An obscure nomination would also be Savio Nsereko who was named best player of the title-winning german side in the U19 Euros 2008 before joining Aston Villa on a record-breaking transfer before later staging his own kidnapping and disappearing for more than a week. He's now a youth coach at an amateur club in Munich
He comes from a difficult background, his Mum was an alcoholic. It was a miracle he was where he was in the premier league in the first place. People mock him becuase he probably scored against your team and got under their skin.
Same here but as a Manchester United fan, and that despite him destroying united when he was at MK Dons. I was jealous that Tottenham were the ones who signed him, now I am just sad so much potential going amiss seemingly at random. I hope he can put the pieces back together soon, he is still youngish at 26 so there is time but its running out alarmingly quickly.
Nery Castillo’s tale is a sad, he lost both of his parents in the span of months around 2008-2009 and that’s when his career really began to tumble, between that and few bad transfers his career never turned out to be what everyone in Mexico once thought it would be
Nery also never wanted to move from Olympiacos. Especially to Shakhtar. He was enjoying his time in Greece, warm climate, spoke Greek, had pretty much settled. But the offer was too good to turn down. Now he is chilling in a Greek island with his family, fishing and enjoying his time. Being professional footballer is tough. You never know why an x player is not performing because everyone forgets he is also human being with emotions, personality and a character.
@@francolive5718 Romeo Beckham plays in MLS for Miami. Romeo and Phil Neville’s son were selected over Miami first team players when Miami played a friendly against Barcelona. How embarrassing. Romeo is another nepo-baby blocking the path of more deserving footballers. And not forgetting Brooklyn Beckham who never made the grade at Arsenal and was binned.
Bojan was brilliant back in the late 2000’s - I remember my mates comparing him to messi way back when. Their careers ended up being v different though…
We’re it not for the injury picked up at Rochdale? I genuinely think he would have lit up the premier league. He’d made a very encouraging start with Stoke.
Darko Pancev is one i remember (as i am a bit older) and yes he was a monster before moving to Inter.. then not so much. Francis Jeffers is another one i remember.... intresting how one career can go so bad.
As a Macedonian I am plesantly surprised to see Pančev in this comment section. It's nice that he is still remembered outside of my country. Where are you from?
Tomas Brolin after he joined Leeds stands out for me as a Leeds fan, I was a young lad at the time, was my favourite player when in a Sweden shirt, before he joined Leeds (which I was thrilled at), and to see how much he dropped off after that was mystifying. I know injuries played their part but it seems he became utterly unprofessional at Leeds, clashed with both Howard Wilkinson and George Graham and how his career ended up was sad for a player of his potential.
Brolin broke his ankle in a Euro qualifier in the fall of 1994, and he never fully recovered. Probably the medical treatments were not good enough at the time to retain full movement in the ankle. He was at his peak at the time of the injury, after a very good World Cup '94 where he was selected to the team of the tournament and ranked as the 5th best player in the world. He had displayed his abilities already at the 1990 World cup with a well taken goal against Brazil. Then followed an increasing influence on the game in the clubteam of Parma in Italy, and the national teams in the Olympics (1992), Euros 92, and World Cup 94. He was mainly playing as a second striker or offensive midfielder, both creating goals as well as scoring, with unusual ability to use imagination and to make things happen. After the injury he could not reclaim his place in Parma, and then followed the move to England. According to Brolin, Wilkinson could not keep his promises regarding Brolins role in the team, and considering how stubborn Brolin was, this could not end well. It appears that this, in combination with the ankle problems, made Brolin loose his motivation for top level football. In the end he had a relatively short career, short of five years performing at the top level. Still, it is not that many players that manages to win Bronze medals at the World cup and are selected as the fifth best player in the world.
Miralem Pjanic forgot how to play in his last year at Juventus. I've heard no explanation so far about why his talent disappeared. Other players that spring to mind are Fernando Torres, Kaka and Coutinho.
disagree with kaka and coutinho. Coutinho played well at start of barca, at bayern, and showed signs of life sometimes. Kaka injuries not losing talent
None of the players mentioned "forgot" how to play football, at all. Not every player can play at every club, under every manager. Managers fail the players in not understanding how the player plays his/her best.
Luan won the Olympics with Brazil, won the Libertadores with Grêmio, got the prize as the best in the tournment and best south american player that year. After that he never played well again. It's hard to see him even playing now a days and he is only 29.
I'm surprised you added Laurent Robert to this list as he'd hardly be the only jinky winger to fade quickly when they get near their 30's when their legs are finely gone after injuries.
