We just did a video on the best footballer at every height from 5’1” to 6’11”, yes, that’s right, 6’11” – so go and give that a watch if you haven’t already – but making that video gave me another idea. I have lost count of the amount of times I’ve heard of a club releasing a player or turning them down following an impressive trial because they’re quote, too small, too short or too weak.
In a sport where the most talented and effective exponent had to be given growth hormone injection just to reach the dizzying height of 5’7”, where Barcelona and Spain ran rings around every other team a decade ago with an average height of about 5’5” and one of the best defensive midfielders on the planet is only marginally taller than an Ewok, this seems utterly absurd to me.
Unless you’re a goalkeeper or maybe a centre-back, and don’t forget Franco Baresi and Fabio Cannavaro were just 5’9”, then rejecting a footballer because they’re too small makes about as much sense as rejecting a footballer because their eyes are too blue or their hair is too curly. Particularly ridiculous, are the cases of players who are told they’re too small at 15 or 16 and end up being bustling 6’5” centre-halves. The stupidity beggars belief.
So if any scouts of coaches are watching this, I do hope we have banished the folly of being ‘too small’ to be a footballer well and truly to the record books, although I fear we have not. And if you’re a young person of small stature or a late developer, perhaps with aspirations of making it in the game, rest assured that size will never prevent you from making it in football if you are good enough, provided you keep working on your game and proving people wrong.
Right, I’ve only focused on current or fairly recent players in this seven to show that this is still a genuine problem within the game.
Here are 7 footballers who were rejected for being too small:
7. Franck Ribery
I should point out quickly before I start that this seven is in no particular order, it’s not ranked in terms of ability or height or anything like that, it’s just a random high-profile seven. We start with Bayern Munich legend Franck Ribery, who just finished his 12th and final season with the Bavarian giants. One of the finest wingers of his generation, Ribery has topped the Bundesliga assist charts in three separate seasons, coming close to winning the Ballon d’Or in 2013.
A brilliant dribbler of the ball, at his best, Ribery was incredibly quick, creative, and capable of chipping in with more than his fair share of goals. Incredibly, despite his technical ability being so obvious from an early age, Ribery was released by his club Lille at the age of 16. The Frenchman says Lille had wanted to release him for some time for being too small, and he ended up signing for Boulogne. Twenty years, twenty-five trophies and three French Footballer of the Year awards later, Lille may look back and regret letting the little man go.
6. Antoine Griezmann
ANDORRA LA VELLA, ANDORRA. June 1. Antoine Griezmann #7 of France during the Andorra V France 2020 European Championship Qualifying, Group H match at the Estadi Nacional d’Andorra on June…
I don’t mean to pick on the French, but it’s worth noting that the ‘too small’ idiocy isn’t a plague unique to the English game, and we’ve another Frenchman in sixth. Antoine Griezmann is one of the most talented and complete forwards in the world game, and he has hit 20+ goals in every one of the last six seasons, aged 28.
It hasn’t always been quite so plain-sailing for the two-time Ballon d’Or bronze medalist though. When he was starting out in the game, Griezmann was rejected by a number of academies despite his talents due to his slim frame. Ligue 1 side Montpellier were one such side, but thankfully for Griezmann, he was spotted by a scout from Real Sociedad in a trial match for Montpellier.
He was invited to train with the Spanish outfit for a week, then another week, and then he was offered a contract. Nine years later, Sociedad sold him for €30 million to Atletico Madrid. Griezmann has gone on to become the talisman of both Atletico Madrid and the French national team, winning the Golden Boot and Best Player awards at Euro 2016 and the Silver Boot and the Bronze Ball when France won the 2018 World Cup a couple of years later. What’s more, at 5’9”, Griezmann really isn’t particularly short, and maybe Montpellier will think twice about telling a 14-year-old they’re too small now.
5. Jamie Vardy
Antoine Griezman’s journey to the top may not have been straightforward, but it was a walk in the park compared to Jamie Vardy’s, who was still playing non-league football at the age of 25. Vardy was at Sheffield Wednesday as a 15-year-old, but he had to drop into the local non-league game after being released due to his size. In Vardy’s case, it probably proved to be a blessing in disguise.
The fast and impish frontman scored goals aplenty for Stocksbridge Park Steels, Halifax Town and Fleetwood Town, before getting his big shot at Leicester City. By this stage into his mid-20’s and 5’10”, Vardy has had a fairytale seven years with the Foxes. Just playing in the Premier League would have seemed like a pipe dream for Vardy in his early-20’s, nevermind winning a Premier League title, winning the Premier League Player of the Year award and representing England 26 times.
Since that incredible title winning campaign, Vardy has continued to score goals regularly in the Premier League, as one of the division’s most consistent and effective marksmen. He’s won more league titles than Sheffield Wednesday have in the last 89 years, and Owls fans could be forgiven for wondering what might have been.
4. Andy Robertson
Andy Robertson of Scotland controls the ball during the European Qualifier for UEFA Euro 2020 at Hampden Park on June 08, 2019 in Glasgow, Scotland.
One of the standout players in the Premier League last season, Andy Robertson’s rise is not as well-documented as Jamie Vardy’s, but it’s just as creditable. The Glasgow-born full-back began his football education at Celtic, the club Robertson supported, but he was released at under-15 level because he was too small. He joined the Queen’s Park academy, and at the age of 18 he began playing for the club in the fourth tier of Scottish football.
