Football is awash with talented players who never quite reached their potential.
Most of these lads were hugely able and big things were expected of them, but they let social factors and other aspects get in the way of their development on the pitch.
As fans, there are obviously things we don’t know about their private lives – problems that we couldn’t comprehend.
However, every follower of the beautiful game just wants to see the greatest players flourish and when someone disappoints in football, there is no hiding place.
In the news at the moment is promising midfielder Jack Grealish and his obvious troubles at Aston Villa. We’re hoping that we don’t have to add him to this list in years to come.
Unfortunately, though, we at Football Fancast headquarters have compiled a list of the five young starlets who wasted their immense talent. See if you agree with our five selections.
Ravel Morrison
Ravel Morrison was supposed to be one of the greatest footballers. Rio Ferdinand said that he was the best young footballer he’d ever seen, whereas Sir Alex Ferguson claimed Morrison was one of the most naturally gifted players to come through the ranks at United.
Unfortunately, none at United were able to tame the youngster and he eventually left in 2012. He has featured for West Ham, QPR, Cardiff and is now playing for Lazio, but never established himself and time is running out for him to reach his potential.
Jose Baxter
In 2008, Baxter became the youngest ever Premier League starter when he featured for David Moyes’ Everton side.
However, his personal issues are not unknown. Drugs and alcohol were, unfortunately, a huge part of his upbringing and after he moved on from Everton, the problems did not wash away.
He got in trouble whilst at Oldham and similarly at Sheffield United.
The midfielder has now been banned for 12 months for a second failed drugs test.
David Bentley
Bentley was tipped as football’s next big thing over a decade ago.
At 29 though, he retired from football and claimed that “he never felt like a footballer.”
He featured for Blackburn and picked up 9 caps for England before signing for Spurs for £15m. However, his career stalled under Harry Redknapp and the boy who was meant to be the next David Beckham has moved on to pastures new – he runs his own restaurant in Marbella.
Nick Powell
When at Crewe, Powell was tipped as one of the English game’s rising stars. He scored in the League 2 playoff final before being sold to United in the summer of 2012.
He scored on his competitive debut for the Reds in a 4-0 demolition of Wigan but later stalled in his progress.
He made a couple of appearances under Louis Van Gaal but eventually left the Red Devils this summer to join Wigan.
He’s been decent at the Latics but a lot more was expected of the midfielder. He still has time to improve, though.
Federico Macheda
Another United starlet who failed to reach his full potential was Federico Macheda – who scored the incredible 5th goal in a 3-2 victory over Aston Villa which gave United breathing space from title challengers Liverpool.
Macheda scored the winning goal at Sunderland the week after, too.
However, the Italian’s career at United also stalled. He went on many loan moves to Sampdoria, QPR, Doncaster, Birmingham, Cardiff and Nottingham Forest, but has never settled sufficiently and is now a free agent.
