da lvbet： Manchester United have had some special young talent emerge from their academy over the previous 30 years, with some being remembered more fondly than others.
da betobet： The likes of David Beckham and Paul Scholes defined United’s era under Sir Alex Ferguson, while Marcus Rashford and Scott McTominay could go a long way to defining a new dynasty under Erik ten Hag.
Certain youngsters, however, only produce one or two moments of magic before disappearing in a cloud of mystery and without much fuss, with Federico Macheda one of those whom United were wise to release when they did.
Where is Federico Macheda now?
With their Premier League title ambitions hanging in the balance, United found themselves drawing 2-2 with Aston Villa heading into the third minute of stoppage time, with three points all that mattered.
With one excellent turn, Macheda fired the ball into the Villa net and into United folklore at the same time. The 17-year-old’s goal gave the Red Devils momentum to claim their third title in a row and he even scored the week after against Sunderland.
Fergie even declared the youngster had “something special” about him and the future looked bright, especially with what had just happened, yet the next few years at the Old Trafford outfit featured just another three goals, totalling only five goals for the club.
A variety of loan spells to clubs such as Sampdoria and Birmingham City failed to generate quite the same excitement as he showed during April 2009 and Man United released him from his contract at the end of the 2013/2014 campaign.
He signed for Cardiff City that summer, scoring eight goals in 33 appearances before spells at Novara and Panathinaikos proved that he wasn’t quite the same player who had emerged on the scene at United bursting with talent.
40 goals for the Greek side was a solid enough return, but the 31-year-old now finds himself playing for Cypriot side APOEL Nicosia, scoring just once so far.
It marks a vast downfall from playing an integral part in United’s title triumph in 2008/09 to struggling in Cyprus and it proves the club released him at the right time.
What might have been for the Italian who impressed Fergie, even if it was just for a short space of time.