I don't really get the criticism here. I've only read a little bit about this, but it seems that the 'financial advisors' were basically advising them to invest in something they had an interest in. That's straight up a crime (or at least it is now, I'm not sure at the time). Aren't footballers supposed to invest for their future? We hear all the time that it's a short career, and if Danny Murphy hadn't had all of his money stolen, he wouldn't need to work so much, and we wouldn't have to be subjected to him on our TVs all the time.
Ultimately, investing is always a risk, but if you do the sensible thing and hire a financial advisor as a (let's face it) kid, you expect them to do their job properly. It's one thing to get unlucky, but it seems like these people were scammed by criminals.
No doubt we'll be hearing the same thing in 10 or 20 years time with current footballers losing all their money in some crypto scam or some investment app that's gone bust and taken all their money with it.