10 Man Utd Youngsters Who Never Fulfilled Their Potential

2. Federico Macheda

It was an entrance that couldn€™t have been scripted by the hacks in Hollywood. With Manchester United€™s title bid having been under threat following successive defeats to Liverpool and Fulham in March 2009, they suddenly found themselves staring down the barrel of another defeat, as they trailed 2-1 at home to Aston Villa. Three defeats in a row? It would have been a crisis on the same wavelength as Kevin Keegan€™s collapse in 1996. With ten minutes left, Cristiano Ronaldo levelled matters with a blistering 25 yarder, leading a thunderous Old Trafford to urge their troops forward and put the Villains to the sword. With the clock ticking into injury-time, not even the 17 year old Italian himself could have dreamt what would happen next. With Ryan Giggs threading a ball into him, Federico Macheda pulled off the most exquisite turn to evade his marker before curling a glorious shot into the net from just inside the area. Wheeling away in delirium, the atmosphere blew up, as Villa players sunk to the turf, wondering who on earth had just netted that wondergoal. There were probably certain sections of the Old Trafford faithful who hadn€™t a clue who this greasy-haired youngster was, at the bottom of the celebratory pile-on, but they certainly knew his name now. Having hit a rich vein of goalscoring form for the reserves, including a hat-trick against Newcastle the previous week, Ferguson drafted him onto the bench for the Villa game, before handing him a debut he would never forget.

''I told him €˜well done€™. It€™s important to keep his feet on the ground. He€™ll need to handle lots of publicity over the next few days.€™€™ - Sir Alex Ferguson, April 2009.

The wily Scot wasn€™t wrong. Macheda had burst forward into the limelight, and was suddenly at the forefront of the media. Another winning goal the following week was to come against Sunderland for the Italian, as everything he touched seemed to turn to gold. Had a star been born? The answer is no. He would take in five loan spells, as he failed to establish himself in the first-team, and would only score three more goals for the club in all competitions. Having finally been released from Man United at the end of the season, he linked up with Cardiff City, where he is yet to find a league goal.