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The Golden Boy award is a prestigious award given by sports journalists to a young player playing in any of Europe top tier leagues and aged 21 or below, in recognition of the player’s performance over the course of a season. The award was established by Italian newspaper Tuttosport in 2003. Since its induction, the award has gone to players like Wayne Rooney, Cesc Fabregas, Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero – players who tasted phenomenal success after receiving the honour. But that hasn’t been the case with many other players who received the award. Some of them have faded away after making a big money switch or due to other reasons. We look at five such winners who struggled to live up to the initial hype.
#1 Anderson
The Brazilian started his European career with Porto in 2007 before signing for Manchester United a year later for a huge fee of €30m and it was with the Red Devils that he won the award in 2008. He started his career in England brightly and bagged several honours with the club in his first two seasons.
However, trouble started brewing in his third season as he was first fined by the club for returning to Brazil with the club’s permission and later a severe ligament injury ended his season prematurely. He returned to action with decent effect in the following two seasons, but further injuries in the 2011/12 season made life difficult for him and he was gaining a significant amount of weight during his injury layoffs.
By the time Sir Alex Ferguson left the club, Anderson was already on the first team fringes and under David Moyes he was shipped off to Fiorentina on loan, where he played only seven times during his five month stay. He was not in the first team picture under Louis van Gaal and in January 2015 he left United to join Internacional in Brazil on a free transfer.
His involvement with Inter during his first few months was quite eventful as he missed a penalty in a 3-1 defeat to The Strongest, had to be taken off after 36 minutes and needed oxygen mask due to the location’s elevation and was sent off in another game.
The Brazilian was extremely talented, but his injury problems and his poor fitness played a huge role in his downfall. Many talented players have bounced back from severe injuries, but Anderson seemed to be happy in Manchester as long as he got paid.
#2 Rafael van der Vaart
Van der Vaart was the first recipient of the award in 2003, when he was a bright prospect who emerged from Ajax famous academy along with the likes of Wesley Sneijder. He left Ajax in 2005 after his relationship with the club turned sour following his refusal to play on the wing, but he had already done enough to warrant a move abroad.
The Dutchman spent three relatively good years with Hamburg, where he was the club’s hero, before moving to Real Madrid in 2008. Despite a decent first season in Spain, he was deemed surplus to their needs after just one season and his no. 23 kit was handed over to Granero.
In 2010, he moved to Tottenham Hotspur with whom he spent two years. But he soon returned to Hamburg after he found it tough to nail down a first team spot following the signings of Sigurdsson, Dembele and Dempsey. So when Hamburg offered him a chance to return to Germany, he jumped at the opportunity.
Van der Vaart’s second spell at Hamburg was nowhere as effective as the first one and Hamburg released him despite being a side which was struggling at the bottom end of the Bundesliga table. He went from Hamburg’s messiah to pariah within the space of a decade. To add to his misery, he was also voted by his peers as the worst player in the league in an annual survey by Kicker sports magazine.
He always jumped from one club to another before his feet were firmly on the ground. And at Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur, he moved clubs after the competition for places increased – always taking the easy way out instead of fighting for his place in the starting eleven.
His name is one that should have echoed with the likes of Sneijder, Arjen Robben and Robin van Persie. But instead he recently signed for La Liga side Real Betis. Within the space of five years he went from Real Madrid to Real Betis!
#3 Alexandre Pato
AC Milan acquired the services of Pato in 2007 when he was just a teenager and in his debut season he scored 9 goals in 18 league games for the Milanese club. He backed this up with 18 goals in 42 appearances in his second season in Europe and went on to bag the Golden Boy award in 2009.
Pato continued to grow at Milan and scored 30 goals in his next two seasons combined, with an average of nearly a goal in every two games. However, during this period a string of injuries started to affect his game time and performances. Eventually in the 2011/12 and 2012/13 seasons combined, he only made 21 appearances and scored just six goals.
The Brazilian returned to his country in January 2013, but he struggled to find his magic touch and was once again hampered by injuries. Almost a year after his move from Milan he was loaned to Sao Paulo as the Corinthians manager didn’t wan Pato at the club.
Brazil’s National team is desperately missing a quality striker and Pato could have been the long term solution when he was destined for huge things when he was at Milan. But a series of unfortunate injuries, his playboy character and his constant partying – which was one of the reasons why his marriage didn’t last, all together turned one of Brazil’s brightest prospects into a huge failure.
He was once discussed on par with Neymar and Lucas Moura, but look at where they are now and where Pato is now. Talent can only take you so far and Pato is a fine example of that.
#4 Mario Balotelli
Balotelli rose to fame with Inter Milan under the guidance of Jose Mourinho. But a number of disciplinary problems and a poor relationship with Mourinho damaged his chances of having a lengthy career with Inter. In 2010, he moved to England and joined Manchester City, where he reunited with his former manager Roberto Mancini and it was in the same year that he won the Golden Boy award.
Balotelli had a decent goalscoring record at Manchester City, but his poor discipline reared its ugly head in his second season with the Citizens and he missed 11 games overall due to suspensions alone. In his final season with City, he was even involved in a physical altercation with Mancini. Curtains fell on his City career after just two and a half years as he returned to Italy, but this time in the red and black stripes of AC Milan.
The Italian enjoyed a good period at Milan and eventually joined Liverpool for £16m in 2014 when the Serie A club decided to cash in. At Liverpool, Balotelli was able to keep his on and off field actions under control, but his goal scoring prowess deserted him as he managed to find the back of the net only four times in 28 games – just 1 goal in the league.
Balotelli has produced moments of magic wherever he has played. His talent is obvious, but his poor discipline is one of the major reasons why top clubs will be reluctant to sign him. Liverpool could be his last chance with a big club and if he doesn’t make it there, then there won’t be many clubs who will take the risk of signing him.
Aged 24, he still has time to rectify his attitude and get a move on.
#5 Mario Gotze
At first Mario Gotze might seem to be a misfit in the list, but he is in the list due to valid reasons. The German was an integral member of the Borussia Dortmund side which gained fame under Jurgen Klopp. And in 2011 he won the Golden Boy award while he was still a Dortmund player. Gotze moved to Dortmund’s rivals Bayern in 2013, but things haven’t gone as planned for the youngster despite scoring the goal that won Germany the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Recently, the German midfielder came under fire from Bayern Munich legend Franz Beckenbauer, who said that Gotze needs to “grow up” if he wants to succeed.
Beckenbauer had once told Sky: "He behaves and moves around on the pitch like a youth player. He just stops moving when he loses a duel. This is the behaviour of a child; this kind of behaviour does not fit in at Bayern.
“It is time for him to grow up. He has shown at Dortmund what he can do and we know that he is a great talent. But there is still something missing."
To add to Gotze’s misery, in an end of the season survey conducted by German Sports magazine Kicker, 183 top flight players participated and Gotze was voted as the second worst performer behind Van der Vaart and even worse than Kevin-Prince Boateng who only played six full matches for Schalke.
Gotze is only 23 years old and he can still bounce back from his disappointing spell with Bayern Munich. He should be trying to force his way into the Bavarians’ first team instead of giving up and moving on to another club.
