Promising kids

[Allezfan]

It's worth remembering the difficulties of predicting which promising youngsters will make it and which ones will flop. For every Rooney there's a Vaughan or a Jutkiewicz.

So here's a list of 100 young footballers the French Magazine DOn Balon picked as worth watching ... ten years ago.

Don Balon’s 2001 list

1. Djibril Cisse (STR, Auxerre)

2. Andres D'Allesandro (AM, River Plate)

3. Leandro Bonfim (AM, Vitoria/PSV Eindhoven)

4. Fernando Jose Torres (STR, Atletico Madrid)

5. Jermaine Pennant (R/WNG, Arsenal)

6. Rafael Van der Vaart (C/MF, Ajax)

7. Florent Sinama-Pongolle (STR, Le Havre/Liverpool)

8. Piotr Trochowski (AM, FC Bayern Munich)

9. Anthony Le Tallec (AM/CFWD, Le Havre/Liverpool)

10. Mourad Meghni (AM, Bologna)

11. Pedro Mantorras (STR, Benfica Lisbon)

12. David Odonkor (FWD, Borussia Dortmund)

13. Darren Fletcher (C/MF, Manchester United)

14. John Welsh (C/DM, Liverpool)

15. Kim Kallstrom (CM, BK Hacken)

16. Philippe Mexes (CB, Auxerre)

17. Johnny Heitinga (CB, Ajax)

18. Juan Andreu Melli (CM, Real Betis)

19. Baldo Di Gregorio (CB, Eintract Frankfurt)

20. Andres Iniesta (AM, Barcelona)

21. Milan Baros (STR, Liverpool)

22. Marius Niculae (STR, Sporting Lisbon)

23. Fabricio Coloccini (CB, Milan/on loan to Alaves)

24. Ricardo Bernardo Quaresma (L/WNG, Sporting Lisbon)

25. Maicon (RWB, Cruzeiro)

26. Hugo Viana (CM, Sporting Lisbon)

27. Arjen Robben (L/WNG, Groningen/PSV Eindhoven)

28. Julio Colombo (CB, Montpellier)

29. Gregory Vignal (LB, Liverpool)

30. Jermaine DeFoe (STR, West Ham United)

31. Gareth Barry (LB, Aston Villa)

32. Marat Izmailov (AM/FWD, Lokomotiv Moscow)

33. Hassan Yebda (DM, Auxerre)

34. Leandro Romagnoli (AM, San Lorenzo)

35. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (CFWD, Ajax)

