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10. Franck Ribery

Ribery hasn’t had it easy. At the age of just two years old the France international was involved in a car crash that resulted in him needing 100 stitches to his face.

His football career wasn’t particularly simple either. Ribery arrived at Lille as a 13-year-old but was released after just three seasons with the French outfit due to ‘behavioural problems’ and went on to play for five clubs after that, including Galatasaray, before making his name at Marseille.

Bayern Munich then signed the pacey winger for around £18m in 2007 and he has become one of the best wide players in the game.

Ribery revealed in 2012 that Lille had initially wanted to release him from their academy because he was “too small”.

You’ve shown them, Franck.

9. Mats Hummels

It’s hard to see Hummels in anything other than the famous yellow and black of Borussia Dortmund but his career could have painted a very different picture had things gone another route.

The Dortmund captain arrived at arch-rivals Bayern Munich at the young age of six and rose through the ranks until he made his debut in 2007.

Nonetheless, that was the only match Hummels ever played for Bayern and, after a season-long loan at BVB, he joined the club on a permanent basis.

Whilst Bayern have gone from strength to strength in recent years it must have been sweet for Hummels to pip his former club to the Bundesliga title in 2010/11 and 2011/12 with Jurgen Klopp.

A World Cup winner and a man perennially linked with a move to Man United (via Daily Star), Hummels would have certainly a rock in the Munich defence and fan favourite had they kept him.

8. Thierry Henry

“Henry, one of the greatest Premier League strikers, he can’t be in this list! Surely not…” I hear you all clamouring.

However, the great France international was not a worldwide success before he arrived at Highbury alongside Arsene Wenger.

Henry was very much a winger before arriving on these shores. In 105 appearances for Monaco – who Wenger was managing – he managed 20 goals and Juventus snapped him up for around £10 million in 1999. His time in Turin was short-lived, though, and the Frenchman once again linked up with Le Professeur, this time at Arsenal, after only six months in Serie A.

Henry went on to score 174 goals for the north London outfit in 254 games, an impressive ratio, and won the Golden Boot on no less than four occasions.

Juve must be kicking themselves…

7. Daniel Sturridge

Injuries have hindered Sturridge this season but, on his day, he is one of the best strikers in the country at the moment.

However, it was not always that simple for the England international. Sturridge began his professional playing career at Man City, where he made a handful of appearances over three years. Unsatisfied with his game time, though, the young striker decided not to renew his contract with the Citizens and joined Chelsea in 2009.

At this point the Blues had both Nicolas Anelka and Didier Drogba, which for Sturridge meant he was often forced to play out wide rather than his preferred central role. Four years at Stamford Bridge came and went as the 25-year-old managed just 13 goals in 63 appearances and he left to link up with Brendan Rodgers – a man who had coached him as part of Chelsea’s youth set-up.
Since his arrival at Anfield, Sturridge has bagged 35 goals in 55 matches. A tasty return indeed and, if he can stay fit, Chelsea and Man City fans would certainly welcome him back in a heartbeat.

6. Gerard Pique

Man United poached a 17-year-old Pique from Barcelona for no fee – as he had not signed a professional contract with the Catalan side – and many believed he could grow into one of the best defenders in European football.

However, with Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand at the heart of the Red Devils’ defence, it was never going to be a simple way to the top for the Spain international. Even the likes of John O’Shea were being picked ahead of him for much of his time at Old Trafford.

After three seasons in Manchester and 12 appearances, along with a loan spell at Zaragoza, Pique returned to Barcelona for a £5m fee.

Since then Pique has been named in FIFPro’s Team of the Year on three occasions. Louis van Gaal could certainly do with the 28-year-old centre-back to shore up his defence at the moment.

5. Samuel Eto’o

A Barcelona great by all accounts but Eto’o’s story certainly didn’t look like it was heading that way when he first arrived on the Spanish coast from Cameroon back in 1996.

The 34-year-old striker joined Real Madrid and spent four years in the capital but only managed three appearances as he was sent on loan to Leganes, Espanyol and Mallorca.

Eto’o eventually joined the latter on a permanent basis and spent four years there before signing with the Catalan giants. He won three La Liga titles and two Champions League at the Camp Nou and must have been a thorn in the side for Real Madrid fans every time El Clasico took centre stage.

4. Thiago Alcantara

Barcelona are normally hailed for their impressive attitude towards youngsters and their incredible La Masia academy but two years ago they let one of their most exciting prospects join former boss Pep Guardiola at Bayern Munich.

In his last season at the Camp Nou, the young Spaniard only started 15 games and was desperate for regular football. He made the switch to the Bundesliga in 2013 for around £20million but injury has plagued his time in Germany so far.

