Johan Cruyff "compared" Sheffield Wednesday’s youngster to Van Basten - his career took another path | OneFootball

Ritchie Humphries has made the most appearances in Hartlepool United history...but could he have been set for bigger things?

Ritchie Humphreys managed to pack a lot of storylines into an action-packed career.

Many EFL fans know him as a Hartlepool United legend. Indeed, the 543 appearances he made for the Monkey Hangers during the 12 years he spent with the club between 2001 and 2013 are the most in the North East club's history.

He also falls under the curious catagory of being a striker in his youth, someone who wore number nine for England during the under-20s FIFA World Cup in 1997, but fell further back in terms of his position and played the majority of his career as a left-back.

But his main story all started in the Sheffield Wednesday academy, in a performance watched by Dutch footballing legend Marco van Basten, although stories would have you believe it was Johan Cruyff watching on, who would "compare" him to the former.

Ritchie Humphreys took plaudits from a Dutch footballing legend as a youth — but not Johan Cruyff

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Humphreys came through the academy at Sheffield Wednesday. However, the former full-back is actually a boyhood Sheffield United fan, and admitted in a 2016 interview that he was at the academy of the Owls' arch-rivals until he was 13.

Five years later, he was scouted and brought into Wednesday's youth sides. At that time, he was playing on the left wing. However, due to some injuries to David Hirst and Mark Bright, the then-teenage prospect was invited to a pre-season tour of the Netherlands with the first team.

Humphreys impressed in a game against Utrecht, and the story goes that footballing icon Johan Cruyff was in attendance and compared the 17-year-old to fellow Dutch legend Marco van Basten.

As it happens, that wasn't the case, as it was actually just van Basten in the ground, not Cruyff, and the former Ajax forward was likely just polite when asked a question about him.

"It was their open day, and Van Basten had been invited back," Humphreys told The Guardian in 2016. "I’m presuming a journalist said, ‘What about that Wednesday No9?’ and he politely said, ‘Oh yeah, he’s got a good future.’ I don’t think he said, ‘He’s the next Van Basten.’

"Somehow it ended up with Cruyff saying I was the new Van Basten. At Hartlepool we played West Ham in the League Cup. I can’t remember the year, and I got asked this question about Cruyff said this and Van Basten said that.

"I told them exactly what I thought happened, and they didn’t print that. They printed what they wanted. It’ll be there forever now.”

Ritchie Humphreys' time at Sheffield Wednesday was not as falsely promised

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The then-17-year-old may not have been the next van Basten, but the way he began his time in the Premier League with Sheffield Wednesday had you believe he could have been.

In the 1996/97 top-flight campaign, Humphreys netted three in his first four games in wins against Aston Villa, Leeds United and Leicester City. It was a run of wins which had the Owls, quite shockingly, top of the Premier League.

He didn't score again in the league that season, but it was that promise which earned him that call-up to the under-20s World Cup for England. He only played 24 minutes in their group stage games, but started the eventual Round of 16 exit against Argentina alongside the likes of Michael Owen and Jamie Carragher.

Unfortunately, Humphreys couldn't rediscover any of that form, and Wednesday brought in the likes of Paulo Di Canio, who replaced him up top. He had loan spells at the likes of Scunthorpe United and Cardiff City before leaving in 2001 to pursue first-team opportunities.

Ritchie Humphreys would become a Hartlepool legend after leaving Sheffield Wednesday

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Humphreys initially went on trial at Cambridge United in the 2000/01 campaign, but had his trial period cut short after breaking his foot. Upon his return from injury, then-Hartlepool boss and former Wednesday goalkeeper Chris Turner gave him the chance to sign for them.

From that moment on, the Monkey Hangers and Humphreys would become interlinked with each other, through the good and the bad. The then-striker missed the decisive penalty kick against Cheltenham Town in the Division 3 play-offs in 2002, before netting 11 the following year to secure automatic promotion to the third tier.

The following two seasons, Humphreys would be ever-present as Hartlepool finished inside the top six in the final old Division 2 and the first-ever League One campaign. Those sixth-placed finishes still stand as the highest in their EFL history.

Unfortunately, they fell in the semi-finals to Bristol City, and then, after redeeming himself from the spot in the semi-final shootout in 2005 against Tranmere Rovers, Humphreys lost to his former club

https://footballleagueworld.co.uk/tag/sheffield-wednesday/Sheffield Wednesday in the final.

Hartlepool could never replicate those highs, but Humphreys stayed consistent with the club. He stuck around after they were relegated to League Two, helped them back to the third tier on the first attempt, and then maintained his place in the squad for another six years until the club were relegated again in 2013.

With the club letting him go at the end of his contract, he departed having made a club-record 543 appearances spanning time as a striker, winger and full-back.

Maybe not Marco van Basten, but Ritchie Humphreys was a very successful EFL footballer

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Humphreys' career never even got out of League One after his flurry in the Premier League with Sheffield Wednesday, but there's something to be said about a player being a consistently good option for one level for a decade, and the former Hartlepool man was just that.

The 48-year-old was named Hartlepool's player of the year on three separate occasions, as well as their player of the decade for the 2000s. He was given the North East League player of the year in 2006 and was a two-time PFA team of the year member, too.

He even played well into his late 30s, too, leaving Hartlepool at age 35 and making 81 appearances for Chesterfield afterwards, being a key part of the Spireites side that won League Two and came runners-up in the EFL Trophy in the 2013/14 campaign.

In a way, the seemingly false claims to be the 'next van Basten,' while funny to look back on, perhaps masked a very successful career for Humphreys. He may have never carved out a top-flight career, but at League One and League Two level, there were few better.