@@GreekHouseEffect Ballotelli was just a total nut job,who could play some amazing football, when in a good spell of mental health.....which usually didn't last more than 30 minutes.
Michu deserves a mention. Fantastisch player at Vallecano and his first season at Swansea. Became a Spanish international and retired at 29 after failures at Napoli, Langreo and Oviedo.
i am following this channel for a couple of years now but this is my favorite video for one reason only! my city's team Larissa (AEL is the official name) is mentioned so thank you Robert for that (I was a teenager when he played for us and I had the pleasure to see him on the stadium many times his shot power was insane even though he was unfit AF) and one of my brother's favorite player as a teen castillo is mentioned as well! so lots of nostalgia in this video for a humble greek as me
He was an absolute beast at Heereveen. Was with out a doubt the best player of the Eredivisie in 06-07. Scored more than Huntelaar and Farfan who both had a respectable career in Germany afterwards. Even scored 7 in one game which is still a record. I was kinda suprised he went for such a relative minor club (no disrespect).
Video suggestion: a documentary on the Red Star Belgrade team that won the 1990-91 European Cup- how they did it, and whether it was as unlikely as it seems today. May be extra poignant since the passing of Siniša Mihajlović.
Most of the players listed either transferred to the wrong team and/or encountered injuries. Not all players can go to any club and thrive, despite what desire the player has.
Unpopular opinion. Rivaldo forgot how to play football when he joined Milan. I remember being so excited the first time we saw him in san siro, but he looked totally lost. Somehow still picked up a champions league medal, and then he was gone.
Drenthe was just unlucky to be stuck behind Marcelo while also having a questionable attitude. Michu was in all honesty just never that good apart from his hot streaks at Swansea.
@@dmur.Michu was a beast. Scoring 18 goals in the PL for Swansea as a midfielder is insane. I can't think of a single midfielder from any team that has done that since?
@@dmur. His body was pretty much riddled with foot injuries. The talent was still in there in the rare instances between severe foot injuries, but the problem was it was repeated injuries.
Oscar (dos Santos Emboaba Júnior) is one that i remember very much. I even bought a chelsea jersey, not even being a chelsea fan. Now he kicks in china. After the transfer to china, he basicly vanished from football in total. But he is still playing there
as part-egyptian, i frequently checked the football newspapers (i feel old) to see how amr zaki was doing and was so excited to see this goalscoring record halfway through the season. i knew he was a good player from the national team, but didnt expect such a level of goalscoring. a sad outcome really, he could've been great
Jack Rodwell. From being tipped as the next big thing for England signing for City, to not being able to get in the Sunderland team relegated from the Championship team in a mere 3 seasons
That was a strange one...feels like we may hear what really went on when he fully retires and does a tell all book. I thought it was an injury issue but get the feeling more Is going on behind the scenes...
I have a suggestion. Can you make a video about players who were failed at their first transfer, but then became very successful at their next club. For example, Thierry Henry who were failed completely at Juventus, but then exploded at Arsenal.
Another CSL vid may be needed. Guangzhou Evergrande relegated and while it has been predictable due the ownership technically liquidated due to the debt, it may be interesting to see if there are other problems than that.
Could you do a vid on the great left footed players of Argentina and the fact that they continue to produce so many. Omar Sivori Mario Kempes Danielle Passarella Walter Samuel Estaban Cambiaso Angel Di Maria Fernando Redondo Paolo Dybala Lionel Messi Diego Maradona
he mentioned them in his video about the state of Russian football, saying they were particularly hard hit because they had a lot of foreign players who all left.
I know he's only 20, but Ihattaren has already a place on that list. From one of the most enthusiastic youngsters in the world to a point of non return and connections with mafia, such a pity... Jano Ananidze, Royston Drenthe, Ante Coric, Marco van Ginkel, Jurgen Locadia or Marko Marin could be added as well
Not really 2 we’re just stockpiled Chelsea guys who lost confidence, one only played well in Russia , the rest just mediocre or overrated Dutch players!
Never been this early to an Alfie video. Hope you’re having a blessed holiday my friend. You provide such great entertainment to my life and I appreciate you!
In most cases, it comes with the big money contracts at a relatively young age. Players lose their passion for the game and it gets replaced with the fame/high roller lifestyle. In other cases, the player was simply never as good as the media hype was. He went through an early purple patch and made it big, but failed to play well in the big games. Other cases the player was just simply unlucky with injury. Torres is one of the names that comes to mind. He was an absolute beast. Succumbed to injury and was never the same, despite trying.
