Players that have turned their career around from a decline

[lsd]

Gareth Bale. There was an ongoing joke on how Totenham Lose every time he plays. I even read posts on how we dodged a bullet when he signed for spurs instead of United and how stupid he was for doing that.

He didnt decline though he was just young adjusting to the premiership while bring played out of position

 

[2 man midfield]

It’s hard to know whether the decline was an actual decline if they do eventually manage to turn it round.

Look at Diego Forlan. Largely useless for United, amazing in La Liga. But he surely can’t have declined in his early 20s? It was just a poor run of form after playing in a new league. Maybe you’d have to take the players age into account?

 

[thepolice123]

Larsson

32 when he join Barca. Came on as an impact sub in the CL final and provided two assists for them.

Joined us at 34(?). Helped us kickstart our 06/07 campaign.

 

[fps]

A lot of these are just players for whom a particular move didn't work out. That's not necessarily a decline?

 

[Synco]

Edwin van der sar, was considered finished around start of 00s then juve sold him to fulham and rest of it everybody knows

That's who I first thought of as well.

 

[::sonny::]

Gareth Bale. There was an ongoing joke on how Totenham Lose every time he plays. I even read posts on how we dodged a bullet when he signed for spurs instead of United and how stupid he was for doing that.

I invented the term Gareth Fail

 

[paraguayo]

Torres after his huge decline actually became a decent player at Atletico.

 

[led_scholes]

Cantona. In a space of 3 years he was kicked out of Nimes, retired from football, had a "trial" at Sheffield Wednesday, won the league with Leeds and then became the King of England.

 

[Skills]

Milner after moving to pool

 

[el3mel]

Falcao, first name to jump to one's mind.

 

[Leonzo1]

Probably an unpopular opinion but Carrick got a lot of stick from the fans aroud 2010, Then went on to be our MVP for the 2013 championship. couple of rocky seasons after joining and then his best ever one 3 years before retiring.

 

[Wonder Pigeon]

After David Beckham announced his big move to the US he was dropped by Real Madrid for a bit and he was definitely in decline at that stage, he had never shown his best form for Madrid and they had won nothing while he was there. Capello said that he wouldn't be playing him again that season but he fought his way back into the team and got a couple of crucial goals to help Real win their first league title after a couple of their most batshit years.

 

[204Red]

Probably an unpopular opinion but Carrick got a lot of stick from the fans aroud 2010, Then went on to be our MVP for the 2013 championship. couple of rocky seasons after joining and then his best ever one 3 years before retiring.

Pretty sure RVP was the MVP of the 2013 title winning side


... but Carrick did have a decent year

 

[sajeev]

Van der Saar. From being one of the best modern keepers to failing at Juventus to having redeem himself at Fulham for 3 or seasons

 

[roonster09]

Tevez, at Juventus he looked like peak Tevez.

 

[Eriku]

Scholes and Giggs already mentioned but Beckham? He went off to the MLS but kept coming back to Europe playing pretty well for Milan and PSG

Becks’ last season at Real had him out of favour with Capello, but he fought his way back and became an important part of the team that won the league, iirc. I believe Capello wanted him to stay, but he had already done the deal with Galaxy, so I wouldn’t say he had a true decline that made him cross the pond. Rather he just fell out of favour.

 

[Siorac]

Ffs not another Lingard thread.

 

[RochaRoja]

Andy Cole - Goal machine at Newcastle but was considered a bit of a flop at United until the treble season.

Jaap Stam - Got himself a move to Milan where he became a regular after being dumped off to Lazio and being banned for taking nandrolone.

Thiago Silva

Silva was bought by Porto for €2.5 million in 2004,[10] but played only for the reserve team. After a year in Portugal, he joined Dynamo Moscow,[11] where he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and was hospitalised for six months.[12] His illness became much worse over time and his doctors told him that if he had been hospitalized two weeks later, he could have died.[13] During his recovery, Silva decided to retire from football but was persuaded to reconsider by his mother.[14]

 

[Eddy_JukeZ]

Pretty sure RVP was the MVP of the 2013 title winning side


... but Carrick did have a decent year

It was clearly RVP. One of the best individual seasons ever in the Prem. He doesn't get enough credit for that season IMO(that goal drought towards the end probably hampering his credit).

Almost every goal he scored won us a game or secured a tie.

We come nowhere close to the title without RVP that season.

His goals were pivotal in us securing the league.

 

[Needham]

Maradona under-performed at Barcelona, turned it all round at Napoli.

 

[GhastlyHun]

Does Sterling qualify?

 

[thepolice123]

It was clearly RVP. One of the best individual seasons ever in the Prem. He doesn't get enough credit for that season IMO(that goal drought towards the end probably hampering his credit).

Almost every goal he scored won us a game or secured a tie.

We come nowhere close to the title without RVP that season.

His goals were pivotal in us securing the league.

