Wasted careers are like the Earth. 30% covered by land. 70% covered by Manchester United signings.

It's so fucked up that Ravel Morrison was denied from taking his ADHD medicine...no idea why his discipline record was so inconsistent.

Julian Draxler, he was great at Schalke but he moved to Wolfsburg instead of a better team, and in Psg he became Neymar's substitute and wasted his best years

The Freddy Adu bits have to be my favorite part about this channel 😂

3 first players, 3 lyon players, fuck my life

I understand the Adriano inclusion but I feel it’s harsh to deem his career as “wasted,” but rather “unfortunate “

Crazy how a great amount of players that wasted their careers are from France. This explains the ability of France to produce superb football talents to a point it is so difficult to compete.

Adriano's story is proper sad. Had the world at his feet, was also a PES master, but unfortunately after personal issues like losing his father he was never the same

Maybe Mario Götze. He was seen as an up and coming star for German football, featured in Klopps Dortmund, scored the only goal in the 2014 WC Final and then dissapaered in Guardiolas Bayern.

The Cassano - Montella duo behind Totti was one of the most wonderful things to have ever happened at Roma. Totti and Cassano were such a perfect fit together. I invite anyone to search for Totti Cassano duo compilations. One of the reasons why he failed at Real Madrid aside from his commitment issues was the fact that he ate way too much chocolate.

I think Balotelli and Dele Alli both make a strong case to be included here

Paul Vaessen - very sad story. Scored the winner in a European Semi-Final aged 18, then immediately had a career-ending leg break. Fell into addiction and died age 39. His story was detailed in "Fever Pitch" by Nick Hornby

Had Adriano not lost his dad, he'd have gone on to be one of the greatest ever. Can totally see why he'd go off the rails. What a player though

Hatem Ben Arfa, without a shadow of a doubt. In his prime, he was as good of a dribbler as Messi.

Alen Halilovic, Robinho, Bojan, Xherdan Shaqiri and Falcao are a few good shouts

Best German players in the premier league of all time. (Day 626) I will not give up until the video is made or Alfie himself tells me to stop. Everyone else telling me that will be ignored. If you don't believe my number, just go back to the previous videos. I'm at the bottom most of the time, but I'm there.

A video about Iran's football please. Still waiting for football of my tragic country, a country that produced a lot of talents yet underperformed in many major tournaments (Asian Cup and World Cup), and how corruption caused by the Islamic Republic ruined our football potential.

(Dis)honorable mention to John Guidetti. Three hattricks in a row for Feyenoord. Great at U21 level. But he effectively amounted to nothing given the hype around him.

Pogba is such a tragic figure. He has the talents, but wasted it.

Vab de beek was so good at Ajax and yet united hit again

A big waste of potential I think of Giovani dos Santos, won the u-18 world cup for Mexico, won the Gold Cup in 2011 having the best goal in the competition, played with prime Barcelona, nicknamed the Mexican Ronaldihno but he wasted his career in Europe partying

Surely Robinho deserved a mention from being labelled the next Pele at Santos to a 9 year prison sentence now

#8 is me and my highschool academic career. 💩

Sebastian Deisler. Never heard of the guy? Made it to Bayern and quit at age 27 in 2007 because he didn't have enough trust in his knee. Rightfully called "Basti Fantasti". He seems to be happy now, so it's not really wasted.

Saw Adriano in the flesh playing a Champions league match in 05 He scored in a 1-1 draw in Glasgow in a game where both sides qualified for the last 16. I remember being terrified of him when we were drawn with Inter Milan, Porto and a previously unknown Artmedia Bratislava, who had just put 5 past our rivals Celtic in the qualifiers.

Honestly a more comprehensive video about Italy's football crisis is needed. Since 1960s, Italy had never appointed a foreign coach, which had something to do with their past successes. However, this is no longer the case when their last presence in World Cup was in South America and their footballers are struggling to make major impacts, and I believe this had something to do with their extreme conservatism as Italy produced no new good football manager (except for Carlo Ancelotti). In fact, they are even weaker than Albania and Croatia, leave alone Spain.

