got a mention :pac:

EdenHazard

stephen mcphail-in gerrards autobiography england played against ireland youth team and mcphail was a different class according to gerrard. seen as the next liam brady but never happened for him, made a career in lower leagues but promised much more.

anto stokes-didnt think he'd be world class but thought he'd be a quality striker playing in champions league for a biggish team at this stage

pennant-he's basically the english eden hazard

freddy adu-damn this guy broke my footballing dreams, i used to be so jealous of him, then heard he was banging jojo(well prob just holding hands and kissing) and it broke my heart ha

benoit pedretti-thought he'd be the french xabi alonso, obviously at a high level playing for lille but expected more

Kiwi_knock

David Bentley - Touted as the long term replacement for Beckham. Now languishing in the Spurs reserves and could barely get a game when on loan to Birmingham last season.

LuckyLloyd

Jaoquin

shadowcomplex

Stephan Hughes at Arsenal

cgpg5

EdenHazard wrote: »

stephen mcphail-in gerrards autobiography england played against ireland youth team and mcphail was a different class according to gerrard. seen as the next liam brady but never happened for him, made a career in lower leagues but promised much more.

anto stokes-didnt think he'd be world class but thought he'd be a quality striker playing in champions league for a biggish team at this stage

pennant-he's basically the english eden hazard

freddy adu-damn this guy broke my footballing dreams, i used to be so jealous of him, then heard he was banging jojo(well prob just holding hands and kissing) and it broke my heart ha

benoit pedretti-thought he'd be the french xabi alonso, obviously at a high level playing for lille but expected more

In fairness to McPhail he was plagued by injuries from a young age never really got a chance to get a decent run in the Leeds side, he's been one of the most unfortunate players out there.

Agree with Stokes completely though, though he'd be at a top prem club by now!

Bodhisopha

Wayne Rooney. Exploded onto the world stage as an 18 year old at Euro 2004 with some amazing performances earning himself the nickname "white Pele". I think we all envisioned him playing for some of Europe's elite clubs but it never quite materialised for the guy. Currently plying his trade at Europa League outfit Manchester United.

Crazy Horse 6

Bodhisopha wrote: »

Wayne Rooney. Exploded onto the world stage as an 18 year old at Euro 2004 with some amazing performances earning himself the nickname "white Pele". I think we all envisioned him playing for some of Europe's elite clubs but it never quite materialised for the guy. Currently plying his trade at Europa League outfit Manchester United.

EdenHazard

Load of Irish players, John O'Shea and Stephen Carr were bout touted as being world class, remember barca went to look at carr(and sol campbell) around 2000 i think. Carr was always getting linked with arsenal. O'Shea when he broke on the scene big things were expected. I know the thread is 'world class' so i dunno if he was thought of that highly but people defo thought he'd be a quality quality player....as opposed to the useful squad player he eventually would turn out to be

Pinturicchio

On Maxi Lopez, IMO he never really looked like he was going to be world class. He looked like he was going to be good, and he has been.

One that hasn't been mentioned yet, Sebastian Giovinco.

EdenHazard

damn yeah, also hows coutinho doing?

jonnyfingers

EdenHazard wrote: »

John O'Shea

John O'Shea? Come on.

Over 250 appearances for Manchester United. Over 70 caps for Ireland.

And here are his honours.


Premier League - 5
FA Cup - 1
League Cup - 3
FA Community Shield - 4
Champions League - 1
FIFA Club World Cup - 1

Not a bad career to be honest. And certainly not the career of an "average" player.

tdv123

Emerson the one who used to play for Boro. They paid a lot of money for him at the time & after a couple of rows with the club was gone a year later.

Cicinho - Billed as the new Cafu when he went to Madrid, seems to have gone done hill very fast since that day.

Professional Griefer

Cicinho? I think i remember a lot of hype around him

Peyton Manning

Sebastian Deisler should be entering the final years of his career as one of the best players in the world but for some tragic circumstances. Was often regarded as the successor to Franz Beckenbauer in terms of class and talent rather than position.

EdenHazard

jonnyfingers wrote: »

John O'Shea? Come on.

Over 250 appearances for Manchester United. Over 70 caps for Ireland.

And here are his honours.


Premier League - 5
FA Cup - 1
League Cup - 3
FA Community Shield - 4
Champions League - 1
FIFA Club World Cup - 1

Not a bad career to be honest. And certainly not the career of an "average" player.

He's had an amazing career but not individually. I'm not criticising him, he prob did most he could with his talent but when he first emerged I thought he was really really talented

PerrinV2

tommyhaas wrote: »

Surprised Cherno Samba or Maxim Tsigalko haven't got a mention :pac:

Someone's being playing too much football manager

Lamper.sffc

Harry Kewell. Great in his early career for leeds and plenty of interest from europes big clubs, but after that never really reached those heights. Injuries did play their part in his demise but he still should have got back to some level near his old, which he never did. I think it was partly down to a bad attitude on his part as well.

ASOT

Bebe ??

The Homeless Warrior!

cgpg5

Lamper.sffc wrote: »

Harry Kewell. Great in his early career for leeds and plenty of interest from europes big clubs, but after that never really reached those heights. Injuries did play their part in his demise but he still should have got back to some level near his old, which he never did. I think it was partly down to a bad attitude on his part as well.

Yeah I think it was a more of a case of being incredibly injury prone though with regard to Kewell. He did show the odd glimpse at Liverpool but nothing incredible I agree.

Not sure about the bad attitude though??

Wolf Club

Joaquin.

In 2006 I thought he'd go on to be a top class winger and be a regular in the Spanish side for years to come. Obviously, this hasn't been helped by the emergence of Silva, Mata and Pedro, but he really hasn't lived up to that early promise.

missingtime

Ricardo Quaresma?