An impressive campaign attracted the interest of Scottish Premiership side Dundee United, but he lasted just a single season with the Terrors. That was because he’d caught the eye of Hull City scout Stan Ternant, and Steve Bruce signed him up for £2.85 million. Robertson was still raw, but he was talented, and most importantly he had a real willingness to learn and improve.
After three seasons at Hull City, Jurgen Klopp took a flyer on the Scottish international for an initial £8 million plus a future £4 million. What a bargain that has proved to be, and Robertson has come on leaps and bounds yet again at Anfield. He’s now 5’10”, 25 years old, a Champions League winner and one of the best left-backs in the world.
3. Harry Kane
You’ve got to laugh, really, haven’t you? 6’2” England talisman Harry Kane, who would be the focal point of just about any forward line, was released by Arsenal at the age of 9 and told he was too small. Following an unsuccessful trial at Tottenham and a fruitless six-week trial at Watford, Spurs took a second look at Kane when he was just 11 and decided to give him a chance.
Even at 20, following four uninspiring loan moves, little was expected of Harry Kane at the highest level. One thing that ties all these players together though is an unbelievable appetite to succeed and to learn, and even his earliest coaches testify that Kane had that in abundance. A shortage of options up front forced Tottenham to give Kane a chance, and he grabbed it with both hands.
He’s scored 159 goals in 227 games since the start of the 2014-15 season, becoming one of the finest centre-forwards in the world. What’s more, Kane is a fantastic athlete. He’s not the quickest, but he’s big, strong, and he can run for days. Arsenal’s loss has certainly been Tottenham’s gain.
2. Joao Felix
According to the Portuguese and Spanish press, Atletico Madrid has anticipated all the competition and will pay 120 million to Benfica to have the Portuguese forward Joao Felix in the…
The most recent youth graduate and the youngest player in this seven, Joao Felix is just 19 years of age. He joined the Porto academy when he was 9 years old, and stuck around for six years, before being released due to his slight frame. Felix upped sticks and he and his slight frame headed three hours south to the city of Lisbon to sign for Benfica.
Four years on from his release at Porto, Felix was instrumental in helping Benfica win the Primeira Liga title as a teenager last season, in what was his first season in the first team. Felix scored 20 goals in 43 games in all competitions, adding a Nations League trophy as a full international with Portugal in the summer, and he’s now being valued at £105 million.
Felix is still built like a boy, and he might benefit from building up his strength, but he’s so good it hardly matters. He’s a world class prospect, and although Benfica most likely won’t be able to hang on to him much longer, their faith in the youngster will most likely pocket them one of the biggest transfer fees in the history of the game.
0. Honourable Mentions
There are honestly far, far too many players for us to mention even a fraction of them here, and I’m sure all of you watching can think of an example of a player your club either rejected for being too small, or was able to pick up for free since another club had done so.
I will mention Manchester United full-back Luke Shaw, who was rejected by Chelsea due to his size, and is now a 6’1” England international who Southampton sold for £30 million. Everton midfielder Bernard was rejected twice by Atletico Mineiro for being too small, before they finally took a chance on him. Their willingness to do so saw them turn a €25 million profit when they sold him to Shakhtar Donetsk. In fairness, Bernard is absolutely tiny, and he’s still only 5’5”, but he’s a great little technician and he’s won 14 caps for Brazil.
Borussia Dortmund star Marco Reus was originally released by his hometown club due to his size, meaning they ended up having to buy him for €17.1 million from Borussia Monchengladbach. Reus has always been a resilient character, and he’s had to be, coming back for multiple injuries after some have written him off, and he did that again with an incredible campaign this season. Fellow wide man Riyad Mahrez was rejected by a number of teams in France who said he was either too slim, too small or both. He had to take the long route starting out at AAS Sarcelles, an amateur club in a poor suburb of Paris with a large number of African immigrants. The cream always rises to the top though, and like his fellow former ‘too small’ Leicester team mate Jamie Vardy, Mahrez really made his mark when the Foxes won the Premier League.
We could go on with players like Charlie Austin, Sam Clucas and Dean Windass, but we’ll leave it there for now. You get the point, it happens a lot, and here’s one more case for good measure.
1. Roy Keane
Roy Keane, Assistant Manager of Nottingham Forest looks on prior to the Sky Bet Championship match between Sheffield United and Nottingham Forest at Bramall Lane on April 19, 2019 in…
The oldest inclusion in this seven, Roy Keane has to feature here, since he typifies the mental strength, resilience and determination required to make it in football that all these players share. Keane was involved in both football and boxing as a child in Ireland, and he was named as Rockmount youth teams Player of the Year as a youngster. Despite that, whilst a number of his team mates were offered trials in England, Keane was not.
The message then, as it had been when he went for international trials in Dublin, was that Keane was simply too short. Undeterred, he finally convinced semi-pro side Cobh Ramblers to take a chance on him. So determined was Keane to prove himself that he’d often play for both the clubs first team and youth team in the same week, sometimes on the same weekend. He was eventually spotted by a scout at Nottingham Forest and he was finally invited to his first trial in England.
Brian Clough liked what he saw, and Keane was signed for £47,000. Three years later, a 21-year-old Keane made the PFA Team of the Year and joined Manchester United for a British record £3.75 million. He spent the next 12 years at Manchester United, setting the standard at that club as they won seven Premier League titles and ten other trophies, becoming the dominant force in the English game. The single most important footballer of the Premier League era being rejected for being too small should have ended the nonsense. Sadly, it didn’t.
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