9 footballers who were written off too early in their career

The plot of most sports movies are centered around a team or a player who is not good enough to make it to the top during a certain period of their career and then eventually turn it around with hard work and determination.So if any script writer is looking for ideas or inspiration for a story line, they should look no further than the story of these nine players who were outcasts or considered to have lacked the quality to play for a certain team earlier on in their career. And of course they proved those who doubted their talent wrong and went on to succeed later on.

#1 Thierry Henry

Henry with the Premier League Golden Boot and Player of the Year awards.

Everyone knows Thierry Henry as the Arsenal legend or one of the greatest if not the greatest Premier League player. But there was a time when the iconic Frenchman was deemed not good enough to play for Italian club Juventus.

Henry was part of Arsene Wenger’s Monaco before he joined his compatriot at Arsenal. He joined Monaco as a youth player and when he broke into the first team he was deployed as a left winger. He had an impressive few year with Monaco during which he was awarded the French Young Footballer of the Year Award in 1996 and then won the FIFA World Cup with France in 1998.

In January 1999, Henry completed a move to Juventus where he was deployed as a right winger. The Frenchman struggled against the tight Italian defensive approach to the game in a position which was new to him.

After just half a season with Juventus he was sold to Arsenal where he reunited with Arsene Wenger. It was at Arsenal that Henry became a striker and the rest is history!

#2 Edwin van der Sar

Edwin van der Sar playing for Manchester United

Van der Sar is a Premier League and Manchester United legend. The towering Dutchman is one of the greatest keepers to have played the game, but there was a time when he was made the substitute keeper at one of his clubs and once again the club is Juventus!

The former Manchester United man had made a good name for himself in Netherlands before moving aboard. He had spent nine incredibly successful years at Ajax during which he won the UEFA Champions League and was also given the award for the best keeper in Europe in 1995.

In 1999, the Dutchman moved to Juventus and became the first non-Italian goalkeeper to represent the old lady. For two seasons he was the first choice goal keeper for Juventus, but in 2001 they completed the record signing of Gianluigi Buffon. Van der Sar was unwilling to play as second choice keeper and made a shock move to newly promoted Fulham in the Premier League. Later in his career moved to Manchester United and went on to win the Champions League with them, while Buffon and Juventus are yet to win the trophy after his departure.

#3 Filippo Inzhagi

The current AC Milan manager spent his entire playing career in Italy and his best years with his current employers.

But before Milan happened there is a relatively lesser known story about the Italian. Inzaghi had played for five different clubs in six years from 1991 to 1997. During this period he even played in the Serie C1, which is the third tier in Italian Football and the Serie B, which is the second tier in Italian Football. From playing in the lower leagues and enduring a very poor first season in the Serie A with Parma he finished as the League’s top scorer in 1996-97 season with Atlanta, during which he had scored against all the teams in the league.

But he soon moved to his sixth team in seven year when he completed a move to Juventus in 1997. Inzaghi spent four years with Juventus but was often benched in favour of David Trezeguet and this forced him to move to AC Milan in 2001.

At Milan, Inzaghi had a very successful career and won the UEFA Champions League twice, of which the second one was won on the back of his two goals in the final against Liverpool in 2007.

#4 Dennis Bergkamp

Another Arsenal legend on the list! Got to give credit where it’s due. Arsene Wenger really does know how to make superstars.

Bergkamp like many Dutch International stars came through the academy of Ajax Amsterdam and spent a considerable number of years there before moving abroad.

The Dutchman was interested in a move to Serie A and he chose to go to Internazionale in 1993. He spent two relatively unsuccessful years in Milan under two different managers. His second season was a subdued one and due to his poor on the field performances coupled with his poor relation with the media, which was because of his shy character, one Italian publication renamed the award given to the worst performance of the week (L’asino della settimana – which means Donkey of the Week) to Bergkamp della settimana.

Inter was purchased by wealthy Italian businessman Massimo Moratti in 1995 and he promised to invest heavily in the team. This was followed up by the signing of Maurizio Ganz a month after the takeover. Bergkamp’s future was in doubt and the Dutchman chose to leave the club and joined Arsenal and ended his successful career with the London Club 11 years later as a legend of the club and the game.

#5 Patrick Vieira

Vieira is one of many Arsenal players who ended up at Manchester City’s Etihad stadium, but unlike the other, the Frenchman is still fondly remembered by the Arsenal faithful.

Vieira’s journey from Arsenal to Juventus to Internazionale and eventually to Manchester City was a successful one, but Juventus was not his first Italian club.

Vieira started his career with French club Cannes at the age of 17 and captained them at the age of 19. From Cannes, the midfielder moved to Italian giants AC Milan in 1996. But Vieira mainly played for Milan’s reserves and made just two first team appearances for them and later moved to Arsenal in the same year.

During his nine year stay in London the Frenchman became an integral part of the squad and was also named as the club captain. Vieira was the captain of Arsenal’s Invincibles. In fact, it was Vieira’s goal against Leicester City in the final game of the season that ensured that Arsenal remained unbeaten at the end of the season. He left a long lasting legacy at Arsenal before moving to Italy to play for Serie A sides Juventus and Internazionale after which he returned to England to play for Manchester City and then retired there in 2011.