Balotelli defo should be in top 7, this lad was unearthly talented and the way he destroyed his career was indeed spectacular

"The simple truth is, not all of us become the men we once hoped we might be..."

Day 16: 7 best seasons before Retirement of All time (like Cruyff's season with Feyenoord)

It's so frustrating how ManU used to create star players and now we ruin generational talents. Coming to Old Trafford is a terrible idea for the most part, for most players.

A video about Australia's struggle to integrate in the AFC since joining in 2006 is worth mentioning. They had just had a nightmarish U-23 Asian Cup campaign (no goal in the group stage), whereas the U-20 and U-17 teams, like the U-23, have never won a single AFC youth trophy. Their only trophy has been the senior Asian Cup title in 2015 and the ACL trophy in 2014. Even my country Morocco, renowned for also being a major underachiever in Africa until recently, at least won one U20 and one U23 AFCON. Does it have something to do with Australia's overreliance on diaspora footballers?

Great video as always Alfie. Top tier

Day 4: 7 players who peaked before the age of 20

7 football teams that qualified for promotion, tournament, or nations but did not compete

When I saw the title of the video I though of Pogba and Neymar but No I think they had incredible careers than most footballers. Freddy Adu where are you???🤣🤣🤣

Congrats on 600k Alfie!

fully agree about ndombele, this guy was the most talented player i’ve ever seen at spurs (even above mousa dembele). he’s a generational talent but just so unbelievably lazy and unmotivated. part of me thinks if he joined a few years earlier he would’ve been world class. him and mousa could’ve been the best cms in the world no doubt

Cassano is still living in Genoa where I live. You can often see him playing Padel or Tennis or driving around the city with his sons (the oldest one play for then Virtus Entella youth Academy). He also has had a great weekly podcast with Adani, Ventola and Vieri. He is incredibly smart and he love the game! One of his sons name is Lionel in honor of messi. Fantantonio, what a talent he was...a bit crazy, but a Joy to watch.

Can Alfie make a video about the devastating decline of Tunisian football? We have just endured a humiliation in the 2022 World Cup, losing to a struggling Australia where football is not no.1 sport and only qualified by a lucky playoff spot; then we followed by losing to Namibia in the 2023 AFCON. The whole Tunisian football system is a total mess and there are signs that we don't know when will the light arrive.

Nice video as always! I have an idea of video: The best club in the world for each letter of the alphabet (example: Arsenal, Barcelona, Cagliari...). It can also work with the best XI for each letter.

Further Adu missing out on this 7 is a bit of a crime tbf

Adriano 😢 wenn i forst heard of him and San the GOALS he scored I wonder why nobody talked about him as one of the goat contenders ... Then I watched a Video about his story and its just sad to see what happend at least he is well now

This is the fairest analysis I have ever observed about Pogba. I have to tell you Alfie. You are class.

Alfie great video as usual. As a fan of Serie A I fully concur that Fantanio Il Talentino is the biggest waste of talent for this generation. His after football antics cements his legacy. Also could add Icardi to that list.

"Wasted careers" is a bit exaggerated. Most of them accomplished more than 99% professional players did. They peaked in their prime (late teens, early 20s) and then it went downhill, which I think is normal. What is truly rare is for players to have the discipline, professionalism, intelligence and luck to keep that level for another whole decade or so, when things get harder. Also people saying "this guy is gonna be the next... " are idiots.

While it probably isn't the most interesting topic, it would be cool if you made a video about Siirtspor - a Turkish club that was bought by the CEO of an otomotive company in the late 90s, bought a player at a price rumoured to be roughly half of the Turkish transfer record at the time (while the team was in the 3rd tier), won back to back promotions and fell back down after the CEO went bankrupt. The club was closed in 2020 and the CEO has had multiple legal issues involving fraud, and recently got sentenced to 2 thousand (yes, thousand) years in prison

Congrats on 600k!

