Every year, pundits predict young players who would make the wave in the next decades. Only a handful of such players reach the height. The rest fall by the roadside. What could be responsible for this?

Agents are known to go at any length to promote their players in order to command a higher transfer fee. They bribe writers to write positive articles about their players to elicit interest of the bigger club. A handful of those players are average players whose qualities are embellished. Such deception not only affects the buying club but the players natural development. The likely effect of this is often overlooked.

Unknown players work very hard in training to improve their skill. Once the media notices this and exaggerate their potential, the players feel they have arrived. The humility and hard work that took them to that level begins to diminish. Pride takes over. He spends more time trying to live the magnifiedstatus and less time in practice.

Mario Balotelli was tipped to be a superstar. He lost his respect for senior players struggling to take a penalty kick ahead of Samuel Eto. José Mourinho found him difficult to manage and sold him to Manchester City. There, he had a conflict with coach Mancini and was shipped out afterwards. Bigger clubs avoid him like a plague.

English media is known for exaggerating the qualities of English players. A developing Maguire was tipped to be better than John Terry. Leicester city decided to benefit from such hype by placing a high amount of money for him. Manchester United boss wanted him at all cost and signed him. Rather than wait for him to grow in the new club, he elevated the aggressive player to captain the Red Devil. To hand over the leadership role to a new unproven player was a responsibility to soon for the growing lad. If the media says he is capable, then he is in the eyes of Ole. The role got into his head. He wouldn’t wait to tell anyone that he is the captain of one of our the best team in the world “do you know who I am?” became his trademark.

Januzaz and Victor Moses use to make the headline of every newspaper. The moment they pledged allegiance to Belgium and Nigeria respectively, the hype reduced. Tammy Abraham opted to play for England. If he had chosen Nigeria, he would have easily made the squad in the last world cup competition. He knows it would be difficult to displace Kane, Vardy, and Rashford, but he needed to benefit from the media hype. To play for the African Giants could affect his promising career. Apart from Harry Kane, the entire English squad is made up of average players, but the media will not admit it. Soccer analyst knew Christian Erickson was the engine room of Pochettino’s Tottenham, but the media celebrated DELE Ali ahead of the danish skipper. Since the Denmark player left the club, Ali has been a shadow of himself.

This is the consequences of celebrating mediocre players ahead of deserving ones. It creates jealousy if the hyped player chooses to take all glory to himself rather than deflect the praise to the more deserving player. Salah had the goals and made the third best player shortlist, but Mane is the fulcrum of the team. Salah attempt to justify the media expectation has led to an uncharacteristic selfish display by the Egyptian.The Salah -Mane rivalry is an example of how such could affect the team.

NBA / writers

Hyping an athlete to self Destruction

Hyping an athlete to self Destruction

Hyping an athlete to self Destruction