Guest Article: Top Football Players Who Didn’t Reach their Potential

Time for another guest article now as Simon Shaw, someone who definitely has a keen eye for a football player offers up a list of names who did not quite live up to their potential. Simon it’s over to you.

Whenever a new player debuts in a football match fans and bettors from across the globe pay a lot of attention on the style and techniques used by the player.

If a young player shows superstar potential, everyone follows his journey.

Over the decade, there have been numerous wonderkids who wowed the football community. But, not a lot of them fully realise their potential. Read on to know more about them

Giuseppe Rossi

Rossi started playing football when he was 12. He left his hometown to sign up for Parma. After qualifying, he moved to Italy with the help of his parents who are Italian immigrants in the US.

The New Jersey football athlete could have been one of the best players in the business. However, he suffered from a series of major injuries that prevented him from playing for many seasons.

Recently, Rossi also failed a drug test conducted in Italy. After testing positive for a prohibited substance, he got banned to play for a year. Consequently, he was dropped by Genoa last summer.

Breno

Breno Vinicius Rodrigues Borges or Breno was only 18 when Bayern Munich signed him.  He was voted by journalists as the “Discover of the Year”, thanks to his solid efforts in helping Sao Paulo FC win the championships.

However, Breno had a difficult time adjusting to Germany’s way of life. Because his parent’s failed to obtain a German visa, they stayed behind.

He had major issues in learning the language so he felt isolated during the club’s warmup training.

Just when he started to figure out what to do, he got injured. On September 2011, he was told that he needed another operation to fix his knee. On that day, he did the unthinkable. He burnt his villa to the ground.

He was found guilty of arson and was sentenced to 3 to 6 years in prison.

Anthony Vanden Borr

Anthony Vanden Borre previously played for football clubs in England, Belgium, Italy, and France. Many fans claim that he is the best Belgium striker they have ever seen.

For a short fraction of time, he was able to show immense improvement.

However, before the Christmas season in 2005, Borre made the headlines for shaving AVB onto his hair. This incident angered the manager of Anderlecht club, Franky Vercauteran.

His strings of scandal continued until the got released by his club. When he moved to Fiorentina, he faced a bigger problem. He never got picked.

Valeri Bojinov

Bojinov had impressive goal records. He was only 15 when he debuted in the Serie A. His natural skills and ability attracted numerous football clubs.

However, after signing up with Manchester City FC, he suffered from a cruciate ligament injury. He tried to bounce back to stardom, but his Achilles got injured during a warm-up game.

Everything went downhill from here.

Fran Merida

Fran Merida trained in the La Masia academy. His move to a new club during his younger years caused him a lot. He was sued for infringing the contract he signed with the La Liga. The court ruled in favour of the complainant.

From there on, Merida had a rough start. In 2014, he lost his interest in football so he stopped playing for a while. He was unemployed for around four months.

It was only in 2015 when he signed for Huesca and started showing signs of improvement again.

Ismail Aissati

Aissati was that 17-year-old, Dutch player who debuted in the Champions League 2005. At a young age, he showed a lot of potential. That’s why he got signed by PSV.

He played for PSV for years but he got sold to Ajax in 2008 because of his terrible knee injury.

The young prodigy struggled to get back in shape for three years.

He was never the same. After his contract ended with Akhmat Grozny, he returned to Turkey

Alexander Pato

Alexandre Rodrigues da Silva or Alexandre Pato is a professional footballer from Brazil. He started playing at a tender age of 16.

He managed to join the best teams in the world as a striker. However, he suffered from a total of 13 injuries in a span of three years.

This caused him to miss around 66 matches throughout his early career.

Nowadays, Pato plays as a forward for the Tianjin Quanjian FC.

Last few words

As a bettor who compares football match odds and dedicates time to monitor players and transfers, you’ve probably seen a lot of wonderkids who fail to reach their maximum potential. It is a sad but harsh reality.

Who are your top picks? How did they fail? Was it because of an injury? Personal issues? Loss of interest?

Where are they now? Did they manage to get back on their feet? Or, did they fail to redeem themselves?

 

Thanks for your article Simon, a very impressive read. I look forward to your next offering. If you would like to get involved like Simon then simply drop me an email at realfootballmanwordpress@gmail.com.