With Chelsea chasing 2022 recipient Gavi, we looked at the previous Golden Boys and, regretfully, decided to rank them.
We’ve omitted Gavi and the 2021 winner Pedri because they are still wee lads. A decent number of the previous Golden Boys have fulfilled their potential but certainly not all.
Entirely subjectively, here’s how we’ve ranked them…
18) Anderson
Anderson was tipped to be the heir to Paul Scholes but his first season at Manchester United, in which he won the Champions League and Premier League, proved to be his career high point. The subsequent seven years were a story of injuries, unfulfilled potential and takeaways. Not that he sees it that way. “I’d be more careful with injuries. But aside from that, I have no regrets,” Anderson told ESPN in 2018. “I loved to be at Manchester United, loved it. I can tell my kids that I won four Premier Leagues.” The eight-cap Brazilian can also explain to them what led him to retire at 31 after spells at Internacional, Coritiba and Adana Demirspor.
17) Alexandre Pato
The Brazilian was named Golden Boy in 2009 after a wonderful start to his AC Milan career, but injuries played a major role in his potential remaining unfulfilled. He headed back to Brazil in 2013 before briefly returning to Europe in a forgettable loan spell at Chelsea. Pato has also played for Villarreal, Tianjin Tianhai, Sao Paulo and Orlando City, where he moved while being linked with Birmingham City. So it could have been worse.
16) Mario Balotelli
Balotelli was a Champions League winner with Inter Milan when he won the 2010 Golden Ball ahead of Jack Wilshere. He then moved to Man City, where he kept everyone entertained while simultaneously driving Roberto Mancini up the wall. Balotelli bobbed around after leaving City, returning to Italy with AC Milan before enduring a miserable spell at Liverpool. Since then, his CV reads: Nice, Marseille, Brescia, Monza, Adana Demirspor and Sion.
15) Renato Sanches
Sanches pipped Marcus Rashford to the award after helping Portugal to win Euro 2016 following his breakthrough at Benfica. All that earned him a big-money move to Bayern Munich but he failed to live up to the hype in Bavaria. Or even at Swansea when he was sent there on loan. Sanches was eventually sold to Lille in 2019 where he got back on the right track, helping them win their first Ligue 1 title in a decade ahead of PSG, where he moved to last year. But he’s stalled again, starting only seven games…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Football365…