As Manchester United sell off another young talent in the form of Adnan Januzaj we take a look at 5 players that were tipped to be the next best thing to come out of the United system. But all they managed to do is fade into oblivion.
1. Nick Powell
Powell joined United in 2012 from Crewe Alexandra for a fee of £6 million. While everyone thought that United had paid way too much for a youngster but the club had full faith in Powell’s talents and the youth system of Crewe. United were confident that they had bought a potential superstar who would dazzle the United midfield for years to come.
He made his debut in September 2012 replacing the great Ryan Giggs. And within 10 minutes of his debut, the youngster scored a screamer of a goal from outside the box. But that was basically it for Powell. After that, the Englishman packed his suitcase and travelled all around England in various loan spells. But luck just refused to shine on him and everywhere he went, the now 23-year-old failed to make any sort of impact. Man Utd eventually sold off the player to Wigan Athletic in 2016, the same club against which he had made his debut.
2. Federico Macheda
Not many players can boast of making a title deciding impact on their debut. But Macheda is one of those few players who can say that. In 2009 the Red Devils were trailing to Aston Villa and that is when Ferguson decided to throw Federico Macheda onto the pitch, a player that you would never have heard of unless you were a United faithful that is.
While the whole world looked and possibly frowned at the manager’s decision, Ferguson knew exactly what he was doing. And as luck would have it, Macheda scored a brilliant goal in injury time helping United win the match 2-1. After that match, Macheda did manage to make a few starts for the team but failed to make any sort of impact. The Italian’s career graph started to dip from 2011 and he went on loan to as many as five clubs. And eventually in 2014 Man Utd released Macheda who then went on to join Cardiff City.
Read: Why are Manchester City paying £53 million for this Spurs player?
3. Chris Eagles
Eagles is now 31 years old and plays for Port Vale in the fourth tier of English football. But at the turn of the millennium, he was one of the most promising youngsters in the whole of England.
Eagles came to the United academy in 2000 from Watford, and Ferguson had really high hopes from this youngster. But like most of the players in this list, Eagles too failed to break into the first team and spent most of his time on loan spells. And United eventually sold him off to Burnley in 2008.
4. Bojan Djordjic
The Serbian signed for United in 1999 and was undoubtedly one of the most gifted youngsters of that time. But he was more inclined towards pubs and parties rather than the training grounds. And this ultimately affected his development, forcing United to release him in 2005.
Djordjic joined Rangers after being released by United and since then the Serbian has gone on to play for 8 different clubs.
5. Ravel Morrison
Sir Alex Ferguson mentioned Morrison as the brightest 14-year-old he had ever seen at the club, better than even the likes of Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes. But the youngster was also the ‘saddest case’ during his managerial career at United.
And when Morrison finally left for West Ham in 2012, everyone at Old Trafford thought the exact same thing, “How could someone so talented be so reckless with his future?”
Morrison was not just talented but was better than Paul Pogba at one point of time. Yes, you heard that right. But unlike Pogba, the Englishman just refused to work hard. And his off-the-field actions did not help his career either. Morrison repeatedly kept getting into trouble with the authorities and finally United decided they had enough.
Did we miss out on someone? Let us know.