However, since he has finally recovered from two knee problems, he has featured in all of Munich’s last six league matches. Nonetheless, there was no fairytale return to Catalonia for Thiago as Guardiola’s side were dumped out of the Champions League in the semi-final by Barca 5-3 on aggregate.

3. Raul Gonzalez

Raul is the record goalscorer in Real Madrid’s history with 323 (though Cristiano isn’t far behind) but it could have all been a very different story had the club’s neighbours not made a monumental decision.

Atletico Madrid’s president at the time Jesus Gil decided to close the team’s academy as a cost-saving measure and the young Spaniard had no option but to join their rivals.

Raul rose through the youth ranks before, like Morata, finally getting the chance at senior level. He went on to make 550 appearances for Los Blancos and played 102 times for Spain.

Gil was never particularly popular will the fans of Atleti. Hard to imagine why…

2. Paul Pogba

Pogba joined Man United in 2009 after a drawn out debacle with then-club Le Havre and it appeared as though Sir Alex Ferguson had landed one of the world’s future stars.

The France international was only 17 when he arrived in Manchester and was given time to acclimatise to his surroundings in the youth teams before Fergie said, ahead of the 2011/12 season: “I mean if we hold Pogba back, what’s going to happen? He’s going to leave. You know, in a couple of years’ time when his contract is going to finish.”

The legendary Scot wasn’t wrong as Pogba left in July 2012 and joined Juventus.

The 22-year-old has become a mainstay in the Old Lady’s starting line-up and is now one of the hottest prospects in European football with Chelsea, Real Madrid and – you guessed it – Man United after his signature (via the Daily Star).

1. Alvaro Morata

As mentioned above, Morata was at the Santiago Bernabeu from 2008 to 2014 where he played for Real Madrid C, Real Madrid Castilla and finally made 37 appearances for the senior side scoring 10 goals in total.

However, with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Karim Benzema, Gareth Bale and Jese Rodriguez all taking up space in the team’s attack the 22-year-old striker was packed off to Juventus, where he immediately picked up a bad knee injury. Smart move by Real it looked like? Wrong.

The Spain international scored two goals over the two Champions League semi-final legs against his former club to give Los Blancos little chance of lifting any silverware in 2015.

No celebration, though.

Football can be a fickle game at times. One moment you’re the ‘next Ronaldo’, the name on everyone’s lips, and 12 months later you’re slugging it out in the reserves of a top European club quietly waiting for your chance to prove you have what it takes.

Not everyone can have the idyllic rise of someone like Harry Kane, where the stars align and allow a player to become an integral figure at the club they’ve been with since their early teens.

It can be difficult – barring the ridiculous salary – for a talented youngster to twiddle their thumbs on the bench as they hope and pray for even a few minutes on the other side of the white line.

There is a grey area in between confidence and arrogance and the only true denominator is whether you can back up what you say on the pitch (Balotelli, we’re looking at you mate) and some managers don’t believe that a young starlet possesses the necessary experience or composure to hack it with the best.

As Juventus secured their place in the Champions League final in Berlin against Barcelona on Wednesday night with a 1-1 draw with Real Madrid, there was only one man to thank: Alvaro Morata – a man who had spent six years in Los Blancos’ youth system before being sold to Juventus last summer for £14.5 million.

So, we here at Squawka HQ decided to take a look at 10 top players who were never initially given the chance to shine but went on to prove their worth and then some.

Source: www.squawka.com
Photo Credit: Google images

Cc: lalasticlala

Bimffo:
And where are you now?? Them never install Buhari sef.

Epic!

But you guys sef!

Giving him the attention he desperately craves. How about ignoring him and let his matter die a natural death.

At least Bimffo's example of Iwuanyanwu/Heartland should have corrected his thinking IF he has that humility to learn. But no, pride won't allow him.

Just ignore him please.

King of assists!

KDB made a Bundesliga history by recording the highest number of assists in a season (21 so far) when he assisted twice in Wolfsburg's 2-1 win over Dortmund.

philfearon:
You know nothing bro!!..
You did a shallow digging... dig more!....and then learn to comprehend!

Ignored.

Robbie Fowler's record is no more...

I am thinking of the same thing as OP.

@Siena what do you think? What are the implications of buying salvage titled cars?

I have a subscription already running. How can I be sure this is working?

Chelsea buy extra medals and replica trophies to ensure everyone is rewarded for title success.

Jose Mourinho has revealed Chelsea are buying extra medals to make sure every member involved in the first team squad during the season will be rewarded for their title success.

Standard Sport revealed this morning that Mohamed Salah has been invited to join in the celebrations even though he played just 30 minutes in the League this term.

