Top 10 players who were rejected as youngsters!

Players who were rejected as youngsters – Top 10

It’s tough to get into football professionally so we prepared a Top 10 footballers who were rejected as youngsters list. It turned out alright for them in the end though, so here we will look at the Top 10 Players who were rejected as youngsters.

There can be countless rejections before you make it big, and some of the world’s biggest stars today have been on the end of bad news like that. Clubs now will be regretting the talent they’ve thrown away, as the players they’ve let go are now putting in fantastic performances for rival teams!

Here are 10 famous footballers who were REJECTED as youngsters early in their careers!

Top 10 Football players who were rejected as youngsters

10. Marcus Rashford (Manchester City)

At the age of nine, Fletcher Moss Rangers’ Rashford was on Manchester City’s radar. The club was walking distance from his family home, but he was deemed to small and Man United capitalised to beat their rivals to the striker’s signature.

“They didn’t fancy him because he was a bit on the small side and didn’t pick him up,” Fletcher Moss Rangers’ club secretary Ron Jamieson said.

9. Harry Kane (Arsenal)

Harry Kane is arguably another flub of Arsenal. Kane was a member of the Gunners’ academies but, per reports, the administration decided to release the player at the age of 8 because he was ‘a bit chubby‘.

He ultimately joined Tottenham a few years later and rose to become one of the best strikers to play in the Premier League. He is now fifth in the list of the club’s top goalscorers with 146 goals. In the 2015/16 season, he became the first English player to win the Premier League Golden Boot in 16 years.

8. Ruud Gullit (Arsenal)

When he was 19, Gullit had a trial at Arsenal but was turned down because manager Terry Neill couldn’t justify the £300,000 price tag. “Every manager has a skeleton in his cupboard and Gullit is certainly mine,” Neill, who managed the club between 1976 and 1983, said.

7. Javier Zanetti (Independiente)

As a teen, Zanetti was told by Independiente’s youth academy he didn’t have the physique to succeed in the game. The Argentine ended up playing 868 times for Inter Milan, winning a host of silverware in an incredible career.

6. Kylian Mbappe (Chelsea)

It is impossible to think of a reason for a club to have rejected the player who is now considered as the most promising player in the world. Yet, Chelsea found one.Back in 2012, per reports, at the age of 13, Mbappe was on a trial with Chelsea but the Blues decided against investing on his talents.

Daniel Boga, a former Chelsea chief scout, claimed that the reason behind the decision was that Mbappe was regarded as talented but not a hard-worker, a relentless spirit in attack but a void one in defense. Today, Mbappe is one of the best players in the world and he is just 20 years old.

5. Franco Baresi (Inter Milan)

If things had turned out differently, the Milan legend could have ended up playing for their bitter rivals, Inter, where his brother was playing. “I wanted to follow him so I had a trial first with Inter, and they said, ‘Well, come back next year.’ But my coach took me to Milan, and there I was accepted, although it took a couple of trials.

“They were worried about my size, that I wouldn’t grow much, or toughen up. I was only 14 at the time.” Baresi ended up playing 719 games between 1977 and 1997 for the club and was crowned “Player of the Century”.

4. Lionel Messi (River Plate)

Messi’s name is rarely included in a sentence without many superlatives around it. As in the case of Griezmann, the Argentinian prodigy was told that he was too small to play football professionally.

According to reports, at the age of 8, River Plate decided that the £500-a-month cost of hormones that the youngster needed was not a sum that could be justified and as a result, he remained at his beloved Newell’s Old Boys. 2 years later, he was diagnosed with a growth hormone deficiency and his father’s health insurance could only cover a part of Lionel’s expensive hormone treatment.

A few years later, Barcelona agreed to pay his health bills and in 2000, Messi became a member of La Masia. He is now considered one of the two greatest players in our generation and one of the best ever.

3. Ronaldo Nazario (Flamengo)

‘The Phenomenon’ faced rejection very early in his career. Ronaldo was born in Rio De Janeiro and opted to join his favorite Flamengo where his football idol, Zico, had amazed the masses during the 1980s. However, it was not meant for him to follow in Zico’s footsteps.

According to reports, Ronaldo was invited to a trial by Flamengo and after a great performance, he was instructed to come back for a second trial the day after. Yet, he could not afford the bus ticket to Flamengo’s training ground and as a result, the club decided not to give him a second chance to prove his worth. He was never invited back.

Luckily for him and for all of us, Ronaldo signed instead for Sao Cristovao where Jairzinho, the former Brazil player, was in charge and he was the one to suggest Cruzeiro proceed with his signing.

2. Cristiano Ronaldo (Arsenal and Liverpool)

Arsene Wenger stated that missing out on Cristiano Ronaldo in 2003 was his biggest transfer regret at Arsenal. The Gunners were reportedly the first to be attracted by the talented then Sporting Lisbon player and invited him to their training center at the age of 15. However, the deal fell through due to the fact Arsenal did not have the funds to meet the asking price.

A few months later, Manchester United secured the services of the player. “My biggest regret? I was so close to signing Cristiano Ronaldo, and not only did I not get him, he signed for Manchester United. So that of course still hurts today,” Wenger revealed during an interview in 2014.

The Gunners were not the only English club that snubbed the Portuguese. Liverpool were the pioneers. Gerard Houllier, who managed the club from 1998 to 2004, admitted that he saw Ronaldo during an Under 21 tournament in 2003, some negotiations took place but the deal ultimately fell through due to wage demands.

1. Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Arsenal)

Oh boy – Another of the many Arsenal snubs. They snubbed him by putting him on a trial, so he snubbed them – classic Ibra. The Swedish ace felt insulted by Arsene Wenger’s insistence he “audition”, so he moved to Ajax instead. After signing for the Dutch giants in 2001, Zlatan revealed: “I’d like to show them what they missed.”

Back to the present day and Ibrahimovic has not forgotten famously posing with the Arsenal No9 jersey 16 years ago. He told Sky Italia: “I went to London for an appointment with Wenger, who asked me to audition for the Gunners “I told him ‘I will not do a trial: either you take me or not, I’m not here to waste time’.

“I already had that kind of trust, because in my mind I was the strongest of all even when I was young. I met Wenger because I expected him to tell me to start with them right away. But Ibra does not test. When I was young, in my mind no one was better than me”, he ended.