3 footballers “promises” that no one remembers anymore

Imagine being a young soccer player, with great talent and international recognition to the point of being called "the new Messi" or the future "Ronaldo". Whether due to injury or a decrease in your performance, you end up losing yourself on the bench of important teams, at best or forgotten at worst. This happened to the following 3 soccer players.

Andrei Arshavin

The Russian attacking midfielder belonged to Zenit Saint Petersburg, Russia, and in the 2006-2007 season he became the star of the team , in fact, with Arshavin playing, Zenit won a league after 23 years and qualified for the World Cup. But his peak moment came at Euro 2008, being a fundamental piece of that Russian team that reached the semifinals of the tournament after eliminating the powerful Netherlands with a goal of their own, then they would fall against Spain – who would be champion.

With the Euro Cup finished, large European clubs began their dispute for him, according to Ace. The main club interested would be Barcelona of Spain, of which Arshavin had openly declared himself a fan, however, the Catalan team did not want to offer more than 15 million euros, so Zenit dismissed its transfer, according to Marca. In the end, Arsenal would manage to obtain the player after paying 16.5 million euros, in the English club he would play 145 games, scoring 31 goals and 46 assists according to Transfermarkt.

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However, Arshavin's performance dropped significantly and he was loaned out to Zenit in 2012, before finally leaving for the Russian team after his contract expired. There he stayed two seasons and would go free to Kuban Krasnodar, another Russian team where he would play 8 games before going to a club in Kazakhstan in 2016. In this he would have a good performance, with 97 games in which he made 8 goals and 34 assists, But at 36 years old, he would announce his retirement in November 2018, leaving a legacy of 152 goals and 197 assists with clubs and the national team.

Alexandre Pato

Another Brazilian promise that did not come out as expected was striker Alexandre Pato, a player who started his career at the Porto Alegre International, where he would show great technique as a scorer, scoring 8 goals in 13 games. He also scored 8 goals in 12 games with the U20 team, according to Transfermarkt figures, so that European clubs would begin their hunt for him. Finally it would be AC Milan who would take the player to Italy in 2007, where he would play 5 seasons to leave a record of 63 goals and 18 assists. However, his level was in decline from 2010 due to various injuries, mainly in the Achilles heel, losing up to 69 games for this reason.

In 2013 he would return to Brazil to play with Corinthians and São Paulo, then he would have the opportunity to return to European football with a loan to Chelsea in 2016, but he would not be a key piece since he would only play 2 games and score a goal. Then he returned to Corinthians to quickly leave for Villarreal in Spain, and although he was still young and people believed in his revival, Pato went to Chinese football and played there for 2 seasons with good numbers. Finally he would return to São Paulo again, where he currently plays. Pato has a total record of 157 goals and 46 assists in 390 games.

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Bojan Krkić

At 19 years old, the Spanish press nicknamed Bojan the "new Messi" and they assured that he would be the future replacement for the Argentine, however, he was not. Bojan was formed in the FC Barcelona youth academy, showing colorful football as a playmaker during his stay at “La masía”. This made him debut with the Barcelona first team in 2007 at just 17 years old, although it would be in the Guardiola era when Bojan would have more minutes. In total, he would play 163 games, scoring 41 goals and 19 assists, surpassing Messi's record as the youngest player to score with Barcelona, according to Ace.

Despite participating in multiple championships, the stiff competition that existed at FC Barcelona for that position ended up making Bojan move to AS Roma in 2011, where he would underperform and be loaned to AC Milan a year later. There he did not reappear either but he seemed to improve, so Barcelona would buy him but only to transfer him to Ajax, where he would not be as effective either, so he would be sold to Stoke City, a team that would transfer him several times to clubs in Germany and Spain, until the end of his contract when he left for the United States with the Montreal Impact, according to Transfermarkt.

Currently, Bojan is 29 years old and his contract ends at the end of 2020, his record is 386 games with 78 goals and 35 assists, he would only play one game with the Spanish national team, as he would not be called again.