Whatever happened to the new Dalglish, Barnes and Pele?

Following the news that Chelsea have signed the 'new Didier Drogba' - 11-year-old Michael Gyasi - talkSPORT takes a look back in time at some of the other kids for fame who never quite made the grade...

1) Cherno Samba
The 13-year-old first hit the headlines after banging in a frankly remarkable 132 goals in 32 games in one season alone. Not surprisingly, the big clubs were falling over themselves to sign him, most notably Liverpool. But when that deal fell through, he was snapped up by…erm… Millwall! He played for England at every level from Under-15 to Under-20, but once the rest of the kids on the block got as big as him, his progress halted somewhat. He never played for the Lions and left there in 2004 and has since had spells in Spain and Finland, as well as Plymouth and Wrexham. He joined Greek Second Division outfit Panetolikos in February this year. But he hasn’t played for them yet, either.

2) Wayne Harrison
In truth, it’s a little harsh to call Harrison a failure. Dubbed the ‘new Kenny Dalglish’ when he joined Liverpool from Oldham in 1985 – making the 17-year-old the most expensive teenage in British football history at the time – his Anfield career was wrecked by a succession of injuries that eventually forced him to hang up his (sadly underused) boots for good in 1990.

3) Rod Thomas
After the ‘new Kenny Dalglish’ comes the ‘new John Barnes’. That’s how Watford starlet Thomas was dubbed after starring in a televised England schoolboys game in 1987. One of the first graduates of the FA's School of Excellence at Lilleshall, the pacy winger never lived up to that early potential and drifted down the divisions with Carlisle, Chester and finally Brighton.

4) Owen Price
In 2000, Tottenham were so excited about the gifted winger, they coughed up £450,000 to Charlton for him, even though he was only 14 at the time. He never played for the Spurs’ first-team, although he got close under Jacques Santini, and eventually cancelled his own contract. He later had spells with Lewes, Swedish club Sundsvall and Northwich Victoria.

5) James Will
The talented keeper was a member of the Scotland team that reached the final of the FIFA Under-16 World Cup in 1989, losing on penalties in front of 51,674 at Hampden Park. He signed for Arsenal, but couldn't get anywhere near the Premier League XI, and drifted away from football and became a policeman with with Grampian Police.

6) Jamie McMaster
The Aussie midfielder looked a real prospect when he joined his cobbers Harry Kewell and Mark Viduka at Leeds in 1999 at the age of 16. But he played just 11 times for the first team before being shown the door in 2005, although allegedly exposing himself at the club’s Christmas party in 2004 probably didn’t help his cause. Well, you can take the boy out of Australia…! He ended up back at home and is now playing his trade for Sydney side Bonnyrigg White Eagles.

7) Kevin Sharp
Canadian-born full-back Sharp was one of a pair of promising youngsters – Jamie Forrester was the other – who quit England in the early 1990s to join Auxerre to learn his craft under legendary coach Guy Roux. But he soon grew homesick and signed for Leeds in 1992. He played just 18 times for the Elland Road outfit, before spending six years at Wigan in the lower leagues. Where he stayed. Until he drifted into non-league football with Northwich Victoria and Harrogate.

8) Nii Lamptey
The Ghanaian had big shoes to fill after being branded as the ‘new Pele’ when he led Ghana to victory at the 1991 FIFA Under-17 World Cup. He won the Golden Ball for the tournament's best player, beating Juan Sebastian Veron and Alessandro del Piero to the honour. But he encountered trouble in 1994 when he joined Aston Villa and discovered his agent had ripped him off. That sparked a career nosedive and he played out the remainder of him time in footballing backwaters like China, Saudi Arabia and South Africa.

9) Florent Sinama-Pongolle and Anthony Le Tallec
The French duo were hailed as 'the gems' when Liverpool manager Gerard Houllier took them to Anfield from Le Havre in 2001. The pair had starred at the FIFA Under-17 World Cup, where both had scored in the final and Sinama-Pongolle had finished as top scorer. But the duo failed to secure regular first-team football under Houllier and his successor Rafael Benitez, although Sinama-Pongolle did enjoy a night to remember against Olympiakos in the Champions League.

10) Sonny Pike
A youthful Pike was hailed as the saviour of English football in the early 1990s, even before his 13th birthday. He'd been learning the game at the celebrated Ajax academy from the age of seven before word returned to England of his breathtaking talents. But understandably, he struggled to cope with the pressure, suffering a mental breakdown. Pike drifted out of the game, going on to study psychology at Dundee University. More recently, he has played Sunday League football for Dryburgh Saints and trained for a Scottish FA coaching certificate.