I'm TRULY TRULY jaw dropped my man that you are even aware of Dark Panchev who is, even till this very day, THE MOST TALKED ABOUT PROLIFIC STRIKER in the lands of Ex-Yu (although he was Macedonian), who was given the nickname "Cobra", just to stress his goal scoring deadly position and stance, especially since, even to this day, along with Denis Bergkamp, he is names as the biggest wasted talent in FC Inter. But,unlike Bergkamp, who had his "2nd life" in Arsenal, Darko fell into the abyss from which he never recovered from. Yes! He won the UCL (back then, known as European Cup) as the most prolific striker (most of his teammates from the period, like Savicevic, Piksi, Mihajlovic, Prosinecki...) used to describe him as a "magnet" for the ball, whenever he'd enter the box. But,he made that unfortunate choice to go to Inter (if he'd chosen Milan, everything could've been different - although they already signed Papin), and it went DOWNHILL from there, like it seldom dos for any footballer, especially striker. But, it is what it is... Stories like this one often happen in the life of footballers,and his was only one of the many. However, the fact that people still remember him, is a good sign! Regards from Macedonia!
Ronaldinho is the big one for me absolutely world class but after the 2006 WC he was never the same player again for some reason so much so that I wasn't even aware that he only retired in 2018 such was his fall from grace he certainly didn't have the longevity that Messi and Ronaldo have had but at his absolute peak he probably was just as good Kaka of course as well who was once considered the greatest player alongside Ronaldinho and who's career completely tailed off although that could be put down to the multiple injuries he sustained in his playing career but the number 1 is definitely Ronaldinho
I think Ronaldinho got burnt out in 2006. He went straight from winning La Liga and the Champions league with Barcelona into the world cup. And then it was back to league action right after that. I do wonder if the lack of a good break that summer hurt.
To be fair Ronaldinho is still widely considered as an all-time great so his fall wasn’t as absurd as other players who only ever showed glimpses of potential and faded out quicker.
When I played Champ Manager years ago, I always used to make sure I bought Phillipe Christanval for whichever side I played in the top Division. He was class on that....!
Talent only opens doors for you. Hard work sustains your performance. Mental resilience gives you the edge. Discipline lifts you to stratospheric levels. These are the 4 pillars of sporting excellence. Footballers will lose their momentum if anyone of these pillars is missing.
7 Brazilian prodigies that never made it As a follower of Brazilian football, there was a time when Brazil had "5 stars" that were expected to conquer Europe as they do every so often. One of these was Neymar, the second Oscar and the third Lucas Moura. These three have made it as European stars to various extent. The other two are Leandro Damiao and Paulo Henrique Ganso, who never really made any inroads into Europe or the national team. Ganso plays for domestic Fluminense and Damiao only recently decided to move out. He's now in Japan - not even sure if he's active this season.
I've got at least a decade on you.. And as a Portsmouth supporting Geordie.. Robert never "lit up" St James Pk for four years, he was generally a disappointing liability but as the team declined around him he eventually became a regular and had a few highlight reel moments but if he'd been good overall.. They wouldn't have sold him to Pompey would they? And us Pompey fans didn't think we'd pulled off a couple signing him, it was clear he had some talents but we expected him to not care and do nothing.. As he did! While I'm on it.. You kids seem to rate Carrick, whereas us slightly older fellas who watched his whole career don't.. He had a good couple seasons post 30, but only as Utd declined and he was suddenly worth a spot.. Disappointing luxury player before that who never earned a regular spot when it was a top team. He was good, and maybe ahead of his time style wise.. But overall, just a good PL player, nothing special judged over whole career. Ince for eg never gets mentioned and he was a monster, only slightly less Keane than Keane!!
I was expecting to see Wilfried Bony on this list; he scored 25 goals for Swansea in the 13-14 season, and led the entire premier league in goals across 2014, despite his supporting cast being nowhere near the level of major club stars. Then he got transferred to City, barely played, and never scored more than 5 goals in a season again.
You’ve missed a significant part of Nery Castillo’s story out. It’s far too simplistic to say he’s a flop - the truth is that he lost both parents at the time his form fell off a cliff and suffered a dreadful injury with City meaning he could never get his form back.
