Most promising youngster that flopped?

[khaled_a_d]

For some reason or another I remembered our most hyped youth team ever ,the 1991 generation
Doing some search (had some spare time to waste) I looked into the UEFA European Under-17 Championship 2008
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_UEFA_European_Under-17_Championship_squads#.C2.A0Spain
Spain won that tournament in a very strong fashion ,only had a tie against France in group stage b4 beating them 4-0 in the final
We had 6 players who were mostly starters with the team ,the hype of those kids and the team was just insane
The six player were


GK: Álex Sánchez ,the most promising GK we had in since Valdes and the GK that Manu tried to get from our hands (quite familiar unfortunately ,be aware Inaki and don't disappoint us)
right now he is playing in Valencia CF Mestalla in our group in Segunda B .in other words he is still in 3rd division at the age of 24

RB:Martin Montoya

LB: Carles Planas ,had gr8 career with Barca B and was fun to watch and joined Celta last year .injury hurt his early career their badly

DM: Oriol Romeu ,the guy was one really hyped and people get really made when he was sold .but right now look like a good business .a good bench player in mid table team IMHO

AM : Thiago Alcântara

CF:Rubén Rochina ,hard working kid but always lacked talent .IIRC correctly he once finished (or was close to ,not sure) of being top scorer of two of our youth teams in one season .
Winger :Adrià Carmona , a bench player for Segunda team Albacete .he is 1992 born who was used a lot with the older team btw

And Spain called José Carlos Terrón ,half French-Half Spanish CB who was called the next Ayala back then but he opted not to choose a NT for the time being and refused the call from both teams
Terron right now is free agent who last played with Lucena CF in Segunda B ,the team relegated last season to Tercera btw

Our most hyped player in that generation wasn't even Spanish though ,I think everyone remember Gai Assulin ,one of the very first "next Messi" we had .last played with Mallorca he is yet to make an appearance in 1st division football .spending most of his career in Segunda
Currently he is on trial with Rangers Glasgow
http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2015/10/19/rangers-boss-warburton-gives-update-on-trialist-gai-assulin/

Another player who weren't 1991 born but played with the team was Marc Muniesa ,the next Puyol who is now playing in Stoke

The most interesting thing ,that out of all those player in that generation.the only one who is with the team right now is Bartra ,a player no one really rated him highly at that time but kept steadily improving .

I gotta say I've quit a fear of same fate for the current (1995/1996 born) generation .too many hyped players from Munir to Sandro to Adama,Tarrin,Samper ,Dongou,Sanabria ,Kaptoum,Godswill ,Grimaldo ,Quintilla etc
Hope at least couple of those would make it in the long term with the 1st team

 

[FCBarca]

Gai was never hyped by anyone except his agent

 

[khaled_a_d]

Back in 2007/2008 he was really hyped actually ,got promoted with B team at the age of 16 with Pep btw .1st from all mentioned players .failed to make a progress ever since

 

[Galning]

Muniesa was great but got set back a lot because of that serious injury he suffered. He's doing awesome now at Stoke too.

 

[khaled_a_d]

Injuries has hurt many badly tbf ,Muniesa,Planas,Gai all suffered some serious injury .Muniesa spent like 6 seasons having a Vermaelen type of seasons with us

 

[yahudi]

Planas wasn't that hyped. During his time at Barcelona B he was viewed most as a stand-in until Grimaldo would be mature enough to take over the LB position.

Romeu started really well for Chelsea after his departure. Then he got a knee injury which sidelined him for 5-6 months. During this time, Chelsea hired di Matteo who mostly trusted the older guard and managed to win the CL with them. Romeu's injury woes continued at Valencia. The team in Stuttgart was (and still is) a wreck but he was one of the better performers. His stint in Southampton will decide if he can get his career to take off or not.

After a decen season with Pep in charge of Barca B, Gai found himself on the bench next season as Lucho preferred a certain Nolito to him. Son bought his own hype and went for greener pastures and more playing time, only to see his ambitions ruined by injuries.

 

[khaled_a_d]

I am talking mainly at what Barca fans though about those players back in 2008,Planas wasn't with B team yet
Injuries obviously hurt some players career but then again it shows how difficult for youth players to develop ,in addition to talent,mentality,work ethic .luck is even needed too

 

[yahudi]

I am talking mainly at what Barca fans though about those players back in 2008,Planas wasn't with B team yet

To be honest, I also don't remember Planas being hyped before Barca B. But then again, it was 2008, a bit before Pep's fcbtransferblog (which later turned into barcastuff) started compiling all the information about FCB.

Maybe it was some Airfutbol type of hype? They used to hype up everybody able to play 2 passes (remember Kerlon?)

Injuries obviously hurt some players career but then again it shows how difficult for youth players to develop ,in addition to talent,mentality,work ethic .luck is even needed too

True. Something that is usually forgotten when discussing the future of youth players.



Edit:
For those who haven't been around for long and want to have a look at how the Barca-related internet landscape has changed. Take a look here: http://fcbtransfers.blogspot.se/.
This is the place that birthed barcastuff, totalbarca and the majority of today's twitter experts. Together with barcelonafootballblog probably the two biggest Barca blog institutions of the last 10 years.

 

[khaled_a_d]

To be honest, I also don't remember Planas being hyped before Barca B. But then again, it was 2008, a bit before Pep's fcbtransferblog (which later turned into [MENTION=20217]barca[/MENTION]stuff) started compiling all the information about FCB.

Maybe it was some Airfutbol type of hype? They used to hype up everybody able to play 2 passes (remember Kerlon?)

Yeah it was the era of Airfutbol hype .
Planas wasn't hyped individually tbh ,it was just a team thing .people keep saying imagine all of those guys making it .9 possible future Barca players from same generation .specially Barca fans in big forums like soccerpulse (the original one) back then