This definitely requires a Part 2, and maybe a Part 3.

John Bostocks career was ruined by Tottenham signing him & his Dad/Agent. Debut at Palace at 15 first team football. Sold to Tottenham by his ‘Agent’ with Palace unaware. Hardly played. All about the money.

Ayyyyy, Alfie Gang 🖤

Mario Balloteli should have been on the main list, not the honorable mentions. While I agree with Pogba's inlcusion, he did win a world cup...soo....

Always wake up early for a HITC Sevens!

Tiémoué Bakayoko is another honorable mention for me. I think that Cassano had also some heart problems, no? Although they can hardly be blamed for his downfall - look at Christian Eriksen who bounced back exceptionally well.

"Able to get up and down the pitch at speed...." Seriously? which version of Ndombele were you watching? He is one of the slowest players in modern football!

Do "we need to talk about the FA Cup replays." I need to know the full details on why FA Cup should exist.

To be hones even managers are to be blamed for wasted careers. For instance when there's a change in the coach, he might have altogether different plan on which the particular player might not fit in however good he may be. As he result the player suffers bench time or even wanders different clubs under loans. This also makes them demotivated and depressed. Hence they will not be able to develop their skills further due to the changing environment. How can one develop their career when they are keep on having to change their colleagues and company every 6 months or so.

PART 2 PLEASE

Damn, I thought this was the finally the one vid where Freddie would genuinely feature in the Seven 😂

I'd be great to think about how football would be without social media especially thinking about the effect it has on footballers considering most aren't very smart.

Watching Ben Arfa play as a Newcastle fan, especially during 2011/12, was really something special. Such a shame he wasn’t able to maintain that level.

Another ex toon guy is Andy Carroll. Was a genuine star for us for years , never should have left

Cheers Alfie 👍 😊

A young me thought that when we had Amr Zaki at Wigan, he would be a world beater for us and give us a 20+ goal season when he first came and be a great investment if we signed him permanently... At least we had Valencia.

Regarding ravel Morrison. I saw him play 45 minutes in a Pre season friendly between Brighton and Lazio. And even in half a game in an inconsequential pre season game he is still the most naturally talented footballer I have seen in the flesh. What a waste of a talent.

Love the use of the Limmy clip

Still waiting for a video about Kazakhstan's football sportswashing. Its UEFA membership since 2002, despite gross human rights violation and persecution of dissidents, is further capitalised by our European failure (NATO and EU, by contrast, banned Kazakhstan from joining for these reasons) to understand the Astana dictators. UEFA's mishandling of Kazakhstan has fuelled Russia, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and China's sportswashing, which had resulted in cases like the 2022 World Cup held by Qatar or upcoming 2034 tournament in Saudi Arabia, and, perhaps, contributed to the Russian invasion of Ukraine as well.

Adriano defo doesn’t get the recognition he deserves. Today’s generation don’t realise how good this guy was supposed to be. Absolute beast

Ariel Ortega is another great example. He was declared "The New Maradona" and was unplayable in his prime, but due to alcoholism and self-sabotage, he destroyed his career, leaving behind a legacy of unfulfilled potential.

galatasaray are known to do incredible business on the transfer market. icardi, torreira, davinson sanchez being a few examples. i wouldnt be suprised if they manage to sign ndombele for around 5-6 mil euros, regardless of his 15 mil release clause. the guy still has a huge potential. all he needs to do is lose the weight and put his mind to the game.

This list made me think about Lentini. Great talent and world record signing for AC Milan. His career went well past 2000 but no-one remembers that part. Great list though. Pogba a very good choice.

I was expecting to find Adrian Mutu somewhere on this list.

such an underrated channel

I’m a bit shocked that Balotelli didn’t make the list

Keep an eye on Fluminense's John Kennedy. I hope he don't make this list, but he is doing his best to feature here in the near future.