People outside Spurs chalk Dele's downfall to his attitude but its alot more than just that, he trained poorly under Poch but still performed superbly on the pitch, consistently topping running stats at the club for about 3/4 years. As a club our recruitment is notoriously garbage, we sort of stumbled onto Poch after LVG rejected us and when he came in when we had a mix of a terrible old guard of players (excluding Jan & Hugo) and a hungry section of young and talented players. Pleat scouted and signed Dele for just 5 mil who with Kane, Eriksen, Mousa, Hugo, Rose etc. became the face of 'the project' led by Poch that elevated the club's standard enormously. The issue is the club (Levy) felt that solely this starting 11 was capable of lasting the test of time and withdrew from any attempt to evolve the squad, we signed no one for 2 windows and when we did he was expected to be nothing more but a role player. This lack of competition led to standards stagnating and the lack of quality off the bench meant all our players were burnt out, Dele was a victim of this, his very rough injury record speaks for itself. The biggest loss in this painful process was losing Dembele, which meant Dele had to drop deep and no longer had the freedom to attack the box to receive those delightful prime Eriksen deliveries. He was still a very solid player in that position but as time passed the squad around him continued to decline with poor to poor recruitment. Poch was sacked and Levy took a 180 degree stylistic turn and appointed Jose, whose resume is excellent but respectfully doesn't play the football the club needed. We stopped counter pressing, keeping possession and attempting to attack with any fluidity, setting up to solely benefit Son and Kane. At this point Dele was frozen out due to his lacklustre performances in training which in all honestly would have never been an issue if the club (Levy) decided to genuinely invest all those years ago, like Arsenal and Liverpool are doing right now. If Levy opted for a coach that suited the ethos of the club at that point in time or just simply stuck with Poch and rebuilt with him, we could be seeing a very different Tottenham and Dele. The situation right now is proof that nothing has changed at Spurs, we have a genuine issue in the boardroom there is a real lack of basic understanding over what the team and Conte needs, the hierarchy is too detached for any success to be realised at the club.
As an American, I have a suggestion: Freddy Adu. Hyped as the future of US soccer at age 12, making a pro debut at age 13 with DC United... and then went to Europe and disappeared.
It was a well composed video. I have only one complain about it. Why are you using the pic of Andrea Pirlo as a thumbnail? He isn't mentioned in your video at all. Isn't this a classic example of clickbait?
I sort of assumed seeing players like James Rodriguez and Coutinho in this video. Instead, I learned about more players who fell from grace really quickly.
Alli has become seriously unfit and injuries must be affecting him Sometimes it gets into players heads as well When you are a 1st team player at 17 its not easy to keep up the expectations just ask Michael Owen Who was VERY average by the time he was about 26
This is why I admire the approach that Pep Guardiola took with Phil Foden. He knew Foden was good enough to break into the first team, but didn't want to throw him in at the deep and drown him under the weight of expectation, as happened with Owen, so he took a few seasons to gradually ease him into the team and continues to rotate him even now. It's worked wonders, at least so far.
This is what separates the truly great players from the rest, among other things. They are able to maintain the highest level of performance for very long periods of time (15/20 years) and only start falling off when age catches up to them.
Alli was a cocky, confidence player and he never recovered after being burgled and tied up in front of his girlfriend at home. So many people forget this story but he basically never played another decent game after that happened to him. I believe there's a connection
Darko Pancec was extremely good player. In that time in Yugoslavia was forbidden for the players to sign for teams of another country, they must to play in their own country until age 28. After that they can go anywhere.
I had such high hopes when Laurent Robert signed for Pompey although I was very hesitant at the same time. He was nicknamed 'The Incredible Sulk' for a reason and had stripped off all his clothes and threw them into the crowd at his last game for Newcastle, so not exactly the most level headed of characters.
DAY 68: Hey Alfie, could you do a video on the life, career, controversies and tragedy of Justin Fashanu. It'd be your best video yet and it's a criminally underheard story. ❤️
One player that deserves a mention is Jese Rodriguez went from playing for Real Madrid and PSG to Stoke and now disappearing into the depths of the Spanish second tier
Deli has'nt forgotten how to play football he has forgotten how to train. Pochetino, Murinho and Lampard all accused him of laziness. His lack of fitness made him susceptible to hamstring problems. Aparantly his life was taken over by video games like Fortnite and he's a games ambassador for big American tech companies.
How about Isco. Talisman at Malaga. Playmaker for a good portion of his Madrid career but suddenly dropped and transferred to Sevilla where he was a shadow of himself
Pancev said : " I already done what i need to done and i was tired of football . Inter had Scilaci on no.9 and they rarely put me to play . Wrong situation in big club - i should look a little smaller club for less money and play regulary "
Tbh I think Mourinho ruined Alle.. His way of coaching killed the kids confidence when he was trying to come back from an injury. But you gotta put some blame on him but it was a perfect storm of things going wrong for him.
Dele gets a lot of attention, but an even more important player in Pochettino's Spurs team was possibly Danny Rose, who went through an even bigger and faster decline
