With the 2019/20 season in suspension, it’s time to check out who are the 5 most disappointing football players we’ve seen.
Living up to expectation is never an easy thing, especially when you’re a world-class football player. Fans expect a lot, namely in leading their clubs to success. It creates a huge pile of pressure to deliver for the first time of asking.
This burden is even greater for those who arrived on big-money deals from elsewhere. So immediate success is necessary. If not, the pressure will only grow and likely lead to poor performances. These circumstances can end a player’s career prospects in an instant.
So, without further ado, we give you the Top 5 football players who have disappointed the most this season.
Joao Felix
It’s been far from the fairytale beginning Atletico Madrid fans hoped to see from Felix. With Antoine Griezmann gone, they hoped he would serve as a ready-made replacement right away. Just four goals in 20 La Liga games wasn’t what they imagined, though.
Being billed as the next Ronaldo and the club-record €126m price tag has clearly placed an unfair burden on Felix. He’s only 20, yet is expected to deliver right away for Atletico. But the youngster looks short of the physical demands of Diego Simeone’s team.
And while the talent is still very much alive, injury problems have prevented him from fully exploiting them. We can only hope a clean slate next season will give Felix his big break in Madrid.
Krzysztof Piatek
Just last year, Piatek was on everybody’s minds following a sensational start at Genoa. An equally impressive beginning came at AC Milan, leading the San Siro faithful to hope for a brighter future.
The Polish striker took over the iconic #9 jersey, prompting talk of him becoming the successor to club legend Andriy Shevchenko.
But Piatek suffered a huge dip in form at the beginning of this season. He scored just four goals in 18 Serie A games for the struggling Rossoneri. Therefore, they re-signed Zlatan Ibrahimovic in January to turn things around.
The Swedish football player’s return, however, led to Piatek leaving for Hertha Berlin in a €24m deal.
The 24-year-old has since scored twice for his new club in seven appearances, with one of those goals coming in the Bundesliga.
Luka Jovic
The Serbian football player impressed immensely for Eintracht Frankfurt last season by bagging 27 goals in 48 games. 10 of them came in the Europa League, including two against Chelsea. It prompted huge interest from some of Europe’s biggest clubs.
Jovic ultimately chose a dream €60m transfer to Real Madrid last summer. The idea was to give Karim Benzema some badly needed competition upfront. But he’s struggled to do that this season, even with the Frenchman’s scoring woes.
Instead, Jovic has scored a mere two goals in 24 appearances in all competitions. Although he has only started eight times under Zinedine Zidane, so perhaps it’s a little harsh to judge too much on that stat alone.
Lorenzo Insigne
Napoli’s struggles this season have seemingly affected one of their best football players Insigne, who’s not been as efficient upfront.
The Italian winger only has five goals and assists to his name in the Serie A. While his on-pitch displays have been somewhat off, having gone on a 12-match goalless run. He didn’t so much as contribute an assist as Napoli fell down the table.
Although Insigne’s recent performances have improved under new coach Gennaro Gattuso. Two goals and one assist in his last six league games doesn’t say much, but it’s still an improvement. Hopefully, he’ll keep this trend going once the football season resumes.
Eden Hazard
Upon completing his dream transfer to Real Madrid last summer, Hazard held high hopes for this season. He wasn’t the only one either, with most of the club supporters hoping he would fill Cristiano Ronaldo’s shoes. But that is easier said than done.
And Hazard found that one out the hard way, although perhaps by no fault of his own. He’s barely played because of injury and confessed he was out of shape in the beginning of this campaign.
It’s unlikely the Belgian, who cost Real Madrid €100m, will feature anymore after suffering an ankle problem last month.