Five Premier League Wonderkids Who Failed To Live Up To Expectations (Part 5)

David Tully

3 years ago

Categories: Galleries, West Ham United News

Tags: Arsenal, aston villa, Chelsea, Everton, Leeds United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Sheffield United, Southampton, Spurs, West Ham, Wolves

As we continue our series on the wonderkids who never quite lived up to the hype, we look at five more players who, for whatever reason, didn’t establish themselves in the Premier League.

This list has more than a few starlets who arrived from abroad. It isn’t easy adapting to a new league and a new country at the best of times, and it’s likely to be even harder for a teenager.

It’s hardly the ideal climate to develop your game when you also have other challenges to deal with, especially when other homegrown stars are able to concentrate purely on their performances.

Press the next page as we go through our list of starlets who didn’t meet expectations in the top flight of English football.

Gabriel Obertan (Manchester United)

The Frenchman arrived the same year that Cristiano Ronaldo left Old Trafford for Real Madrid so there was a lot of pressure on his shoulders when he joined.

Unfortunately, Obertan was not able to make an impact, spending two seasons at United before being sold to Newcastle. He is currently playing in Turkey.

Giovani Dos Santos (Tottenham)

The Mexican had come through Barcelona’s academy and he had already had a promising first season in the Catalan club’s first team before he made the move to Spurs in 2008.

However, Dos Santos rarely played during his four years in London, going on loan spells to Ipswich, Galatasaray and Racing Santander. He eventually left on a free transfer, moving to Mallorca. The 31-year-old is currently playing in Mexico, having been capped over 100 times for his country but he wasn’t cut out for the Premier League.

Florent Sinama-Pongolle (Liverpool)

Signed at the same time as another exciting French prospect, Anthony Le Tallec, Sinama-Pongolle never really made an impression during his five-year stay at Anfield. He did score a crucial goal in the memorable 3-1 win over Olympiakos but that was one of just nine goals.

After leaving the Reds in 2006, the Frenchman did have more success in Spain with Recreativo which led to a move to Atletico Madrid. His subsequent spells in Portugal, Russia, the USA, Switzerland and Scotland were less successful before he eventually retired after moving back to France.

Michael Johnson (Manchester City)

Compared to Michael Ballack by teammate Didi Hamann, the midfielder did not manage to establish himself at City both due to injury and mental health problems.

Johnson had one season in the Citizens’ first team in 2007/08 but after a failed loan spell with Leicester in 2011/12, the former England Under 21 international decided to hang up his boots. He is now an estate agent.

Ben Amos (Manchester United)

One of the many United academy goalkeepers that have been tipped to become the new number one at Old Trafford, Amos spent 14 years with the Manchester club.

However, after making just seven appearances for United, he was sold to Bolton in 2015. He is now Charlton’s first choice keeper.