Players that should work out but don't

[LeTallecWiz]

Who are the players that should have reached their peak (or maintained it) when they joined a massive club, but it never quite happened for them.

I'll start with Henry at Barca. Villa at Barca.

Villa is harsh - he didn't do as well as with Valencia, but he was playing in Messi's shadow and contributed to a goal (goal or assist) every second game ... Not too shabby (not to mention the trophies!)

Henry's first two seasons at Barca were really good too ... 19 goals, 11 assists in season 1 & 26 goals, 12 assists in season 2 ... Granted, not like the #s at Arsenal but he was playing left wing forward most of the time and in that messi fella's shadow.

 

[Rosco]

Why is the interesting part of this but it'll be ignored as usual.

 

[cloggypop]

Michael Johnson should have worked out but didn't

 

[Athens]

Patrick Kluivert for Milan.

 

[Khalido]

Papin at AC Milan.

 

[Markeh]

Anderson / Owen Hargreaves at United
Shevchenko at Chelsea
Robinho everywhere he went

Harry bloody Kewell
Maybe Morientes, we got him too late in his career imo

 

[Khalido]

Robert Prosinecki at Real Madrid.

 

[Ryan]

Neil Webb.

 

[Gary25]

Harry Kewell. I was ecstatic when we signed him. Such a let down.

 

[cloggypop]

Nigel Clough

 

[superchimp]

I remember being excited by Ryan Babel, was amazing for u21 holland team at the time...

 

[Roopy]

Riccardo Quaresma - Barca, Chelsea, Inter ...

Never rated this player. Yes he has crazy skills & flair, but never knew how to use it effectively.

People rating him based on youtube clips of his skills really shit me off.

 

[Markeh]

Milan Baros looked like he should've been a better player.

When he was a kid he was fantastic. I saw him at a youth tournament and thought we signed ourselves a Rooney, he was more developed than anyone else, really strong and skilful. He went on to be top scorer at the Euros and stuff but was never that great for us.

 

[DHSC]

Lentini at AC Milan

 

[cloggypop]

I remember being excited by Ryan Babel, was amazing for u21 holland team at the time...

I never understood why we went for him. He was always a one trick pony. Suarez looked so much better at Groningen.

 

[Silver Sean]

Compared to Ronaldo at Barca though? Just seemed like he was a bit disappointing.

Maybe, he had a terrible knee injury that totally farked him for a long time though.

 

[the count]

Rebrov at Spurs?

 

[cloggypop]

Bryan Ruiz at Fulham

 

[WhyAlwaysMe?]

Riccardo Quaresma - Barca, Chelsea, Inter ...

Never rated this player. Yes he has crazy skills & flair, but never knew how to use it effectively.

People rating him based on youtube clips of his skills really shit me off.

He will come good!

I forgot he played for Chelsea.

 

[localny]

Pauliniho at spurs?

 

[keniget]

Nani at Utd

It was the perfect set up. He went to a club that thrived playing attacking football with wingers and he had the best in the world, his idol, to learn from. At one point he looked like he was going to kick on but it just hasn't quite happened for him really.

Anderson was another one that everyone seemed to expect big things from who flopped massively. Maybe he just flattered to deceive at Porto and was going to fail wherever he went.. who knows.

 

[Ryan]

Stan Collymore with us.

All the ability in the world, joining a great side, Fowler to play along with.

Did mostly fuck all.

 

[rurikbird]

Rebrov at Spurs?

I think his case was just a culture shock of living in the West. He is from the same city where I grew up and was my favorite player in Dynamo. Great fighter and very intelligent team player – he is Dynamo's new head coach BTW. But he got depressed living in London, he just couldn't understand the culture – in football and in life. What a shame.

 

[rurikbird]

I think this thread is more interesting when talking about players who didn't quite succeed rather than outright flops. Most of the flops are determined by outside factors: players not suited to the new league/team/manager/system or suffering from too many injuries. Or sometimes the player is obviously overhyped. But there are some cases where a player seemed destined to succeed, has proven top-class quality or talent and didn't have too many obvious things working against him – but somehow it just didn't happen.

Kaka
Fabregas
Mendieta
Veron
Pastore
Kagawa
...

Let's remember some defenders too:
Cannavaro at Real
Luiz at Chelsea

who else?

 

[jan]

Nani at Utd

It was the perfect set up. He went to a club that thrived playing attacking football with wingers and he had the best in the world, his idol, to learn from. At one point he looked like he was going to kick on but it just hasn't quite happened for him really.

Anderson was another one that everyone seemed to expect big things from who flopped massively. Maybe he just flattered to deceive at Porto and was going to fail wherever he went.. who knows.

Yeah, every Manc supporter I know was telling me how they got their future stars when they signed them. I like the fact they're both still there, Nani with a contract until 2018.

 

[Modo]

Collymore was fucking great with Fowler. One of the best striker partnerships the premiership has ever seen. How did he fail?

 

[keniget]

I think this thread is more interesting when talking about players who didn't quite succeed rather than outright flops. Most of the flops are determined by outside factors: players not suited to the new league/team/manager/system or suffering from too many injuries. Or sometimes the player is obviously overhyped. But there are some cases where a player seemed destined to succeed, has proven top-class quality or talent and didn't have too many obvious things working against him – but somehow it just didn't happen.

Kaka
Fabregas
Mendieta
Veron
Pastore
Kagawa
...

Let's remember some defenders too:
Cannavaro at Real
Luiz at Chelsea

who else?

Nani is a great example of that as mentioned above.

I'm not sure if he quite fits in with your criteria but another is Robinho. He struggled at first in Spain looking like a small child thrust into a mans game but over time he matured and developed himself physically and started to look really quite good. Then Chelsea came along and his head was turned by the money on offer and it all went to shit. It's hard to say what would've happened if someone had've been there to tell him that money isn't everything but it does feel like he ruined his career during that time.

Cassano is another though again not sure if he belongs. Had all the talent in the world and kept getting chances but couldn't stay out of the nightclubs in Madrid. Silly boy.

 

[hamstrung_pigeon]

Nani is a great example of that as mentioned above.

I'm not sure if he quite fits in with your criteria but another is Robinho. He struggled at first in Spain looking like a small child thrust into a mans game but over time he matured and developed himself physically and started to look really quite good. Then Chelsea came along and his head was turned by the money on offer and it all went to shit. It's hard to say what would've happened if someone had've been there to tell him that money isn't everything but it does feel like he ruined his career during that time.

I think you meant City.

 

[Halmeister]

Chelsea were after him too. He had his heart set on there. I seem to remember in his press conference, when signing for City, he thought he had signed for Chelsea.

 

[keniget]

I think you meant City.

Nah, I meant Chelsea. My memory might be deceiving me but it was Chelsea that originally turned his head but for whatever reason - I'm guessing they couldn't agree a fee - it didn't quite happen. I don't think Robinho wanted to go to City but by that point he'd burned his bridges at Real by saying he wanted to go to England (Chelsea specifically) and that was the option he was left with. The blow was softened with huge wads of cash though obviously.