Post-retirement, Manchester City kept Vieira at the club as the manager of the reserve side which is also known as the Elite Development Squad.

#6 Daniel Sturridge

Daniel Sturridge celebrating his goal for Liverpool

It is no secret that Liverpool are struggling to score goals currently and the Anfield faithful will be eagerly waiting for the return of their first choice striker Daniel Sturridge from injury.

The England International came through the academy of Manchester City before joining London side Chelsea in 2009, in a slightly controversial situation.

Sturridge spent four seasons at Chelsea during which he spent half a season on loan at Bolton Wanderers. During his loan spell he scored 8 times in 12 league appearances but he was still used sparingly by the different Chelsea managers that came and left. It was only under Andres Villas Boas that Sturridge got regular chances and he scored 13 goals that season in 43 appearances despite being benched again following the appointment of Roberto Di Matteo.

In the 2012-13 season Sturridge was not given enough opportunities even though Fernando Torres was struggling to find the back of the net and after Chelsea sacked Matteo and appointed Benitez, Sturridge never played again for Chelsea and was transferred to Liverpool in January 2013. Chelsea fans were happy with the departure of Sturridge and the arrival of Demba Ba and some fans even labeled the Englishman a total waste on Social Media.

At Liverpool Sturridge became a regular scorer and scored on his club debut after just seven minutes, scored on his league debut and scored on his league start and home debut as well. Sturridge also became the fastest Liverpool player to score 30 league goals for the club, which he achieved in just 37 games. This meant that he did this ahead of the likes of Robbie Fowler, Michael Owen, Fernando Torres and Luis Suarez.

#7 Klaas Jan Huntelaar

Huntelaar started his career with Dutch side PSV Eindhoven and spent a couple of seasons on loan at other Dutch clubs successfully before moving to Dutch giants Ajax in 2006.

The striker scored 76 times in 92 league appearances for Ajax and this caught the eyes of Real Madrid who made an agreement in December 2008 to sign the player in January 2009.

After his move, Real Madrid opted to include Lassana Diarra in their Champions League squad instead of Huntelaar as UEFA rules stipulated that only one of them could make the squad as both of them had played in the UEFA Cup for previous clubs in the same season.

Limited to just league games, the Dutchman scored 8 goals in 20 games for the Los Blancos but he was surprisingly transferred to Italian club AC Milan after just half a season with Real Madrid.

He had a slow start to his Milan career and because of the good form of Marco Boriello, Huntelaar did not even appear as sub very often until Boriello got injured. The Dutchman capitalized on this opportunity and was expected to start more often when Boriello hit poor form, but instead Filippo Inzaghi was chosen to start.

Unable to get enough opportunities, Huntelaar moved to German club Schalke in 2010 and has become a consistent scorer for them and a regular in the Netherlands side.

#8 Samuel Etoo

Eto’o is the most decorated African footballer of all time. This makes him even more successful than Didier Drogba. In fact he is the only player ever to win two European Trebles. Eto’s success as a player was there for everyone to see, but his initial struggles as a player is seldom talked about.

Eto’o joined the Real Madrid academy in 1997 and had to play for Real Madrid B as he was still a minor. But when Real Madrid B were relegated to Segunda Divison B, where non-European players are not allowed, he was loaned out to second-divison club CD Leganes for the 98-99 season. Eto’o managed to find the back of the net just four times in 30 appearances for them and the following season he was loaned out to RCD Espanyol, but failed to make a single appearance for them.

During the winter transfer window of the very next season he was again loaned out and this time to Mallorca for the remainder of the season. Eto’s scored 6 times in 19 appearances for the club and then moved to Mallorca permanently before the start of the next season after struggling at Real Madrid and having made just one appearance for the first team.

Eto’s spent four seasons at Mallorca before joining Real Madrid’s arch rivals Barcelona in 2004. The Cameroonian won the Champions League twice with the Catalans before moving to Internazionale in 2009 and winning the treble in his maiden season at Italy.

#9 Diego Forlan

Forlan is fondly remembered by football fans worldwide for his heroics at the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. The Uruguayan was so prolific at the tournament that he ended up winning the Golden Ball award for the tournament’s best player. He mesmerized the audience with his brilliant goals and his performance that helped carry his nation into the semi-finals.

Before all of this happened, Forlan had a really bad period in his career when he struggled to score goals or put in a decent performance.

Forlan’s first club in Europe was none other than Manchester United. He joined the Red Devils in 2001, from Argentine side Independiente, for whom he had scored 36 goals in 77 league games at a very young age. But the Uruguayan played 18 times for United in his debut season and didn’t find the back of the net once.

Forlan struggled to perform and was often used a substitute at United and in his entire United career he could only manage 17 goals in 98 games across all competitions.

The Uruguayan was sold to Spanish club Villarreal in 2004 and regained his goal scoring prowess after he was given a starting role. Later in 2007 he moved to Atletico Madrid with whom he won the Europa League in 2010 after scoring two goals in the Final.

Edited by Staff Editor