By Ollie Irish
In the last 20 years, some supremely talented English players have failed to make the most of their ability. For the purposes of this list, we’ve discounted players who failed to fulfil their potential only because of injury (such as Michael Bridges, Jonathan Woodgate, Jamie Redknapp and Darren Anderton). In reverse order, here’s our Top 10 wasted talents:
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1. Paul Gascoigne - Like Collymore, Gazza was unfairly portrayed as soft in the head ('Daft as a brush', to quote Bobby Robson), but it would be more accurate to describe both men as the victims of mental illness. But whilst Collymore has got his life back on track, desperate Gazza veers from one public disaster to another, and it seems there is no helping him. The fact he wasted his talent so young and yet still went on to play brilliantly in the latter stages of his career (at Rangers, for example) makes his story even more poignant - with a sound mind, Gascoigne might have become England's greatest ever player. Now look at him.