Every young football player’s dream is to become the best. To challenge the likes of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo for Ballon d’Ors. To make their family proud. And most importantly to win trophies. But what if at 14 years old thousands of people are already talking about how you are going to be the next big thing? You are already a celebrity with hundreds of thousands of followers at 14. The pressure on your shoulders must be immense. If you don’t play well, you are criticized. If you miss an open goal, people insult you. At 14 years old that is a lot to take.

Xavi Simons, and Karamoko are two examples of the harmful effects of over-hyping young talents. At a very young age, these two players were stand out talents from their academy. Xavi Simons wore the red and blue strips of the highly regarded La Masia, whereas Karamoko wore the green and white stripes of Celtic. Xavi Simons stood out for his impressive passing range and his vision, whereas Karamoko had remarkable technical ability and speed. They were both deemed to be the next big thing. Videos of their academy matches went viral, and they amassed incredible follower accounts on social media for such young people. For such talented players, how did their career fall off a cliff?

At 16 years old, Xavi Simons traded the red and blue of Barcelona for the red and blue of Paris. Although, Barcelona wanted to keep him, because they saw him as the next Xavi, Simons signed for PSG in hope for more game time as he didn’t see a clear path to professional football at Barcelona. But with Verrati, Gueye, Paredes and many others favored above him at PSG, Simons was left rotting in the academy. Clearly too good for the academy, and not trusted by the PSG staff, Xavi Simons seemed like a wasted talent. Last season though, Simons finally got some playing time for PSG, however failed to impress. With PSG already a club which favors playing experienced, world class players, instead of young talents, Xavi Simons did not see himself creeping into the PSG starting 11. Thus, with his contract expiring this summer Simons transferred to PSV, back to his home country, the Netherlands, where many people hope he will finally get game time and show the world why he was so hyped up when he was younger.

Karomoko, was touted by many to be the next Scottish and English superstar. At only 14 years old, the English and Scottish national teams were already battling each other for his allegiance. At such a young age, he had the technical ability that professional players would dream of. He would dribble around players like they were never there. Celtic thought they had a gem in him. One that could nurtured and then sold for astronomical amounts of money. Although he was so talented at a young age, the Celtic staff hardly gave him a chance with the professional team. Sure, he would train with them regularly, but he rarely got to play in front of the boisterous crowd at Celtic Park. In fact, he was only promoted to the professional team during the summer of 2021. With his social media followers growing exponentially and his name being spoken of in the different corners of the globe, why did Karamoko not reach the pinnacles of the football pyramid? Some of the fault is rewarded to how Celtic developed him, but most of it is due to the increased pressure and expectations which were put on his shoulders at such a young age. Many Celtic fans would go watch academy games just to watch him. That weight of expectations must’ve weighed on him. And now as he never had the success he envied at Celtic, he just recently signed for Stade Brestois, in the French First divion, where he hopes he can get some more minutes at the highest level.

With the growth of social media, and its impact on virtually everything in the world, it has shined a light on mental problems faced by football players. Social media helps link people around the world, but it also causes increased pessimism and hatred towards certain individuals. Young teenagers who don’t have the mental strength yet to overcome and get passed the hatred against them, take these insults to heart which impacts their mental state. Some can’t bear the ruthlessness of soccer fans, and some stop playing at a young age. Such talented youngsters wasted because of strangers appalling comments. For the case of Simons and Karamoko, they continued to pursue their professional career, but neither have yet have demonstrated the full lengths of their talents. Perhaps in their new clubs they can flourish and show the world why they were regarded as the next big thing.