Michael Johnson during his playing days and (right) last night. Credit: Press Association and Twitter
THE SHOCKING PICTURE of a portly Michael Johnson standing in a takeaway (above) which surfaced on Twitter last night has been swiftly followed by news this morning that the 24-year-old. who hasn't played since 2009, was released by Manchester City before Christmas.
After such a promising start to his career, a spate of injuries saw his progress hindered and in 2011 he joined Leceister City on a season-long loan which was terminated early. Reportedly showing a bad attitude to professional football, he was twice arrested for drink-driving last year which prompted the club to cut their losses and offer him a severance package.
It's an astonishing fall from grace for a player who made his senior debut at 18 and was tipped to establish himself as an England international.
Below, we look back at ten players who seemed destined for a career at the top - but never fulfilled their potential.
Francis Jeffers
Nii Lamptey
Mark Kennedy
Graham Barrett
Freddy Adu
Neil Mellor
Liam Miller
Gianluigi Lentini
Jermaine Pennant
Kerlon
think you can throw Steven Ireland in there too. been bloody useless now for the last few years. looked great in a mediocre city side but its been all down hill since then. Cant even hold down a first team place in the worst team in the league!! has the talent but not the head or the heart to make it. still loaded though so its not all bad for him i suppose!! what a waste of talent. if he could get his act together he could still save villa.
Djemba djemba, kleberson, bebe, David bellion, taibi, to name a few
All players that came with…. Well nothing really!!!!
Sorry united fans ;-)
cherno samba! scored 50 goals a season in championship manager
Does anyone remember when Giovanni Dos Santos was the next Ronaldinho? and Bojan Kirkic was the next Lionel Messi?
Some of the Ghanaian U-17 team that lamptey was on were thought to be as old as 28. God knows what age he was, may have been a factor.
I think Jeffers has left Malta as he wasn’t getting paid
Dont think any of those guys have ended up like Michael Johnson. Ah Lentini I remember that one, where did he come from, where’d he go, wasnt even an Italian international.
Christian “Chucho” Benitez. Big signing for Birmingham City when they were in the Premier League. What a disappointment.
Terry Cooke at United. Great young player crippled with dodgy knees.
Denílson:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Den%C3%ADlson_de_Oliveira_Araújo
@PlanetDJs Christian Benitez was on loan at Birmingham so couldn’t really be classed as a big signing.