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Barcelona: 5 wonderkids who failed to make it with the Catalans

By Bence Bocsak

BARCELONA, SPAIN - MARCH 17: Bojan Krkic of FC Barcelona celebrates scoring his sides fourth goal shortly after coming on as a subsitute during the UEFA Champions League round of sixteen second leg match between FC Barcelona and VfB Stuttgart at the Camp Nou stadium on March 17, 2010 in Barcelona, Spain. Barceloina won the match 4-0. (Photo by Jasper Juinen/Getty Images)
BARCELONA, SPAIN - MARCH 17: Bojan Krkic of FC Barcelona celebrates scoring his sides fourth goal shortly after coming on as a subsitute during the UEFA Champions League round of sixteen second leg match between FC Barcelona and VfB Stuttgart at the Camp Nou stadium on March 17, 2010 in Barcelona, Spain. Barceloina won the match 4-0. (Photo by Jasper Juinen/Getty Images) /
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BARCELONA, SPAIN – MARCH 17: Bojan Krkic of FC Barcelona celebrates scoring his sides fourth goal shortly after coming on as a subsitute during the UEFA Champions League round of sixteen second leg match between FC Barcelona and VfB Stuttgart at the Camp Nou stadium on March 17, 2010 in Barcelona, Spain. Barceloina won the match 4-0. (Photo by Jasper Juinen/Getty Images)
BARCELONA, SPAIN – MARCH 17: Bojan Krkic of FC Barcelona celebrates scoring his sides fourth goal shortly after coming on as a subsitute during the UEFA Champions League round of sixteen second leg match between FC Barcelona and VfB Stuttgart at the Camp Nou stadium on March 17, 2010 in Barcelona, Spain. Barceloina won the match 4-0. (Photo by Jasper Juinen/Getty Images) /

5. Bojan Krkic

Position: Forward

Current Club: Montreal Impact

Bojan Krkic is one of the strangest cases in Barcelona’s long list of wonderkid prodigies. The Spanish forward who hails from a Serbian background was undoubtedly one of the brightest talents of his generation. His early form at Barcelona was on par with Lionel Messi.

Bojan made his debut for Barcelona at just 17 years of age and 19 days old which broke Lionel Messi’s record as the youngest player to feature for Barcelona in La Liga at the time. He impressed early on with his performances and during his breakout season Bojan almost became a regular feature for the Catalans making a total of 30 appearances in La Liga and managing to find the back of the net 10 times.

Bojan was only 17 during the whole season and those numbers were incredibly impressive. The following season Bojan would don the number 11 shirt of Barca and he was hoping for a similar run of form. Unfortunately Bojan failed to repeat this feat and netted only twice during the 2008/09 campaign. Bojan was still young and time was on his side the following season he’d end up with 8 league goals but by then competition for striker was fierce at Barcelona with Eto’o, Henry and Ibrahimovic all competing for spots.

Bojan fell down the pecking order and he was never able to fight himself back into the reckoning. He left the club after the arrival of David Villa and signed for Roma.

Bojan made a fairly decent return at Roma but it was never anything outstanding, he netted just 7 times in the league and was shipped on loan to AC Milan where found the net just 3 times.

The following season the Catalans resigned Bojan only to loan him to Ajax where Bojan failed to impress once more and he’d leave the Catalans permanently yet again signing for Stoke in the summer of 2014.

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Similar repeats of mediocrity followed at Stoke as Bojan failed to live up to the early hype which sparked the beginning of his career. After the club’s relegation to the Championship Bojan left stoke permanently for Montreal Impact.

All together Bojan made 163 appearances for Barcelona, scored 41 times and assisted 19 goals.

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