It’s a sign of the times that former Liverpool midfielder Bruno Cheyrou was trending on Twitter recently.
Despite not being relevant for about 16 years, the Frenchman jumped back into the limelight when Team GB hockey star Samantha Quek asked her followers to name the players who were meant to be the ‘next Zidane’.
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Living up to Zidane proved an impossible task for many
The narrative went something like this: unknown midfielder controls a relatively low-key match, pundits label them the next Zidane.
To give a modern example, it’s sort of like how everyone thinks Chelsea’s Billy Gilmour is the next Andres Iniesta.
Football fans have a habit of getting carried away and living up to the great Zizou proved to be quite the burden back in the day.
Unfortunately, most of these players fell spectacularly short of the mark, so we’ve taken a trip through time to remember the victims of the ‘next Zidane’ curse…
Bruno Cheyrou
There’s only one place to start.
Arguably the most famous victim of the curse, Cheyrou never really had a chance after ex-Reds boss Gerard Houllier dubbed him the ‘next Zidane’.
Upon the Frenchman’s arrival from Lille for £4.5m in 2002, Houllier said: “To me, Bruno has some of the attributes of Zinedine Zidane, he has his ability to pick a pass, and moves a little like him.
“Zidane is 29 and at the very peak of his game, while Bruno is just a youngster, and is still very much learning, especially about English football.
“Look at Pires and Wiltord at Arsenal. They took time, because the Premiership is so different to France. It is so much quicker and more physical. But look at them now.”
In the end, Cheyrou was never really able to establish himself as a regular first-team player at Anfield and his Reds career lasted just two seasons.
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Liverpool fans thought they landed the next Zidane when Cheyrou arrived
Josh McEachran
So much was promised of young McEachran.
The former Chelsea midfielder joined the Blues at the age of seven and featured several times under Carlo Ancelotti during the 2010/11 season when he was just a teenager.
Like many midfielders his age, McEachran grew up idolising the great Zidane, and the influence was clear for anyone who watched him play.
The Englishman even revealed Real Madrid tried to sign him when he was 16. He told the Telegraph: “I was 16, at Chelsea, and my agent at the time said, ‘Real Madrid want you’. It’s unbelievable, isn’t it? At that age.
“I had the chance to go to Real Madrid or Man United. Real Madrid had the contract waiting for me and they wanted all my family to fly over but I said, ‘No, I want to stay at Chelsea’. I was a Chelsea fan.”
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but maybe he should’ve said yes.
Andre Villa-Boas’ arrival at Stamford Bridge in 2011 signalled the beginning of the end for an 18-year-old McEachran.
He became another one of those Chelsea starlets who was just endlessly on loan somewhere – and to cap it off he even spent a season at Vitesse in Holland.
His hopes of becoming the next Zidane officially ended when he left Chelsea for Brentford in 2014.
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McEachran even featured in the Champions League for Chelsea
Freddy Adu
The American featured in a commercial alongside Brazil legend Pele at the age of 14. That says it all, really.
He became the youngest player ever to sign a professional contract in MLS when he joined DC United as a 14-year-old in 2004.
Former Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson was aware of his talents and Adu appeared destined for greatness.
But upon leaving DC United in 2006, he became one of football’s many journeymen.
His legend lives on through anyone who played Football Manager in its early days – Adu was a must-buy and his stats were just incredible.
He said in 2014: “I get a lot of tweets with people calling me a Football Manager legend and I’m like, ‘Damn, I wish it was like that in real life!’”
Anthony Le Tallec
Here’s another victim of Houllier’s desperate search for the next Zidane at Liverpool.
The former Reds boss signed Le Tallec and his cousin Florent Sinama Pongolle in 2001 following impressive displays for France in the FIFA U17 World Cup.
Le Tallec was awarded the Silver Ball and his cousin won the Golden Ball, so Houllier immediately snapped them both up.
They were loaned back to Le Havre for two seasons, but neither of them were able to make any sort of impression at Liverpool thereafter.
Despite being dubbed the ‘next Zidane’ by various French media outlets, Le Tallec’s career peaked as he starred on loan at Sunderland during their record-breaking Premier League campaign in 2005/06.
Unfortunately, the record was lowest points tally of all-time, which has since been broken by Derby.
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Le Tallec’s career ended up peaking at Sunderland
Yoann Gourcuff
And finally, the man who was actually supposed to replace Zidane for France.
Following Zidane’s retirement in 2006, Gourcuff quickly emerged as a natural successor due to his many similar attributes.
Like Zidane, Gourcuff was a star for Bordeaux and scored a goal worthy of the great man himself against PSG in 2009.
“That goal was no accident,” France legend Christophe Dugarry said afterwards. “It showed there was something magical about him. I felt ill when Zidane retired. Watching Gourcuff has cured me. When I see players like him, I feel like a small boy again.”
Meanwhile, in 2010, David Ginola described Gourcuff as the best player of his generation.
However, his career never really went as planned.
He found himself at the centre of France’s 2010 World Cup scandal when Nicolas Anelka and Franck Ribery were accused of freezing him out of the opening group match against Uruguay, which ended in a drab 0-0 draw.
Then in the final group match against South Africa, he was sent off in the first-half for elbowing an opponent.
A red card for violent conduct at a World Cup was the closest he came to emulating Zidane.
France ended up crashing out of the tournament after losing the match 2-1, and Gourcuff’s international career never truly recovered.
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