10 players with bright starts that faded early

#5 Yoann Gourcuff

Olympique Lyonnais v Montreal Impact

Gourcuff was highly regarded during his start with Stade Rennais in Ligue 1 and earned himself a £4m move to AC Milan, who were a club at their peak during this time, which made the move a very special one indeed.

Anyone who followed world football at that time will have heard of the great things Yoann Gourcuff was capable of and probably expected him to become the next top French midfielder, possibly reaching the same level as Zinedine Zidane.

However, his form took a hit half-way through his second season with Milan and he was given the opportunity to play for Bordeaux on loan to recover. But after returning to Milan in the summer of 2009, the signs were not looking good for Gourcuff who had a very bland spell with Bordeaux and showed little signs of improvement.

And yet, shockingly, Bordeaux signed Gourcuff for £12m that same summer, clearly having seen something in him than others hadn't. It was a good job they took the gamble, too, as Gourcuff's performances in Ligue 1 were superb. So much so, that Lyon paid £20m for him the following season and signed him up on a five-year contract.

Gourcuff's ability waned over the next five years until eventually he was released from his contract in 2015. He returned to Stade Rennais a couple of months later, before switching to Dijon after that, but it was clear he didn't have much left to give. As a result, he was released from his contract with Dijon last January and is currently without a club.