How is it clearly RVP? He was Arsenal's best player in his final season there.

 

[Siorac]

It was clearly RVP. One of the best individual seasons ever in the Prem. He doesn't get enough credit for that season IMO(that goal drought towards the end probably hampering his credit).

Almost every goal he scored won us a game or secured a tie.

We come nowhere close to the title without RVP that season.

His goals were pivotal in us securing the league.

Oh ffs, you can't go a day on the Caf without someone saying that Van Persie single-handedly won us that league title. If he gets any more credit, we'll start saying he faced teams of 11 all on his own.

 

[strongwalker]

Stefan Effenberg
Then he returned to Gladbach followed by his 2nd stint at Bayern 4 years later. He turned into one of the best 10s in Europe. He was the heart and brain of the legendary Bayern Team of the late 90s, early 2000s, winning the CL with Bayern during his peak.

Not untrue, but it says a lot about the amount of brain of that team. He's the German Gascoigne, really

 

[2mufc0]

Salah is doing alright after stagnating after his Chelsea move.

Forlan is another who flourished after leaving us.

 

[Eriku]

It was clearly RVP. One of the best individual seasons ever in the Prem. He doesn't get enough credit for that season IMO(that goal drought towards the end probably hampering his credit).

Almost every goal he scored won us a game or secured a tie.

We come nowhere close to the title without RVP that season.

His goals were pivotal in us securing the league.

Without Carrick we would never have won that title either. You can disagree but to say it was clearly RvP is to be far too dismissive of Carrick’s contribution.

How is it clearly RVP? He was Arsenal's best player in his final season there.

Read that again, he’s just countering the idea that Carrick was our MVP in the 12-13 season.

 

[a_devil_inside]

Van Der Sar was one of the first ones that came to mind.
Cazorla - there were talks of never walking again or having to get his leg amputated but overcame it and now plays for Villareal

 

[simplyared]

Jordan Hendersen's career has been revitalised since Klopp came to them Scousers.

 

[Champagne Football]

Bergkamp, Viera, Henry, Mark Hughes, Gary Cahill, Rooney, Joao Mourinho, Jaap Stam, Phil Neville, Wesley Sneijder

 

[Tom Cato]

Fernando Torres came back from Total Sanchez for Atletico Madrid and spent his final seasons being a useful squad player with the occasional highlight reel in Spain.

 

[SadlerMUFC]

Huth...he went from being a forgotten man and turned that around to become one of the first names on Leicester City's team sheet in their title winning season...

 

[fps]

Tevez, at Juventus he looked like peak Tevez.

Definitely, United didn't use him properly/ something went wrong in that second season. He was a top player with a lot more to give. The signing of Berbatov didn't help.

 

[roonster09]

Definitely, United didn't use him properly.

In the second season yeah, he also looked like done at top level at city (motivation, fitness issues) and then looked like completely new player at Juventus.

 

[fps]

In the second season yeah, he also looked like done at top level at city (motivation, fitness issues) and then looked like completely new player at Juventus.

Odd isn't it. Perhaps it's that proper Italian training Lukaku was referring to at Inter.

 

[Stacks]

Gareth Bale. There was an ongoing joke on how Totenham Lose every time he plays. I even read posts on how we dodged a bullet when he signed for spurs instead of United and how stupid he was for doing that.

It wasnt a joke, he genuinely held the record for most premier league games played without a win.

Gareth Bale never came back from a decline. What did he decline from? Spurs signed him when he was 18. His he moved from lowly Saints as a prospect and remained a prospect at Spurs until he developed. I think we have differing views of decline.

 

[shamans]

Gareth Bale never came back from a decline. What did he decline from? Spurs signed him when he was 18. His he moved from lowly Saints as a prospect and remained a prospect at Spurs until he developed. I think we have differing views of decline.

that's not how I viewed it. He had interest from a ton of big clubs at 18 and was talked of as the next big thing. Then his hype died down and a lot of people saw him as another hyped up British talent. He then went into full beast mode.

It wasn't a physical or technical decline but a "hype" decline for sure. People started doubting how good he was

 

[Stacks]

that's not how I viewed it. He had interest from a ton of big clubs at 18 and was talked of as the next big thing. Then his hype died down and a lot of people saw him as another hyped up British talent. He then went into full beast mode.

It wasn't a physical or technical decline but a "hype" decline for sure. People started doubting how good he was

To decline you have to have reached a height and his career was still in development mode. He joined them at 18 from a smaller club. He had never played at that level so he just fulfilled his promise a bit later than some would of liked

 

[hasanejaz88]

I was happy to see how well Klose played at Lazio after barely being used by Bayern and getting older. A nice end a then unfulfilled career with a Coppa Italia win and then a World Cup.

 

[KirkDuyt]

Ryan Babel.

 

[amolbhatia50k]

There appear to be no legitimate claims.