Around the same time that Lionel Messi cemented his status as a genuine superstar, two Barcelona youngsters were tipped to push the Argentine forward hard for the title of world’s best footballer over the forthcoming years.

One of them was Bojan Krkic, who’d scored over 900 goals in various levels of the club’s youth system, and the other was Giovani Dos Santos.

Dos Santos, a skilful left-footed winger who’d starred alongside Bojan in Barça’s youth ranks, possessed immense talent but failed to truly shine during his debut season in the first team.

He finished the 2007-08 campaign with four goals in 37 appearances - three of those coming on the final day of the season against Real Murcia - before he was offloaded to Tottenham following Pep Guardiola’s arrival.

Spurs had secured the services of an incredibly gifted young footballer and some fans thought they may have hit the jackpot.

However, Dos Santos failed to cut it at Spurs, at one point even spending time on loan at Ipswich Town in the Championship.

The Mexico international, who has earned over 100 caps for his country, then moved permanently to La Liga.

He spent a season with Mallorca before joining Villarreal, where he played arguably the best football of his career, scoring 18 goals in 74 matches.

Dos Santos has been with LA Galaxy since 2015

Then, in 2015, came the surprise news that Dos Santos was moving to the United States to become one of LA Galaxy’s Designated Players.

Now 28 years old, Dos Santos appears to be settled in Major League Soccer and is about to embark on his fourth season with the Galaxy.

What's just happened to Dos Santos is embarrassing

However, in rather embarrassing news, the winger has been voted the most overrated player in MLS.

This is according to ESPN, who asked 104 current MLS players during pre-season who they believe are the league’s most overrated and underrated players.

Dos Santos registered more votes than any other player in the overrated category, narrowly beating Toronto FC midfielder Michael Bradley.

It’s one thing being voted as overrated by fans, but by your fellow professionals? That’s just humiliating.

"He's a good player, but I think American media overhype him based on his past experience with Barcelona and Tottenham Hotspur instead of his MLS performances," an Eastern Conference player said of Dos Santos. "I think he's a player who sells a lot of tickets for the Galaxy because of the large Mexican community in L.A., but I don't think he has the same impact on the league as players like David Villa and Sebastian Giovinco."

Ouch.

It just shows how Dos Santos’s career has panned out.

He was supposed to be a world beater by now; instead, he can’t even impress his peers in America’s top division.