Andre Schurrle has also confirmed he has been invited, but Mourinho wants even the youth squad to get a souvenir.

Chelsea will be handed 40 medals to hand out at their discretion even though the rules state an individual has to make a minimum of five appearances.

The club are also buying silver replica trophies to hand out to everyone and said: “The invite has been sent out to Schurrle, Salah, Mark Schwarzer (now at Leicester City), Lewis Baker (who has been on loan at Sheffield Wednesday and MK Dons), all of them who started the season with us.

“They have been invited to the last match against Sunderland and the Chelsea Player of the Year dinner. They still belong.

“We are not sure if they all can make it, Lewis can, we are not sure about the others. But at least they know they belong to us winning the title. They are champions like us.

“I know that by the rules they only give a medal to a player had five appearances and there are some who won’t get an official medal.

“But we are going to buy medals, replicas of the cup and for me the champions are the ones who played every minute like John Terry, but a champion is also Schwarzer who has not played a minute.”

philfearon:
Do you want to expose your own ignorance too?

Or you mean your own ignorance?

http://www.blog.woolwicharsenal.co.uk/archives/5891

Download greenify.

Just go sleep.

Eruditor:
RM will win the 2002 UCL again and again. Same with 2014. Barca in 2011 and 2009. Bayern of 2013. Inter of 2010 was a fluke. Same with Porto of 2004 and Chelsea of 2012.

If Usain Bolts develops a hamstring injury whilst running and Asafa Powell wins the 100M dash won't you regard it as a fluke?

You keep wondering why you reply me yet you keep replying me. I told someone else to, but I think you should do same and argue with your mirror.

NB: I read your post wrong. I thought I saw League and FA Cup. You do realise Pep has won 5 trophies in the last 2 seasons? Between 2008 to now who has more trophies between the 2? Whose head to head record is better? Whose style of football revolutionized the way the game is played? Who has inflicted the worst scoring record on who? Whose team is regarded as the best team of his generation? Was that team regarded as that before him?

I rest my case.

You read a post wrong and you were asked to read it again. Instead of simply admitting your goof you automatically switched to false accusation. Welborne intelligent man.

Better for you to rest your case. I don't argue with people like you who doesn't know what League Cup is.

Good day.

homesteady:
So chelsea are courting Griezmann?

It seems they have realized that wingers are not just there to only dribble but to also have appetite for goals!

I'm sure he won't go to Chelsea, Bayern might come looking for him!

You're forgetting the relationship Chelsea and ATM has business wise.

Eruditor:
Here is your own quote: "an unlikely chance occurrence, especially a surprising piece of luck". So I am re-iterating it that RDM won the UCL by a fluke. Which means 10 times after that he would never have won it. I mean replay that season over and over and Chelsea wont have won it. It was serendipitous. It was lucky. It was a fluke!

More like "four (Napoli, Barca x2, Bayern) unlikely chance occurrence, especially four surprising piece of luck". That's the meaning of fluke, abi? Play back ANY of the UCL winners season 10 times and see if ANY of them can win it 10 times again. I mean, which kind of silly logic is that?

I honestly don't know why I keep replying you. Honestly.

Btw were you not the one that made this quote? How did I edit it?

And thats MSN for you...

Eruditor:
Lol. How else would he have got to the final except pass through the quarters and semis? Do you by any chance know what the word "fluke" means?

Please do some research. You are exposing your pseudo-scholarlyness.

And don't be inane enough to forget that I quoted your whole post to prevent your editing ploy. If you can't own up to such a clear goof, what else will you own up to?

Fluke: an unlikely chance occurrence, especially a surprising piece of luck. (www.dictionary.com)

Let me ask you Mr. Lecturer, so 4-1 vs Napoli is a surprising piece of luck? 1-0 vs Barca another surprising piece of luck? 2-2 vs Barca still another surprising piece of luck? Victory over Bayern in their own slaughter ground YET another piece of luck?

Have a handskake Mr. lecturer for that effective use of the word fluke.

SMH seriously for you. So I also edited the post you quoted? Now I know the kind of person I am debating with.

Someone who doesnt know that League Cup is the same as Carling Cup/Capital One Cup doesnt worth me time, energy and data.

For me, as soon as robber give me the gun, I'll point it to his leg and pull the trigger........

If bullet dey, bad for him. If bullet no dey, good for him.

bigkesh:
mourinho came third with porto Moronic..... lemme brief u a little, Mou took over leira in d relegation zone, had to leave his family behind cos d city wasnt suitable, went to brazil to shop for peanuts players, bought players for few thousands nd built a team that finished 3rd!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Porto that year finished 5th!!!!!!! He took over porto nd won two european trophies with a team of 75% portugese nd only 2 was good enough for d national team to get a call up..... M talking about a team with Benni Mccarthy as d cf, a player so poor a low spanish team loaned him to porto...... This is hustle, not someone with a silver spoon......



