7 players who fell off the radar after making promising starts to their careers

The game of football is a craft which has given many a man an immortal status. From the great Pele to  Diego Armando Maradona, Johan Cruyff, to Ronaldo De Lima Nazario, to Zinedine Zidane,  Cristiano Ronaldo, and the little genius, Lionel Messi- All these names, who belong to different epochs in a very rich football history have one thing in common; immortality. They’re all names who have etched themselves in gold following stellar and illustrious careers in the round leather game that stands them apart from any of their contemporaries.

Over the years, it has been a common index to use a player’s early peak to extrapolate just how promising a player’s career would be. Sometimes, the predictions have been spot on, with these players going on to smash records and set precedents in the course of their playing days. Other times, the extrapolations have been all wrong, in which case these players have gone on to falter and veer off the tangent of their promising breakout seasons, fading into anonymity.

Since the turn of the new millennium, a good number of players have fallen into this bracket. Eko Hot Blog now takes a look at seven players who fell off the grid after enjoying promising break-out seasons.

(1) Mario Balloteli: Mario Balloteli plies his trade with Serie B side, Brescia these days. This reality echoes as a sharp contrast to a player who burst on to the scene with much fire and electricity.

He started his professional football career at Lumezzane and played for the first team twice before having an unsuccessful trial at Barcelona, and subsequently joining Inter Milan in 2007. Inter manager Roberto Mancini brought Balotelli into the first team, but when Mancini left, Balotelli’s disciplinary record fell away. He had a strained relationship with new manager Jose Mourinho and was suspended from Inter’s first team in January 2009 after a number of disciplinary problems.

With doubts over his career at Inter, former coach Roberto Mancini had since moved to Manchester City and decided to give Balotelli a fresh chance at a new club. He joined Manchester City in August 2010, where his performances and off-field activities continued to be enigmatic and unpredictable.

While Balloteli will always be remembered by Manchester City fans, notably for his stoppage time equalizer in 2012 against Queens Park Rangers in the final game of the season to help the East Manchester side nick the league title against cross-town bitter rivals, Manchester United, the Italian’s career has not been reflective of the talent and promise he bore when he came into the limelight 12 years ago.

(2) Javier Saviola: Not a lot of millenial football fans will remember this little Argentine who burst on to the scene firing on all cylinders.

Nicknamed El Conejo (The Rabbit), Buenos Aires-born Saviola made his debut for Club Atletico River plate at the age of 16, and went on to be a prolific goalscorer for the club.

He helped River to the 1999 Apertura and 2000 Clausura championships, and earned the 1999 South American Footballer of the Year award. Still only 18, he gained a reputation as a phenomenal prospect, and was even regarded as a potential heir to Diego Maradona, in particular after he broke the latter’s 1978 record by becoming the youngest player to win the Golden Boot award.

Saviola starred in the 2001 Edition of the FIFA U-20 World Cup, held in Argentina. He was top scorer and was voted player of the tournament, as the national team won the competition; with 11 goals in seven games, he became the record goal-scorer in the tournament’s history.

Despite all the initial buzz which trailed Saviola’s early career, an impressive first season in Spain where he was joint top-scorer with 17 league goals remains Argentine’s best outing in Europe, a disappointing culmination of an initially glittering career.

(3) Anderson Oliveira: In 2007, Anderson became only the second player after Kleberson to ever play for Manchester United. The Brazilian hit the ground running with a number of eye-catching performances, which made him a constant feature in a star studded midfield that included the likes of Paul Scholes, Michael Carrick, Darren Fletcher and Owen Hargreaves.

Regarded as a talented and highly promising player in the media in his youth, Anderson later struggled to replicate his precocious performances as his career progressed, and has been accused by some pundits – including Marca’s Fran Villalobos and The Guardian Barney Ronay – of failing to live up to his potential. Keith Griffin of Bleacher Report remarked in 2008 that Anderson was “[o]ne of the most impressive young players to grace the Premier League this season,” noting that the midfielder was gifted “with blinding pace, hulkish upper body strength, and vision.”

