Dele’s story is not unique but it is a cautionary tale for any young phenom (something the likes of Foden. Palmer, Lewis, and others should take special note of).
For those that may not have seen the recent news, Dele’s been “banished” from his loan team in Turkey and it is reported Everton are going to terminate his contract. He’s now come out in a feud with the Besiktas manager, which I am sure will improve the situation.
From PFA Young Player of the Year (scoring the Goal of the Year) to being banished from playing and soon without a club in just six years, despite being only 26 (usually just the beginning of the prime years of a footballer).
I was thinking of other curious cases like this and the disappointing (and often short) careers after early promise of Stephen Ireland and Freddy Adu come to mind (the very last more of a global oddity).
I suppose you could add Balotelli to that list, as well. Though, I think it could be argued he had perhaps the biggest impact on football of all those referenced.
What other Delesque players would you add to the list?
Edit: I have removed my references to Michael Johnson and Paul Lake as some have taken extreme offence to their inclusion.
I will just explain that this thread was meant to discuss Alli (obviously) and other promising players (some that may have briefly achieved some measure of recognised success, as in the case of Lake, Johnson, Ireland, Rodwell, etc.) that never quite reached their perceived potential or their careers quickly fizzled out before their “prime” years, be it because of the unfortunate onset of early injuries, poor attitude, controversies, external events out of their control, overhype or some combination of all of that, hence the connections among them.
I believe they all present “curious cases” to be examined, discussed, and used as case studies for young players coming through now, so they might avoid similar outcomes, if at all possible.
