Hachim Mastour was tipped for greatness when AC Milan signed him as a 14-year-old.
The Moroccan was just 14 at the time but the Rossoneri paid Reggiana a reported fee of €500,000 (£408,000) in 2012.
Milan, with a glowing review from the legendary Arrigo Sacchi, pipped the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona and Manchester City, for his signature.
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Mastour had serious hype surrounding him after compilations of him racked up five million views on YouTube.
He scored five goals at the Ielasi Memorial tournament, one of which came in the final against AS Roma.
Mastour, who was compared to Martin Odegaard many moons ago, became the youngest player to turn out for the Moroccan national team in 2015.
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However, he did not make a single appearance for Milan.
In the 2013/14 campaign, he was named as a substitute by Clarence Seedorf and would have broke Paolo Maldini's record for the club's youngest ever player had he entered the fray against Sassuolo.
However, his only notable action in the first-team at Milan was that former manager Gennaro Gattuso threatened to "knock his teeth out" if he didn't buckle down.
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It seems he wasn't quite able to do that as Mastour was loaned out to both Malaga and PEC Zwolle in an attempt to get extra game-time. Yet across the two stints, Mastour played just seven times.
In 2018, after his Milan contract had expired, his next career move took him to Greece, signing for Superleague side Lamia.
It was hoped that this change of scenery could get Mastour back on track and he was said to be earning €200,000-per-year.
But it was deja vu all over again. He played just six times in a seven-month period and failed to find the net, leading to his contract being terminated by mutual consent.
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Then came a return to Italy with Serie C side Reginna, who he signed for on a three-year deal, but a second mutual termination arrived.
He spent the second half of the 2020/21 season on loan at Carpi, where he played 10 times and scored his first ever professional goal.
Mastour spent a substantial period without a club but signed for Renaissance Zemamra in his ancestral country of Morocco.
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He made a total of 10 appearances for the club and scored twice in the second tier.
But the 25 was on the move again, switching to fellow second division outfit Union de Touarga after one season.
"I noticed the media hype with which I arrived at Milan, which consequently pushed companies and intermediaries to see in me more a chance to make money, than a sporting profile to grow and wait,” Mastour told TMW in 2019 on his difficulties at Milan.
“This penalised my sporting growth, also because I wanted to play exclusively, after all I didn’t care much about it [commercial activities], as demonstrated by the fact that I have always trained and acted with seriousness, both at Malaga and at Zwolle."
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Topics: AC Milan
Josh Lawless