36. Dean Ashton (CFWD, Crewe Alexandria)

37. Ednilson (AM, Benfica Lisbon)

38. Chris Kirkland (GK, Liverpool)

39. Emilliano S. Dudar (CB, Velez Sarsfield)

40. Helder Postiga (STR, Porto)

41. Ahmed 'Mido' Hossam (STR/LWNG, Ajax)

42. Joaquin Sanchez (L/WNG, Real Betis)

43. Diego Ribas (AM, Santos)

44. Jay Lucas (CFWD, Southampton)

45. Niko Kranjcar (AM/CFWD, Dinamo Zagreb )

46. Christian Petereit (RB/CB, Schalke 04)

47. Ewerthon (STR/FWD, Borussia Dortmund)

48. Gael Givet (CB/LB, Monaco)

49. Francesco Lodi (AM, Empoli/Parma)

50. Massimo Donati (DM, AC Milan)

51. Gatti Ribeiro (RWB, Blooming)

52. Jeremie Aliadiere (STR, Arsenal)

53. Francesco Tarantino (LB/CB, Athletic Bilbao)

54. Lourenco Da Silva (FWD/LWNG, Sporting Lisbon)

55. Alexander Ludwig (L/WNG, Werder Bremen)

56. Landon Donovan (STR, San Jose Earthquakes)

57. Ricardo Costa (CB, FC Porto)

58. Filip Trojan (L/WNG, Schalke 04)

59. Carlos Martins (CM, Sporting Lisbon)

60. Serhat Akin (STR, Fenerbahce)

61. Johnnier Montano (AM/FWD, Parma-on loan to Verona)

62. Mark Fotheringham (C/MF, Celtic)

63. Rubinho (GK, Corinthians)

64. Michael Chopra (STR, Newcastle)

65. Edward Johnson (STR, Dallas Burn)

66. Johnny Van Beukering (STR, Vitesse)

67. Santino Quaranta (STR, DC United)

68. Andreas Hinkel (RB/RWB, Stuttgart)

69. Bojan Djrodjic (L/WNG, Manchester United)

70. Matteo Brighi (CM, Juventus)

71. Cherno Samba (CFWD, Millwall)

72. Hassan Ahamada (LWNG/STR, Nantes)

73. Theo Janssen (LM, Vitesse)

74. Derik Boateng (AM, Panathinaikos)

75. Mauro Rosales (R/WNG, Newell's Old Boys)

76. Dulee Johnson (STR, BK Hacken)

77. Fernando Macedo Nano (L/WNG, Barcelona)

78. Michael Essien (D/MF, Bastia)

79. Andres Oliveira (STR/FWD, Perth Glory)

80. Candido Costa (AM, Porto)

81. Tuomas Aho (CB, My-Pa)

82. Dimitar Berbatov (STR, Bayer Leverkusen)

83. Thijs Houwing (CFWD, Twente)

84. Labinot Harbuzi (AM, Malmo FF)

85. Michael Zepek (CM, Bayer Leverkusen)

86. Mika Vayrynen (AM, FC Jokerit)

87. Ramon Calliste (STR, Manchester United)

88. Christoph Preuss (RWB, Eintract Frankfurt)

89. Keith Kelly (CM, PSG)

90. Aldo Jara (FWD, Cerro Portano)

91. Kieran Richardson (L/WNG, Manchester United)

92. Leonardo Santiago (L/WNG, Feyenoord)

93. Shaun Maloney(STR, Celtic)

94. Azar Karadas (CFWD/CB, Brann Bergen)

95. Kaka (AM, Sao Paulo)

96. Benjamin Auer (CFWD, Borussia M'Gladbach)

97. Daniyel Cimen (LB/CB, Eintract Frankfurt)

98. Erdal Kilicaslan (CFWD, Bayern Munich)

99. David Prutton (D/MF, Nottingham Forest)

100. Alexander Hleb (AM, Stuttgart)

Some big stars in there, to be fair to them, but for every quality player like Le Tallec there's two nobodies like Torres who never ammounted to anything.

 

[Alio]

Great find!

Kaka at number 95...........Saying that, is he over-rated or past his best already? Maybe just injury prone?

Anyway, they've missed some players, but not a bad selection there. Never head of Bonfim at number 3 though

 

[ijjysmith]

Lovely list!!

Who hell is John Walsh?!

 

[Neiler]

Keith Kelly - PSG?

 

[BlueTak]

Cherno Samba! The guys who made FM rated him so highly, the highest ever potential ability in an FM game!


Now he plays in some lower league Greek team.

 

[Neiler]

Keith Kelly - PSG?

Just in case anyone was wondering:

Keith Kelly (born 5 March 1983 in Port Royal) is a Jamaican football player who currently plays for Sporting Central Academy in the Jamaican National Premier League. The midfielder is known for his dynamic dribbles and defence-splitting passes.

 

[ijjysmith]

Just saw David Prutton on there!!

Insane!!

 

[Seamus Colemole]

Micheal Chopra

 

[chrissyjack]

Promising kids ? My daughter keeps promising to leave home, but never does

 

[chicoazul]

Boss talent spotters them like.

 

[Arteta10]

can we approach someone from the magazine for a role at the club?

 

[chicoazul]

can we approach someone from the magazine for a role at the club?

They got 80% of them wrong lad.

 

[Neiler]

We're sound we have football manager!

 

[ford_uk]

Mr fave:

5. Jermaine Pennant (R/WNG, Arsenal)

 

[PeterMeter]

I think 80% wrong is a bit harsh if you look at where they were back then. Spotted Lando at San Jose back then, should've signed him then.

Where's the 2011 list though?

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has said that out of the current batch of Swedish youngsters he rates Alexander Gerndt quite highly, so I recommend going for him this summer. Or now, before Hughes sees this mentioned on an Everton board.

EDIT: Whoa, time's run away from him, he's actually 25 this summer!