Playing for youth teams, many players show themselves at a level stronger than their peers. Such players always have the potential to become new football stars. At one time Ronaldinho, Andriy Shevchenko, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Erling Haaland, Kylian Mbappe, and many others revealed themselves in such a way.
But there are several players on whom the fans made the best football predictions and prophesied their top careers, but they did not work out. They failed to reveal themselves to the full for various reasons. We will talk about such players today.
Bojan Krkic
At the age of 17, this Serbian footballer made his debut for Barcelona. He so surprised everyone on the field with his technique and ability to control the ball that he managed not to get lost on the field in the team’s star lineup. Then he played no worse than:
- Messi;
- Iniesta;
- Xavi and other Barcelona midfielders.
In that team, he regularly got game practice, even though he was more of a rotation player. It would seem that he would get a place in the starting line-up. But the arrival of Guardiola changed everything. Under his coaching, Bojan had no place on the pitch and he went to Roma, where he failed to prove himself.
Then there was a return to Barcelona, but for this club, he no longer went on the field. His last club was Japanese Vissel Kobe and in 2023 he announced the end of his football career. It is believed that the main reason why he failed to fulfill his potential was emotional stress after the fans followed him. As a result, Bojan was unable to focus on football and never fulfilled his potential.
Ricardo Quaresma
When he first appeared on the pitch all analysts including xGscore.io noticed his technique and talent. He was one of the most colorful Portuguese of his generation. Many said he was more talented than Cristiano Ronaldo.
In the mid-table clubs, he was a real star and a leader on the pitch, but in the top clubs, he failed to fulfill his potential. It was important for Quaresma to have freedom on the pitch and for the team to always play through him. As soon as he got a dictator coach with clear schemes, he started to fall out of the game. As a result, he fought with the team, coaches, and partners.
Of course, Quaresma won the Champions League and became a European Champion with the Portuguese national team. So you can’t say that his career has gone without a trace. But he never became a top star of the level everyone was talking about. And the reason is his character and star disease.
Alexandre Pato
Next after Shevchenko is Milan’s number seven. He brightly began to show himself in the club and scored a beautiful goal for Barcelona and everyone believed that this was a new legend of the club. When he was on the pitch it was very rare to make on both teams to score predictions. However, the Brazilian never fulfilled his potential.
The reason is not in a difficult character or star disease. He was hampered by serious injuries. Initially, there was an injury that knocked him out of football for a long time. When he healed it, he would get on the pitch and start playing as sparingly as possible. He didn’t go for tackling and was afraid of getting injured again. Eventually, both coaches and fans noticed this and Pato stopped taking the field.
Then he returned to Brazil where football is not so tough. He tried to resuscitate his career, but to reach his former heights and realize his potential Pato could not in Chelsea or Villarreal.
Artem Milevskiy
Talent no less than Shevchenko. Many fans remembered his penalty kick performance at the 2006 World Cup (panenka). Milevskiy received many advances and there were rumours about different clubs. In 2006 he was the leader of the team and got a good contract. Then he and Aliev started to disappear in clubs more and more often, get into car accidents in a drunken state, and come to training sessions in the same form.
Blokhin’s appearance at the presentation as the head coach of Dynamo Kyiv in a dressing gown almost completely put an end to his career at the club. Further, he no longer played at a high level, staying in the teams of Croatia, Belarus, and Romania. But with his technique, he could feast in England and Spain, but Artem wanted to live beautifully more.
Conclusion
These players are not the only ones who never fulfilled their potential. Mateja Kezman, Mario Balotelli, Giuseppe Rossi, and many others could have been on this list. But our list includes players who failed to fulfil their potential for completely different reasons and many fans regret this outcome of their careers.
