[Ice Constricter]

Jay jay Okacha

[bkeevin]

Roberto Baggio. At one time he looked like a worthy successor to the likes of Maradonna and Van Basten but ended up having a fairly average career bar the world cups.

[Jim-ie]

Schmeichel would have been an awesome salesman if he wasn't such a good goalkeeper imo.

[Jim-ie]

(Original post by bkeevin)
Roberto Baggio. At one time he looked like a worthy successor to the likes of Maradonna and Van Basten but ended up having a fairly average career bar the world cups.

Baggio is one of the all time great strikers for me. My footballing idol growing up.

[Kevmeister]

(Original post by bkeevin)
Roberto Baggio. At one time he looked like a worthy successor to the likes of Maradonna and Van Basten but ended up having a fairly average career bar the world cups.

The only club honour he missed out on was the European Cup. Won Serie A with Juventus and Milan. Won WPOTY and Ballon D'or too.

You must hate most modern day players if you think Baggio didn't reach his potential.

[TheBallWinner]

This is a little off topic but I wish Vieri had come to England in his prime.

The guy I used to watch when I was growing up ^

[bkeevin]

(Original post by Kevmeister)
The only club honour he missed out on was the European Cup. Won Serie A with Juventus and Milan. Won WPOTY and Ballon D'or too.

You must hate most modern day players if you think Baggio didn't reach his potential.

Well he won all those individual accolades based on his talent but what did he actually achieve/win really? A UEFA cup!!! He missed the penalty kick that deprived Italy of the world cup!!! I feel cheated as I loved the guy so much.

I feel that Stoichkov, Romario, Weah, Ronaldo and Zidane have had much better output in their careers among the the 90s stars I grew up admiring.

[bkeevin]

(Original post by Jim-ie)
Baggio is one of the all time great strikers for me. My footballing idol growing up.

I did admire him alot as well. I feel like Baggio wasted his enormous talent just like Batistuta later did finally winning so few worthy trophies in their careers. They had so much potential.

[Mr Dangermouse]

Neil Mellor.

[Kruz]

Asier Del Horno

[saggy8]

(Original post by Mr Dangermouse)
Neil Mellor.

His goal vs Arsenal!

[hbk4894]

another unlucky one would be Daniel Braaten , though i thought he was alright.

[Electric_Dynamo]

Muzzy Izzet. I might be a bit biased because I support the club he spent most of his career at but my god, what a player. Shooting, passing, dribbling and a real work horse. He was a lot classier than playing at Filbert Street IMO. We were very lucky to have him for 8 years!

This was posted from The Student Room's Android App on my GT-S5830

[Flair91]

Anthony Le Tallec. He was a good attacking midfielder prospect about 8-9 years ago, nothing came of him.

[Arturo Bandini]

(Original post by River85)
1998 World Cup. He did feature in four (well, three, as he didn't play in 1994) and was the top scorer and winning it in 2002, as well as winning World Player of the year in 2002 for the third time, and the Ballon D'or, so although many will say he didn't quite meet his potential, there was still far more to his career post-1998 than he just "got fat".

If he didn't "reach his potential" then that says more for people who hype up players in the first place and also don't take into account injuries. 353 goals in 518 club appearances, two world cups, two European trophies and about eight other club honours, as well as the personal awards he won (as mentioned earlier), and the fact that, despite the disappointing end to his career, he still demonstrated himself as perhaps the most complete and clinical strker of his generation, shows that his career hardly tailed of like so many mentioned here.

Yeah saying he didn't reach his potential is madness. In Brasil he is considered second only to Pele (who is like a God).

Actually, if Pele is God, Ronaldo is Jesus.

[419]

(Original post by bkeevin)
Roberto Baggio. At one time he looked like a worthy successor to the likes of Maradonna and Van Basten but ended up having a fairly average career bar the world cups.

......says a 20 year old

[419]

If you think Ronaldo didn't reach his full potential, go jump off a cliff.

He'll make the starting XI of most people.

[bkeevin]

(Original post by 419)
......says a 20 year old

I was a kid at the time but have seen watched many documentaries about that era so I feel I can offer a valid opinion. Baggio seems to have been a very gifted, charismatic and likeable player. His transfers even provoked riots in Italy(something even our own spiceboy Beckham did not achieve!).

However you look at at it many other players some even less gifted than him have achieved far more than him. Look at the careers of his fellow 90s stars like Stoichkov, Romario, Weah, Del Piero, Zidane, Rivaldo, Giggs or Ronaldo and tell me if he did quite reach his potential.

[hbk4894]

Nedum Onuoha - always liked him when he was at city but never got the chance for some reason.

[Schmucks]

(Original post by Harry Callahan)
Jonathan Woodgate.

That one night out in Leeds utterly ruined him. Up until that point, even with the odd injury, he was one of England's brightest prospects and one of the best performing centre backs at the time. It was a joy to watch him.

If he followed the attitude of Bowyer during that court case, he'd have joined Rio at United IMO. That said, Bowyer will have known he was innocent anyway and had nothing to fear. Woodgate clearly did have to fear.

-----

As for a player not fulfilling potential, based on how coveted he was, Macheda. Why Manchester United are still trying to push that cart is beyond me.