Adnan Januzaj

When Adnan Januzaj burst onto the scene at man united in 2013, it seemed he had the world at his feet. A consistent source of inspiration and an otherwise drab red devil's side, and then 18 year old looked seriously impressive. Firing off 2.6 shots per 90 ranking second in the squad behind Wayne Rooney for chances created and completing 2.8 dribbles a match. A figure which ranked him first as old trafford and level with the imperious Luis Suarez that season but eight years later and now in his fifth season at Real Sociedad, the belgian has failed to live up to that early promise. Despite showing flashes of brilliance, he is still yet to hit double figures for goal involvements in a league campaign and is also yet to match the 1641 league minutes he played in his first season in the premier league. What's more he's won just seven caps for his country since 2014 beaten out to a place in the euro 2020 squad by Leandro Trossard.

There is still some hope, he may have made just 12 la liga starts last term but his 0.4 expected assist per 90 ranked him first in the division among players to have played over 500 minutes. Clearly, he is a more than solid creator in the spanish top flight but the player we saw at 18 looked like he'd be a true world beater by now and that ship looks to have saileda while ago.

Ross Barkley

Another player who broke through in 2013-14, Ross Barkley has rarely displayed the kind of raw brilliance we saw from him in his early years at Everton since he left the toffees in 2018. Making as good as some debut at just 17 the Englishman was widely regarded as the club's most exciting academy graduate since Wayne Rooney. With manager Roberto Martinez saying he was born to play football. But like with many precocious naturally talented forwards, Barkley wasn't the easiest player to coach and for a number of years his game looked to have stagnated. While his creativity increased his ability to burst through the lines and take on opposition defenders seemed to decline and the 2017-18 season of which he missed almost the entirety with injury was a damning one for his career.

Then just 23 an age at which most attackers begin to enter their physical peak, Barkley was robbed of serious development time. Despite some promising performances here and there under Maurizio sarri and Frank Lampard, he couldn't hold down a starting berth at stamford bridge and following a decent start to his loan at Aston Villa injuries and poor form once again scuppered his progress. Meanwhile his wages which stand at over 100 000 pounds a week have made a move out of west London almost impossible to pull off. With Burnley the only club to have been linked with him in recent months.

Nuri Sahin

Nuri Sahin became the bundesliga's youngest ever player when he made his debut for Borussia Bortmund in 2005. A record that stood for over 15 years before Yusuf Makoko broke it in late 2020. He hit the ground running, nabbing his first goal for BVB months later by which point he'd already won his first cap and scored for the Turkish national team. A successful lone spell at fire nord followed and the versatile midfielder returned to the vehicle and stadion before his 20th birthday with over 5000 minutes of top level experience by which point Jurgen Klopp had taken over as manager.

They won the bundesliga together in 2011 and Saahin was one of the key contributors to the triumph, creating the most chances in the squad and also winning an outrageous 6.3 tackles and interceptions a match. This earned him a move to Real Madrid but it was also where things went wrong. Sustaining a knee injury almost as soon as he got to the Bernabeu and making just two league starts all season. He'd have a slightly more productive loan with Liverpool the following year but was never happy on Merseyside and returned to Dortmund and Klopp six months later.

However, he never again produced the kind of numbers which had seen him quartered by europe's elite and injuries continued to dog him. Having just turned 32 Sahin is now in his second season at antalya spa in Turkey.

Patrick Roberts

Making his premier league debut for Fulham against Man city at just 17, Patrick Roberts was snapped up by the sky blues the following year and had all the credentials of a top modern winger, fast agile able to cut in score and create. Roberts looked a serious talent even nicknamed mini Messi during his youth days at craven cottage and a two and a half year loan spell at Celtic proved fruitful. With the then 19 year old contributing to 19 league goals in the 2016-17 campaign but he failed to catch a break after that. His final year in Scotland was plagued by injury and after moving to hirono in 2018, he disappointed in La liga playing just 600 minutes and failing to score as the Catalan outfit were relegated. He then returned to England with a temporary switch to Norwich where he was largely ignored by Daniel Fark before making the step down to the championship with Middlesbrough.

Now 24 with his city contract up in less than a year and with his latest lone switch taking him to french minnows trois, Roberts's hopes of making it in the prem looks slim for now.

Diego

This one is probably a little harsh, at 36 diego is still going strong as captain of Flamengo and has won league titles in Brazil, Spain and Portugal with two coppers america and a copper lipidodores also on his CV. But considering the hype that surrounded him when he first emerged at Santos making his debut at just 16, it's fair to say his career hasn't been as sparkling as it could have been.

At 19 the player was signed by Porto as a replacement for the Barcelona-bound Deco and following a disappointing two-year spell at the dragal found a much better home in the Bundesliga with Werda Bremen. Where he contributed 66 goals and assists in 84 appearances and lifted the dfb percala in 2009, setting up a 20 year old mesa urzel for the winner in the final. This earned him a 27 million euro switch to Juventus where a spectacular start saw him compared with Zidane and Platini. But his form soon dipped again and within a year he was back in Germany this time with Wolfsburg.

Where he failed to meet title eye with manager Steve Mclaren and Felix Mcgatt. He enjoyed happier times on loan at Atletico Madrid under Diego Simeone but his goal and assist output never truly recovered. At just 29 he transferred to Fenerbahce not the career arc we expected for a man once considered in the same bracket as Ronaldo and Messi.

Charlie Musonda

Now for one of the sadder examples of a youngster unable to fulfill their potential. Once one of the most coveted teenagers in europe wanted by everyone from Man city to Barcelona and Real Madrid. Charlie Musonda eventually moved to the chelsea academy from Anderlecht in 2012. Winning the uefa youth league three years later and earning a loan switch to rail Bettis where he linked up with other young stars like Dany Vebios and Fabian ruiz.

But unlike former academy teammates like Tammy Abraham, Jeremy Bogart and Fukayo Tomori, Musonda failed to progress. Despite being told by Antonio Conte that he was part of his first team plans on returning to stamford bridge he was loaned to Celtic in 2018 before a switch to the test spelled disaster for his career. In a pre-season friendly for the dutch club, he tore his posterior cruciate ligament a highly uncommon injury in football which has kept him out for much of the time since.

In an interview with the BBC, Musonda later revealed that he was told the chances of him coming back were just 20 and that playing for a club at the level of Chelsea again was almost impossible. He hasn't played back-to-back games for over four years now. Although the 24 year old remains confident he can return to the field one day in the future

Gerard Deulofeu
When everton signed Gerard Deulofeu on loan in the summer of 2013, he arrived on merseyside as one of spanish football's brightest prospects. Having scored 18 goals for Barcelona be in the second division the previous season and been named the player of the tournament at the under 19 euros the previous year. He looked electric in the premier league completing over four dribbles a game and proving a constant nightmare for defences helping the toffees to a fifth place finish in his first season. He was eventually signed on a permanent in 2015 but following the arrival of Ronald Kerman as manager was frozen out. And by the summer of 2017 was re-signed by Barca leading to hopes of a glorious return to the camp now but it didn't happen. Gerard Deulofeu made just five La liga starts before moving back to England with Watford. Despite putting in some magical performances for the hornets notably firing them to the fa cup final in 2019, it was clear his world-beating potential hadn't been fulfilled. Now 27 the forward now plies his trade for Udinazi and has just four Spain caps to his name.

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