5 of football’s greatest late bloomers
Few would argue that the 1990s was a watershed year for youngsters in football, courtesy of Manchester United’s iconic Class of 92 – who not only put Alan Hansen’s ‘You can’t win anything with kids’ remark to shame but also won the league and cup double in that historic season.
Needless to say, United’s triumph convinced clubs to pour huge sums of money into youth development, and now there’s a new kid with massive potential in the spotlight every single day. However, while there’s a new young star born every minute, there have been instances where players way past their supposed ‘shelf life’ unexpectedly burst onto the scene and became legends in their own right with their on-field heroics.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at 5 of football’s greatest late bloomers:
#5 Miroslav Klose
No list of football’s greatest late bloomers can ever be complete without including this legendary German striker on the list. Klose began his professional career at the age of 20 with FC Homburg (yes, not Hamburg), but started showing his prominence only by the age 24. His goal scoring exploits with FC Kaiserslautern was enough to convince German coach Rudi Voller to select him for the 2002 World Cup, and the rest…as they say…is history.
The German slammed in 5 goals for Germany at the 2002 edition and was lethal in front of the net in the following World Cups, with his efforts eventually leading him to lift the biggest prize in football in 2014 while also making him the top scorer in World Cup history with 16 goals. The mild-mannered German - who is his country's all-time top scorer - is now an icon for the ages and undoubtedly the greatest late bloomer of all time. Poetic!