Now 32, The Brazilian has already called time on his footballing career having completely lost the balletic grace which pegged him as one the best young midfielders in his prime.

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(4) Adnan Januzaj: Many had predicted the birth of a new “Ryan Giggs” in 2013 when Adnan Januzaj scored a superb brace at the Stadium of Light against Sunderland to overturn a one nil deficit during David Moyes’s term as United manager. Fittingly, this would turn out to be Giggs’s last season with United as a player.

By the next two years, all the buzz which had surrounded Adnan Januzaj’s maiden season had completely faded off. The Belgian had found starting opportunities quite difficult to clinch under Moyes’s successors. Loan spells at Sunderland and Borrusia Dortmund followed, all of which failed to re-ignite the electricity Januzaj’s breakout season had come with.

At 25, the Albanian-born Belgian now plies his trade with La Liga outfit, Real Sociedad, but it appears the new Ryan Giggs may not be able to replicate the legendary Welshman’s illustrious career given the current trajectory of his playing career.

(5) Jack Wilshere: Wilshere came through Arsenal’s youth academy and impressed from an early age. He made his first team debut in 2008, becoming Arsenal’s ever youngest ever league debutant at the age of 16 years, 256 days. Wilshere has earned a number of accolades including the PFA Young Player of the Year award, and Arsenal’s Player of the Season award, as voted for by the fans for his performances in his first full campaign for Arsenal during the 2010-2011 season.

Wilshere is known for his movement, vision, passing and combination play, as well as his leadership on the pitch. He was once described by Arsene Wenger as having “Spanish technique, but an English heart”. Owen Coyle, Bolton manager during Wilshere’s loan spell at the club, praised his ability to “tackle and take a knock”, despite his lack of height. However, Arsenal head of youth development, Liam Brady noted that Wilshere had problems with his temper early on in his career.

Following his return from injury in the 2012-2013 season, Wilshere received praise for his performances and potential from a number of respected players. Barcelona and Brazil Right Back, Dani Alves referred to Wilshere as “a great player”, and compared his potential to that of Barcelona legends, Andres Iniesta and Xavi. Former Manchester United midfielder, Bastian Scwheinsteiger called Wilshere “one of the best players there are” at his position. Borrusia Dortmund and Germany forward Marco Reus hailed him as “a perfect player”.

Now 30, Wilshere’s career path has taken a downward spiral which has seen him in and out of a West Ham team punching way below its weight by consistently participating in the ugly end of season relegation battle; a sad climax to a tale which once held much drama and suspense.

(6) Nuri Sahin: Known for his composure on the ball and ability to pick a decent pass, Nuri Sahin quickly rose from the Dortmund ranks to become one of the best young midfielders in Europe. In 2011, the Les Merengues came calling, pitching Sahin alongside an already star-studded Madrid midfield. The move to Madrid would turn out to be catastrophic, as Nuri Sahin only made 4 appearances in 3 years for the Galacticos. Loan spells to Liverpool and former club, Borrusia Dortmund followed, all of which failed to reproduce any glimpse of the brilliance that saw him secure a seat at one of the most competitive tables in the world.

Following a two-year spell with Werder Bremen, the German-born Sahin has recently signed with Antalyaspor in his native Turkey; an underwhelming end of an initially promising career.

(7) Federico Macheda: Federico Macheda made it to the limelight by doing what most great players did in their youth- “Carpe Diem”- by “seizing the day”. Under a frighteningly talented array of attacking options which included Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney, Macheda earned a reputation of stepping up to the plate and scoring last gasp important goals when Sir Alex’s superstars had gone out of their depth. For a boy wonder who could manage the pressure of such staggering moments, many had predicted him to succeed the heavyweights he played behind in the pecking order.

The next 5 to 6 years would turn out a huge disappointment, as Manchester United finally released Macheda in 2014 after failing to stamp a place in the first team despite having gone on loan a number of times in an attempt to polish his trade-craft.

At 29, Macheda is currently under the employ of Greek side, Panathinaikos, a downward plunge to a career which started out with much promise and anticipation for what the future was to hold.