Talented Bouzoukis hoping to avoid award trap
Last season, Giannis Bouzoukis was named the Young Player of the Year by the Panhellenic Professional Football Players Association (PSAP), but the award has somewhat of a curse attached to it.
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Following the completion of each season, the winner of the Young Player of the Year Award is chosen by the PSAP, but few have since gone on to have particularly good careers. Let’s take a closer look at the winners of the prize since the 2009/2010 campaign and how they have all subsequently fared:
2009/2010: Sotiris Ninis (Panathinaikos)
Ninis’ fall from grace was quite incredible. When he burst onto the scene at Panathinaikos as a teenager, many expected the gifted attacking midfielder to enjoy a long, successful career at the top level, but the exact opposite happened. Despite his wonderful talent and technical skills, Ninis didn’t even come close to realising his huge potential, as he endured miserable spells at Parma, PAOK, Charleroi, Mechelen, Maccabi Petah-Tikva and Hapoel Ashkelon after leaving Panathinaikos in 2012. In November 2014, Ninis returned to Panathinaikos as a free agent, but he ended up leaving just over a year later. Several injury issues certainly played their part in his rapid downfall.
He has been without a club since departing Ashkelon in the summer of 2019.
2010/2011: Giannis Fetfatzidis (Olympiacos)
Luckily for Fetfatzidis, who starred for Aris during the 2019/2020 Super League regular season, he was able to save his career from going down the pan. After catching the eye at Olympiacos, the winger was snapped up by Genoa for four million euros in September 2013, but he didn’t manage to display his potential and was loaned to Chievo Verona before moving to Saudi Arabia with Al Ahli. In July 2018, his grand return to Greece with Olympiacos did not meet expectations, but he is now shining in Thessaloniki with Aris.
2011/2012: Panagiotis Vlachodimos (Xanthi)
The fact that Vlachodimos, 28, is now playing in the third tier of German football suggests that the early reports of him being Greece’s answer to Cristiano Ronaldo were rather far fetched, if not ridiculous.
Vlachodimos initially made great progress with Xanthi in the 2011/2012 campaign as he registered three goals and three assists. Impressed with his ability, Olympiacos immediately took him to Piraeus, but the left winger wasn’t up to the task and moved to Augsburg a year later. The brother of Odisseas Vlachodimos, the Benfica star, is now playing with Grossaspach in the third division in Germany following poor spells at Platanias, Ergotelis, Nimes and Panathinaikos.
2012/2013: Ergys Kace (PAOK)
Although he was born in Albania, Kace has played in Greece for virtually the whole of his career so far, moving only to the Czech Republic as a loanee with Viktoria Plzen between August and December of 2016. While he didn’t materialise into a top-class midfielder, Kace is a reliable player in the middle of the park, and he’s been a solid figure for AE Larissa this season on loan from PAOK. A product of the PAOK youth system, Kace has never played for another club on a permanent basis.
2013/2014: Dimitris Kolovos (Panionios)
A career ruined by injuries. Following his recall from Panionios in 2015, Kolovos couldn’t make an impression with Olympiacos in the ensuing season, and he was promptly shifted out on loan to Mechelen in July 2016. Unfortunately for the winger, he failed to gain any momentum in Belgium, with injuries regularly preventing him from showing his ability. Kolovos is now struggling at Panathinaikos after moving to the Athenians from Omonoia last summer.
2014/2015 - 2015/2016: Charis Charisis (PAS Giannina - PAOK)
Charisis made the jump from Ioannina to Thessaloniki in July 2015, where he continued progressing before gradually falling out of favour during the 2016/2017 campaign. As a consequence, the midfielder was loaned to Sint Truiden and then Kortrijk in Belgium, but he didn’t impress the PAOK management and formally left the Dikefalos tou Vorra last July. He has been solid for Atromitos in the 2019/2020 season after joining on a free transfer.
2016/2017: Panagiotis Retsos (Bayer Leverkusen)
The young defender, born in South Africa, was signed by Bayer Leverkusen for 17.5 million after breaking into the senior Olympiacos team and producing assured displays. In his first season in Germany, Retsos competed well and reportedly attracted the attention of Barcelona, but several serious injuries spoiled his development. The 21-year-old moved on loan to Sheffield United in January in a bid to get back on track.
2017/2018: Anastasios Douvikas (Asteras Tripolis)
The development of the striker has stalled this season. Across the entire 2019/2020 campaign, Douvikas has only participated in a grand total of two games, and it has become increasingly apparent that the 20-year-old striker needs to leave Tripoli in order to take his game to the next level. Douvikas tallied one goal and two assists for Asteras in the previous season.
2018/2019: Giannis Bouzoukis (Panathinaikos)
Bouzoukis has dropped off the boil after a promising 2018/2019 season. Gifted with superb technical skills, Bouzoukis protects possession well and picks out killer passes, but he struggled for form during the current campaign. The 22-year-old attacking midfielder, a key member of the under 21 Greek national team, needs to prove his worth again after only scoring one goal and dishing out one assist in the 2019/2020 Super League.
