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Which player had the biggest drop off after the amount of potential they initially showed?


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22 minutes ago, HarleyQuinn said:

Andy Bagshaw was heralded as the next Wayne Rooney by Aberdeen. Don't recall him ever making a first team appearance.

Not a reference I expected in this thread. 

The pressure put on him when he signed his first professional contract was unfair on him. He didn’t particularly help himself though. 

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Stephen Reynolds was our kid prodigy. 100 goals or something for the youth side, scouted by Man U, played in a end of season game v Airdrie expected to see him breakthrough.

I can't even remember him playing, while a fellow youngster called Stevie May came on and lobbed the keeper from 20 yards.

A shame what happens to young players, by all accounts Reynolds simply fell out of love with the game due to the pressure and I'm fairly sure had retired from professional football by 20 due to that.

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4 hours ago, lennyzer0 said:

Karamoko Dembélé
 

Was he the kid who played for the juniors and was always in the YouTube videos playing like a mini messi? Really thought he’d do a job for the seniors one day.

 

For Hibs, at present, the obvious answer is Kevin Nisbet.

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Adam Strachan.

Mind making his debut at Thistle. The first genuine youth prospect I had seen break through as a kid. Got you proper on the edge of your seat whenever he got the ball. Thought he was destined to be a star.

Sadly passed away earlier this year after a heap of legal troubles and a bang average lower league career. Shame.

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Craig Wighton.

Playing 1st team football at 16, and without pulling trees up, looked like he could really push on and do well for himself. This was accompanied by glowing reports any time he played age-group international football, 'head and shoulders above boys two years older', 'ran the show', 'best player on the pitch' etc etc. Totally stagnated, got injured, somehow managed to look a poorer player with every outing, seems to have found his level flitting between the Championship and League One.

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Good idea for a thread.

Efrain Juarez for me. He initially looked to be a sensation, scored in a European qualifier then we played at a tournament in the emirates and he was player of the tournament for us. I was afraid he would be away in the next transfer window. Anyway he soon was dropped and never really recovered from there, went on to have a pretty average career elsewhere. Strange to see him assistant to Deila now as there paths never met with us.

Seen someone mention Griffiths but tbh he was lucky to really have the career he had. Wolves gave him a second chance after punting him on loan due his attitude. We gave him several chances after 3 managers in a row dropped him for various misdemeanours. His career lasted longer really than the likes of Riordan and O’Connor at that level.

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Garry O'connor, Leigh Griffiths, Derek Riordan?

Must be a Hibee thing. Ethan Laidlaw better take note!

 

For us, Jon McShane is the one I think of in recent times. He went out on a few loans, first to league one where he scored about 15 goals with Dumbarton and then to the Championship where he hit something like 10 in 15 or 16 games for Accies and given he was still only 20, Saints fans thought we had a bit of player and with good reason - we'd see youth prospects go out to lower league clubs and return with 2 starts and a handful of sub appearances under their belt so it was unusual to see someone do so well.

But it wasn't to be. His performances in a Saints shirt were fleeting and showed no promise at all. He sort of faded away quite quickly and then later signed for Accies permanently where he flopped pretty hard.

He's now playing Australian lower league football after dossing about league one and league Two for majority of his career.

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6 minutes ago, Dons_1988 said:

James Wilson was another one for us. 

You could see in flashes he was a hugely talented guy but it was all too seldom. His fall from prospect at man United to whatever non league side he’s at now was quite impressive. 

I know youre probably joking but hes doing fairly well at Port Vale just now. From memory he hit double figures in League Two for them last season and i think is on course for the same in League One this season. 

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