I think the honorable/dishonourable mentions would have made a better list and been more interesting. Out of the ones included, it seems like Cassano, Ben Arfa and Morrison were the most fitting. I think it would have been interesting if you put Hulk or Quaresma in for wasting their careers chasing a bag when they had the abilities instead. Or players like Munain who could have done a lot more if he just moved to a bigger club.

#thepeopleschannel a video on Clapton cfc 😅 Community fc💁‍♀️ How they are fan owned and they now own the oldest ground in London.😮 A team formed in 2018. Six years ago.😊

"Cassano was above all else, an idiot" 😂 well said

I had a feeling that David Bentley would feature and if he did, especially with a couple from the dishonorably mentioned list, this could have been a Lyon vs Tottenham showdown.

Dude, it took me until the end of the video to figure out that the 5th place was Gourcuff. I am listening to your videos like a radio. I know you have trouble with foreign name pronunciations, but usually I understand the names. That one threw me for a loop around the world.

Nicklas Bendtner could also be included here.

Edu catching more strays than a Manchester United fan on this channel and I'm here for it 😂

Love it!

ALFMANSPICE HAPPY 600K BRO

Outrageous that Jeremy Lynch didn't make this list, the best on the ball player in the Arsenal Invincibles squad.

The streets won't forget Adriano on the Pro Evo 6 cover. Warra game!

You can list all the things Ndombele was good at. Unfortunately not falling over all the time is not one of them

Pato was wrecked by injuries, but his career took that path because of his COMPLETE disconnection from reality. Recently, he went on a tour at brazilian podcasts and it was shocking to see how he doesn't understand that he's not fulfilled anything that he was poised to. A big waste.

Did ol mate ever move to Hansa Rostock there's so many good headlines there

Finally! A video about Matt Le Tissier

Me looking at my FM15 save where Adnan Januzaj won Ballon d'Or, James Wilson was in top 3 twice, and Phil Jones is among top defenders in the world

Would love a video on the state of Mo Ihatteran’s career!

What about 7 most improved clubs post lockdown? Eg Arsenal have gone from losing 1-0 to Burnley in 2022 to beating Chelsea 5-0

Personally, I felt that Nasri and Ozil could have done so much more. Ozil purely based on numbers could have been a big three together with Ronaldo and Messi.

If this 7 was about the entire history of football, I'm guessing George Best would've featured

Really missed Sebastian Deisler here, propably the biggest german talent in the last 30 years, looked like a future Ballon d'Or winner in his early career and then totally fell off due to depression and inability to cope with the expectations.

Honestly could make an entire 7 of wasted careers purely on French players and it wouldn't scratch the surface. Yoann Gourcuff is an interesting one, you failed to mention the reason for him never really being the same player after 2009 glory - the 2010 World Cup. L'equipe de France were in a terrible state that tournament and Gourcuff was betrayed by Franck Ribéry and Nicolas Anelka who refused to pass him the ball in the first match which led to him being dropped for the second game as Ribery and Anelka threatened the manager by saying they would walk if he wasn't dropped. They lost 2-0 to Mexico and Anelka had an argument with the coach at half time and left the squad after the match, leading the entire French side to refuse training in solidarity with Anelka. Gourcuff was somehow to blame for Anelka's toxic attitude that led to his own country's embarrassment. Gourcuff truly was never the same after that, maybe because people realised he was only human and not the next Zidane. I feel for him because it was his only tournament with France and the French were extremely excited about him but expectation affects people in so many ways and its definitely true that he had problems maintaining a professional attitude - the time he reported an injury after walking his dog comes to mind

I like to think that play for the mighty Reggae Boys is Morrison career highlight

No Quaresma?

What player was that u described on your intro lmao

Idea: 7 players with the lowest release clause in 2024? You can look really good players with cheap release clause like Dybala Sorry for my english, im from argentina