Players you thought would make it...who didn't

[Aston Villa]

With the debate over the current crop of young players (Clark, Albrighton, Bannan, Fonz etc.) and as to whether they will good enough to make the grade at Villa. I wanted to hear which players you thought would go on to be really big or even just be good enough to be involved in the first team when they were young. Basically, players who didn't end up as you expected them to. For me, Luke Moore is the one that comes to mind. Always thought he would go one to a top club and become an England international. I suppose compared to some, he hasn't done too badly though.

[peter w]

Lee Williams - i think is his name. Moved to Peterborough I think.

Hendrie didn't make it? Apart from playing for us for over 10 years and being an international? Bloody-hell the benchmark is set a tad highly on this one.

[PeterWithesShin]

David Hughes, while never thinking he'd be a superstar I figured he'd have a good career. Same goes for Graham Fenton. Still had to believe that Fenton barely made 100 appearances in his career considering how useful he looked with us for a while.

[Aston Villa]

Lee Williams - i think is his name. Moved to Peterborough I think.

Hendrie didn't make it? Apart from playing for us for over 10 years and being an international? Bloody-hell the benchmark is set a tad highly on this one.

Poor wording on my part. I should have said players who didn't go on to fufill your expectations of them. I think many thought Hendrie would go on to become perhaps one of the best English midfielders of his generation.

[Aston Villa]

The wording of the OP has been edited now.

[silhillvilla]

Graham Fenton springs to mind

[The Man With A Stick]

David Hughes, while never thinking he'd be a superstar I figured he'd have a good career. Same goes for Graham Fenton. Still had to believe that Fenton barely made 100 appearances in his career considering how useful he looked with us for a while.

Just Googled Fenton to see what he's up to and he looks exactly the same (but with a beard).

Was also going to say Hughes.  He was fantastic on his debut (or was it just his home debut?) against Liverpool, I really thought he was one for the future.

[silhillvilla]

Martin Carruthers & Stephen Byfield also never really made it.

[Barry Shaw]

Bernie Gallacher. I thought he was going to be awfaul but he only reached 'shit'

[peter w]

maybe Mark Burke also.

[Aston Villa]

Anyone remember Stephen Cooke? For some reason I thought he would go on to become a good player for us. I remember we won quite alot together on Championship Manager too.

[nigel]

I think both the Moore brothers fall into this category. When you think that at one time Stefan was being mentioned in the same breath as Rooney. If only!
If you go back to the youth team that supplied Brian Little and John Gidman. Brian's brother, Alan, and Jake Findley spring to mind, though in fairness to Findley, I always thought he was useful, he was never given a proper chance.

[Chipsticks]

My old man is still convinced that Albrighton's the best player at the club right now. I'm not sure that I'd go that far, but I certainly think he will mature into a fine player.

As for players who didn't make it, I'd contest Moustapha Salifou being the 'next Zidane'.

[silhillvilla]

Wasn't Ni Lamptey dubbed the new Pele ?

[FrankyH]

Stefan Beinlich and Matthias Breitkreutz . in the youth reserve setup when Big Ron was at the club, don't know if he discovered them though.