Andy Robertson and Harry Maguire have become a Champions League winner and most expensive defender in the world respectively, but it was Chuba Akpom that Steve Bruce expected to be “great” during his time at Hull City.
The qualities of an energetic left-back and commanding centre-half were clear for all to see, but those at the KCOM Stadium expected a frontman on loan from Arsenal to become the brightest star.
That judgement has proved to be slightly misguided, with Akpom having been allowed to leave Emirates Stadium in the summer of 2018.
He is now on the books of Greek champions PAOK Salonika, but has not progressed as Bruce expected.
In contrast, Scottish defender Robertson is now starring for Premier League leaders Liverpool while Englishman Maguire is an £80 million ($98m) asset at Manchester United – with both senior internationals.
“As a manager, there is nothing better than seeing a player you worked with fulfil their potential. You have helped take them forward,” Bruce, who is now in charge of Newcastle, told The Athletic.
“I can’t say I saw the two lads becoming a European Cup winner or the most expensive defender in the world. No one could have said that.
“In fact, you can’t predict how things will work out for a lot of promising young lads. I remember taking Chuba Akpom from Arsenal (in 2015). I thought he had everything to be a great player. But, unfortunately, his career started to drift. He is playing in Greece now. For the champions, admittedly, but I saw so much more ahead for him.
“That is the thing with young players. You never quite know.
“But the thing with both Harry and Andy is they wanted to do well. They had a huge desire to be the best they could. They were both really grounded, too. A nice humility about them.
“I had a brief word with both lads after playing against us this season at Newcastle. Andy also invited me to Anfield last season to watch Liverpool against Napoli in the Champions League from his box. That was very kind of him.”
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It has also been revealed that Hull passed up the opportunity to add another future superstar to their books in the form of a £75m ($97m) centre-half at Liverpool who could lift the Ballon d’Or for 2019.
Hull’s head of recruitment, Stan Ternent, said having helped Bruce to land Robertson and Maguire: “There was one game where I flew up to Inverness on a Saturday morning to watch this defender,”
“I watched the Celtic game and called Steve afterwards. I said I just didn’t know about this lad I’d gone to watch because he never broke a sweat all afternoon but still played well. He was clearly a talent but we already had Michael Dawson. Plus, we didn’t have a bottomless pit of money at Hull so, in the end, we didn’t do anything.
“The defender was Virgil van Dijk.”
