Stars that reached their peak too soon
OCCASIONALLY IN the wee hours of the morning, when the kids are in a deep slumber and the house is quieter than the Crucible during a titanic Peter Ebdon versus Nigel Bond tussle, I find myself channel surfing, hoping to stumble across some late night gem that will transport me to a parallel universe for a brief sojourn.
The other evening I was flicking the remote control with more hand speed than Floyd Mayweather, when I spied Quentin Tarantino’s classic Reservoir Dogs beaming from my television set, immediately stopping me in my tracks and it had me hooked quicker than J.J. Delaney in his heyday.
Back in the early ’90s Tarantino really announced himself to the world with the ferocity of a Roberto Carlos piledriver thanks to his violent, but utterly gripping, debut as an independent filmmaker, and his follow-up offering Pulp Fiction was equally as compelling.
While the slightly eccentric director has continued to produce commendable work since those halcyon days, particularly Kill Bill, Inglourious Basterds and Django Unchained, in my opinion he has failed to reach the dizzy heights of his fledgling efforts.
The syndrome is even more pronounced when you look at what British filmmaker Guy Ritchie has concocted after promising so much.
He started in a blaze of glory with the brilliantly amusing Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and followed it up with a decent effort in Snatch, but then he went downhill quicker than Alberta Tomba on the piste.
What have these tales from the silver screen got to do with the sporting world you may justifiably ask? Not a whole lot, if I’m honest, apart from bruiser Vinnie Jones playing a starring role in Ritchie’s debut.
However, it did get me thinking about footballers whose career path has taken a similar trajectory, those arriving in a cacophony of noise, with praise ringing in their ears, but somehow didn’t quite live up to that early star billing.
Former Manchester United winger Lee Sharpe is a case in point, a player that peaked way too soon.
His career at Old Trafford began with a real bang, with his early performances earning him the tired tag of ‘the next George Best’ as he helped the Red Devils to three Premier League titles and a European Cup Winners’ Cup, and it appeared that everything he touched would turn to gold.
However, the arrival of another wing wizard, who also drew jaded comparisons to the brilliant Best, Ryan Giggs, meant Sharpe’s opportunities on the left side of midfield were curtailed and he was played out of position.
At just 24 he won the last major trophy of his career, when he was an unused substitute for United’s win over arch-rivals Liverpool in the FA Cup final.
Many footballers failed to live up to the bluster that surrounded them, but probably the ultimate letdown would be the performances of the much-vaunted Denilson after Real Betis broke the world transfer record in 1998, forking out a then eye-watering £21.5 million to bring the Brazilian to the club from Sao Paulo.
The attacker managed just two goals in his debut campaign in La Liga and in his second season the club were relegated to the Segunda Division, with the young star that had promised so much then being shipped out on loan.
Michael Owen may have had a far more decorated career, but the striker definitely looked like delivering even more when he burst on to the scene in the 1997-’98 season, scoring 18 Premier League goals and then producing a real moment of magic against Argentina in the World Cup, with all and sundry believing he would comfortably go on to become England’s all-time top scorer.
He may have won plenty before hanging up his boots, but his high point came in 2001 when he helped Liverpool to a cup treble, with his glittering performances earning him the Ballon d’Or at the tender age of 21.
Admittedly his expected rise to superstardom was hampered by injury and he failed to set the world alight following his move to Spanish giants Real Madrid.
An injury-plagued spell at Newcastle failed to reignite him and by the time he joined Manchester United in 2009 he was unrecognisable from the player that had turned heads in his early days with his pace and skill.
Another ex-Liverpool man who lost his spark along the way is the once unmarkable Fernando Torres, who was brilliant during his first spell at Atletico Madrid and his time on Merseyside, but once he completed his big money move to Chelsea it all went pear-shaped and he seemed to inexplicably lose the touch, instinct and pace that had made him such a star.
Sharpe, Denilson, Owen and Torres are vying for top spot in my chart, but in truth there are plenty of others that are pushing for inclusion, players like Paul Gascoigne, Patrick Kluivert and Robinho that had all the hallmarks of a blockbuster, but left the viewer feeling slightly shortchanged as the credits rolled.