It’s always fun to read about the players who are projected to be the next big things, but it’s even more interesting to look back on previous lists to see who lived up to that early hype.
The Guardian have recently looked at the top rated U21 Premier League team from the 2009/10 season, and there are some fascinating names in this line-up:
Gareth Bale is the undoubted star from the group, while Jonny Evans and Marouane Fellaini did go on to have very good careers as well, but the most notable takeaways from this are those who didn’t have the career that many expected.
The Arsenal players are the most interesting as Alex song quickly became a key player for the club, but the move to Barcelona didn’t really work out and he’s now playing in Djibouti so it’s fair to suggest that it didn’t go to plan for him.
Niklas Bendtner was another who had bags of talent but the application wasn’t quite there and his last sighting came in the fourth tier of Danish football, while Denilson is now playing in Malta and Vito Mannone went on to become a solid back-up for a few teams.
Man United also have some disappointments in there as Phil Jones and Rafael struggled to establish themselves as key players, so it shows that young talents don’t always go on to have the expected career.