10 Man Utd Youngsters Who Never Fulfilled Their Potential

5. Giuseppe Rossi

Maybe Manchester United should just stop selling players to Villareal. There were quite a number of similarities between Diego Forlan and Giuseppe Rossi€™s respective careers at Old Trafford, and their subsequent success once they found a way out. With both players having failed to settle in England, they flourished once Man United sold them to Spanish side Villareal. In the case of Giuseppe Rossi, he had been lauded as the club€™s most natural finisher amongst the reserves, and was tipped as a future star by many. An Italian U21 international, the 20 year old had been begging for more first-team opportunities at Old Trafford, but was only ever granted five outings in the league for the Mancunian outfit. Of course, a goalless eleven-game loan spell stint at St. James€™ Park might not have helped state his claim for a break at Manchester United, but Ferguson maintains that he did not want to have to sell the American-born striker.

''He wanted to have a go at first-team football. We۪ve got a clause in his contract where he could come back to us at some point.۪۪ - Sir Alex Ferguson, August 2007.

While Rossi has endured his fair share of injury problems in recent years, he has still scored an impressive 99 goals in 217 outings for both Villareal and Fiorentina, with seven goals scored for the Italian national side to boot. For Rossi, his undoubted potential is being fulfilled. It just wasn€™t in Manchester.