5 of football’s greatest late bloomers  

#2 Luca Toni

Toni doing what he does best

With his good looks given as much acclaim as his striking abilities, Toni was the poster boy of football for many during his heyday. However, he too had his fair share of troubles when he just started out, and holds the distinction of playing for 16 different football clubs in his lengthy career.

After cutting his teeth at Modena, Toni moved to various clubs in the Italian lower leagues before joining Serie B side Palermo at the age of 26, where he finally displayed the prolific form that he would be associated with for the rest of his career. His time at Palermo, where he hit 51 goals in 83 appearances, led him to Fiorentina and eventually Bayern Munich, which is where he played some of his best football, scoring 58 goals in 89 appearances, leading Munich to the Bundesliga and DFB Pokal titles in the process.

Toni was first called up for his country at the age of 27, and won the World Cup with Italy less than two years later, which was the ultimate pay off for a late but fruitful career.