Endrick Felipe Moreira de Sousa from Brazil is dubbed as the next Pele in the offing. Every year, we read about a lot of players who are supposed to be the next big thing in football. It’s no surprise that some of them never actually pan out the way media, experts and fans think they will.
Football wonders have to overcome many hurdles to realise their full potential. The reasons for their underachievement could be attributed to many factors like injuries, bad luck, indiscipline, not being groomed properly, being rushed to the senior level and being with people who do not have hearty intentions. Their careers serve as a cautionary tales for the talented footballers of the next generation.
Here is a look at some football wonders and promising talents who never made it to the league as expected and went into oblivion.:
Nil Lamptey
The great Pele himself had called Nil Lamptey as his successor. Lampety had helped Ghana emerge champions of the U-17 world Cup in 1991. Lamptey played a major role in it and won the golden ball award. Lamptey was part of the senior team and played club-level games just at the age of 17.
However, the promising star was illiterate and he trusted his Italian agent so much. The agent was more interested in getting commissions rather than the career of his client. As a result, Lamptey had to move to different clubs in 10 countries instead of focusing on his career growth. He never settled anywhere. He played only 38 games for Ghana. After that by the age of 21, he went into oblivion because of mismanagement, personal tragedy and injury.
Freddy Adu
Freddy Adu was also labelled as the next Pele. He was also dubbed as the savior of soccer. However, the talented attacking midfielder was over-hyped and underdeveloped. The Ghana-born footballer played for D.C. United, Real Salt Lake, Benfica, AS Monaco, Os Beleneses, Aris, Caykur Rizespor.
However, Adu just couldn’t live up to his potential later and went into oblivion at the age of 33.
Kerlon
Brazil’s Kerlon was also a pretty promising prospect. He was an effective user of seal dribble. However, the over-hyped winger couldn’t graduate himself to the senior level. He last played for Slovakia in 2017.
Bojan Krick
Bojan Krick was dubbed as the ‘New Lionel Messi’. However, the Messi tag put immense pressure on him and pulled him down. He hopped from Spain to Japan, Italy, the Netherlands, England, Germany and Canada, but couldn’t settle anywhere.
Krick's talent as a youth player didn’t translate physically as a pro. He didn’t have enough strength also to shield people off the ball.