The pressures put on young players within the English Premier League in this modern time is absolutely immense. Jordan Henderson, Andy Carroll and Phil Jones have all made big money moves to Liverpool and Manchester United this year and both sets of fans will want to see an immediate return on investment. If any of these young players suffer a bad injury or lack of form they could quite easily end up on the list of players that flattered to deceive in the English Premier League. We take a look at some of these players who didn't live up to the hype that surrounded them.
Luke Chadwick (Man Utd 1999-2004, West Ham 2004-2006) - Whilst at Man Utd, Chadwick was regarded as one of the club's brightest young English talents and racked up 25 first team appearances along with 13 for the England U21 team. Unfortunately he was unable to secure a place in the starting eleven and moved to West Ham where he encountered a similar scenario. He ended up playing for a clutch of Championship clubs before joining League One's MK Dons.
Francis Jeffers (Everton 1997-2001, Arsenal 2001-04, Blackburn 2006-07 - After scoring 20 goals in 60 appearances for Everton he was signed by Arsenal for £8 million in 2001. Unfortunately he was dogged by injury whilst there and was sold to Charlton in 2004. Over the next 7 years he played for 6 different clubs and is now unattached - he is still only 30 years old.
Eric Djemba Djemba - (Man Utd 2003-05, Aston Villa 2005-07), Bought by Alex Ferguson as a potential successor for Roy Keane it never quite came off for him as he never managed to sustain a good run of form. The squad was also in a transitional period at the time and he was often left on the bench as part of their rotation policy. He was eventually sold to Aston Villa but was unable to establish himself in his midfield position due to the form of McCann and Davis. After a short spell in Qatar he moved to Danish side Odense and he has got his career back on track.
David Bellion (Sunderland 2001-03, Man Utd 2003-05) - Picked up by Man Utd from Sunderland in 2003 after a string of fine performances, Bellion's career at the club was far from successful and he was consistently frozen out of the First Team despite playing well for the Reserve Team. He was sold to French club Nice in 2006 and has since moved on to Bordeaux.
Stephen McPhail (Leeds United 1997-2004) - The first 3 years of McPhail's Leeds career were highly successful and he was compared to Arsenal legend Liam Brady by then manager George Graham. Unfortunately he was frozen out of the Leeds First Team in 2001 due to a string of injuries and failed to impress managers Terry Venables and later Peter Reid. He left the club in 2004 to join Barnsely and ended up joining Cardiff City in 2006 where he still plays.
Danny Cadamarteri (Everton 1996-2002) - A first team regular in the late nineties it all went wrong for Cadamarteri in 2001 when he was charged with assault and subsequently left the club. Since leaving he has played for 8 different clubs including a spell at non-league Grays and is now playing for Huddersfield.
Neil Mellor (Liverpool 2002-06). A product of Liverpool's Youth Academy, Mellor burst into the first team in 2004 by scoring a crucial goal in the Champions League but unfortunatelyweeks later he had to have surgery on both of his knees and missed the rest of the season. In a bid to find first team football Mellor signed for Preston North End in 2006 with whom he still plays for.
Chris Kirkland - (Coventry 1998-2001, Liverpool 2001-06, Wigan 2006 - ) When Liverpool paid Coventry £6 million for Kirkland's services it made him the most expensive goalkeeper in British history at the age of 20. Unfortunately injuries have blighted his career and he left Liverpool in 2006 having only made 25 appearances. Now at Wigan, and still suffering from injuries he has still managed to play over 130 games for them.
Jody Morris (Chelsea 1995-2003). Morris came up through the Chelsea youth ranks with John Terry, playing for the first team on 124 occasions and he was also briefly made captain by Gianluca Vialli. However, he often still found himself on the substitutes bench and struggled to make the first team due to the form of Wise, Deschamps, Di Matteo and Petit and he left the club in 2003 for Leeds. After spells with Milwall and Rotherham he moved up to Scotland in 2007 with St Johnstone and was part of the promotion winning team in 2009.
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