4 Genuine Football Wonderkids That Didn’t Fulfil Their Potential — beragampengetahuan – Beragampengetahuan

He had impressed in the Championship, yes, but he had not played a solitary Premier League minute let alone played for his country. On reflection, his inclusion in the squad was not justified as he did not make a single appearance and it is difficult to envisage a scenario where he would have been needed.

It was a World Cup which ended dismally for England with a Quarter-Final exit at the hands of Portugal following a Wayne Rooney red card and penalty shootout.

However, Walcott had become England’s youngest-ever player by appearing in a pre-tournament friendly victory over Hungary aged 17 years and 75 days.

In the early days at Arsenal, Walcott was used sparingly by Arsene Wenger. The Frenchman was keen to allow the youngster to develop and this was reflected in his appearances, although he featured heavily in the Carling Cup.

In fact, it was in the final of this competition that he scored his first Arsenal goal, although the day ended in defeat with Chelsea running out 2-1 winners.

Walcott really arrived on the world stage in his second competitive appearance for England. In September 2008 he scored a hat-trick away against Croatia in a 4-1 England win.

This made him the youngest hat-trick scorer for the England national side and the first to score a treble since Michael Owen in 2001.

However, perhaps it could be said that in this moment, aged just 19, Walcott’s career peaked. Despite this performance in Zagreb, Walcott failed to make the 2010 World Cup squad.

In fact, he has never made a World Cup appearance. This despite the fact he travelled to the World Cup in Germany a fresh-faced 17-year-old. His first World Cup was to be his last.

When you consider Walcott as a winger then his goal contributions in his time at Arsenal aren’t bad, but they are also not exceptional. He has always been very much a confidence player, reflected by the theme of scoring braces and hattricks but not regularly scoring game after game.

The 2013/14 season was Walcott’s best for Arsenal, with 21 goals, 19 of which were scored when playing on the right-wing.

This is a position Walcott was desperate to move from for long periods of his career, he was convinced he should be a centre forward and regularly said as much openly.

However, Wenger never felt he had the right attributes to play this role for any prolonged period of time.

The early comparisons to Henry, not helped by Walcott adopting the number 14 shirt, never really came to fruition. Walcott was not the ice-cold Henry; he was a player who was at times unplayable but nowhere near regularly enough to reflect the early promise his career had shown.

The right-wing/centre forward debate that followed Walcott throughout his career certainly won’t have helped him but cannot be blamed for his failure to fulfil his potential.

Injuries may have played their part at times, but again are not to blame. While Walcott’s early years were full of promise and his electric pace terrified defenders throughout his career, he always lacked a cutting edge.

He simply was not clinical enough and his final ball and decision-making were all too often lacking. He has often been labelled as lacking a football brain and when you look back at his career this makes sense. A talented player who didn’t have the tools to take himself to the top level.

Now that he is 31 and back at Southampton, via Everton, he will be keen to make the most of the twilight years of his career. He is home and this can only be a good thing for him.

The fans will be hoping he can discover the form that made every team in England chase his signature all those years ago. He may be a success at Southampton once again and the nostalgia of his first spell will likely give him some extra credit with fans of the club.

With 75 Premier League goals, 47 England caps and three FA Cup wins it may seem harsh to write his career off as unfulfilled but it is a reflection of his early promise that you’ll be hard-pressed to find someone who doesn’t feel he could have been so much more.

Adriano

Club appearances: 300

Club goals/assists: 137/37

International appearances: 48

International goals: 27

A cannon of a left foot and the ability and physicality to match. Adriano was touted as the successor to Ronaldo’s Brazilian throne. In the early 2000s Adriano looked every bit that player. First at Parma and then at Inter Milan he was scoring a wealth of goals and he won the first of his four consecutive Serie A titles with Inter in the 2005/06 season.

The man he was compared to, Ronaldo, had also played for Inter Milan and Adriano was to take on the berth of Brazil’s goal scorer when Ronaldo was ruled out of the 2004 Copa America.

Adriano flourished, guiding Brazil to the trophy and finishing top scorer of the competition along the way with seven goals. The following year he also finished top scorer in the FIFA Confederations Cup, scoring five goals on Brazil’s way to the title.

Adriano was scoring goals, winning titles and looking every bit the player his country hoped he would be, so what could derail this prodigy? Unfortunately, the death of his father. Adriano’s father passed away prematurely in 2004 and the effect on the striker was colossal.