Everything Guardiola did, Enrique has done better in his first season..... More goals, better defence, more points in lesser number of games

Mourinho actually finished 3rd in his first season with Porto BUT he took over that Porto side MID SEASON, 5th in the table and with just 15 matches to go. He finished strongly, registering 11 wins 2 draws and 2 losses, pushing Porto to 3rd position.

Give Pep that exact team in that circumstance and the end result will be way below what Mourinho achieved.

Eruditor:
No, I listed coaches that did well a previous season and did reasonably well the following season (albeit not up to par with the previous one) and yet still got sacked.

Del Bosque- 2002 UCL, 2003 la liga (sacked)
Ancelloti UCL & Copa Del Rey 2014, 2015 2nd in the league, Semi UCL (European Super Cup and WCC) (imminent sack)
Pep Bundesliga, DFB-POKAL, Semi UCL 2014. Bundesliga, Semi DFB-POKAL, Semi UCL 2015 (Bad season)

If Pep had Mou's season last year, he would have been sacked.

And Btw, RDMs win was a fluke. He won on penalties after Bayern totally dominated the game. Moreso, his CFC team played utter garbage football and were in freefall before his sack.

Avram lost to Tottenham at the Carling cup finals? Your £300M pounds team? Should Brazil keep a manager that loses to Kuwait at the Confederations cup finals?

Mou won league and FA Cup double in 2007? Hahahahaha.

Is this who I am debating with?

Yea, RDM's UCL was a fluke yet he overturned AVB's 1-3 loss to Napoli and knocked off almighty Barca in the semis.

@bolded: go back and read my comment again, this time slowly. Then come back, cover your face in shame and edit your post.

Eruditor:
Wanton prevarications.

Dortmund won the league twice in the last 3 years before Pep came and RM won the la liga twice in the last 3 years too and were the reigning Champions before Pep.

Also, the demands at Bayern are waay higher than they are at Chelsea. Bayern, Barcelona and Real Madrid are in reality the biggest clubs in world football. LVG got to a UCL final with Bayern and was fired the following season even though he lost to Inter at the Quarter finals (the same team that beat him in the UCL final the previous year).

Juup won the UCL the season before Pep yet Pep has gone to 2 semi finals after that and his job is still uncertain.

Carlo Ancelloti won the UCL last season but there are clear insinuations that he would lose his job this season despite getting to the UCL semi final this year.

Del Bosque won 2 UCL titles with RM in 3 years. Lost in a semi final to Juventus the following year (2003) and was sacked despite winning the league.

The list is endless.

RDMs fluke title in 2012 has secured the jobs of any Chelsea manager for another 10 years. Mou can crash out to Bradford 4-2, 10-Man PSG yet some Chelsea fans will tell you he sacrificed those competitions to win the league yet they will remind you how Pep lost to Dortmund (on penalties) in the DFB-Pokal semi finals and how he is on the brink of being ousted by Barca. They won't tell you he lost his best players with his remaining players battling a loss of morale.

Don't they know that a club that blames any manager for losing to RM and Barcelona has higher demands than one that makes excuses for a manager who loses to Bradford and PSG?

I decided I would not quote you again but some of your posts are just so irritating. Just reread that bolded and you will see how biased you are when analysing football.

The way Abramovich hires and fires coaches is as a result of what? Just for the fun of it? Or a high level of expectation? In Abramovich era, Chelsea have ALMOST an average of one coach per season.

You listing coaches that got fired after winning a trophy for a club and omitting RDM just exposes how biased you are. RDM won a double in 2012 yet he was fired. How else can you describe high demand more than this? Mourinho won the league cup and FA cup double in 2007 yet he was fired. You may say Avram Grant didn't win a trophy, but he took us to our first ever UCL final, played league cup final, came second in EPL yet he was fired.

What am I even saying? For someone that calls RDM's UCL victory 'a fluke', I don't expect much from you.

Please if you want to talk about demands/expectations, there is a certain thread called "Arsenal fans thread". Kindly go there and lecture them about it.

Thank you.

Keky:
Who knew this "Boring Chelsea" chant would hurt Chelsea, their players and fans so much? They've not stop crying since. Truth hurts

EPL 2014/15 season.

Swansea 2-1 Arsenal
Arsenal 0-1 Swansea

Chelsea 4-2 Swansea
Swansea 0-5 Chelsea

Boring boring Chelsea

Abeg where is Boa-TANK?