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Sporting4Ever said:Well, i sorta do know what I'm saying. There's been lots of talent come out of our academy, and before that from our youth prospecting and younger squads.
We've been a good "breeding" ground since the late 80s, and you can always tell which ones will blossom and which ones won't. If you go back and watch the games from his last season here, it's clear that he's gonna be an extraordinary player if he keeps his focus, and granted, you've given him that. We had a young lad here, named Dany, who could have been better than Figo, maybe almost as good as CR, and he blew it cuz of night life, booze and girls.
The only real plus you had for him at the time was that you'd just sold becks to RM, so he had a real shot at starting eleven, even at his age. However, i dissagree about him not beeing as good would he go somewhere else. Remember, he did last season, age 22/23, what most players do at age 27/28. That's generally regarded as the time players peak, mixing experience with strengh and vigour. He managed that, granted, due to his 5 years of PL experience, but to think that he wouldn't achieve this level at another club, i think, it's a bit deluded.
Of course this is all hypothetical, there could have been tons of variables to alter the outcome to whoo knows what realm, but I've seen this quite a lot, players like futre, figo, quaresma, simao, hugo viana, nani, dany, etc. After a bit, you get the feeling about who's gonna make it and who's not.
And granted, there's clubs more suited to bring out the best in players than others, but look, for example at 3 players that left Sporting for Barcelona, Figo, Simão and Quaresma.
Figo, i think, needs no description. he was clearly the driving force in Barça, and his "betrayal" to RM was a shock, but most Barça fans now admit he was right, and the club didn't extend his contract when they should, and they ultimately lost him.
Simão was lackluster at best, seldom played, and was sold to benfica on God knows what terms, and is now back in Spain, playing nicely, but in a club with no great ambitions. Maybe they can rise back, but i kinda doubt it. He´s in Atletico Madrid, btw.
Quaresma was also poorly used in Barça, even though he did some very nice things, but was ultimately involved in Barça's purchase of Deco from Porto. since then, he's been consistently Porto's top player, and now he joins Mourinho in Inter. Italy isn't England, football there isn't as espectacular, but i can hazard a guess that Quaresma will soon enough be among the world's best as well.
Like you said, expectations and reality are never quite the same, but, from my experience watching our young talents leave for almost 2 decades now, i have a fair opinion regarding their potential.
But I guess we'll have to agree to disagree in that if he had gone to say Milan, his training would have been different. For instance, Manutd are one of the few clubs who allow there young players to to express themsleves.
Ronaldo used to go around trying to take the world on, but we let him figure it out himself, whereas other teams would have straight away told him to 'cut it out'.
He has been able to express himself here more than he would have at any other club except Barcelona (expressive, attacking football is a must for both teams obviously).
We have also kept him on the straight and narrow, which is far easier said than done. Ronaldo is the perfect target for media hype/pressure.
We've seen first hand about how it can affect them. We had a player Lee Sharpe a while back who was similar to Giggs and came up at the same time. Who knows, at another club Ronaldo may have turned out be a Lee Sharpe instead of a Giggs.
You have no way of teeling if that guy is gonna be the best in the world. You can say "that guy is gonna be a decent player" or "He's got the potential to be world class" - but no one can say that an 18 year old is gonna end up the best in the world.
OT but Just wondering, having seen players like Figo, Quaresma, Ronaldo, Simao ect, whats your opinion on how far Nani can go?