Players who fell from grace almost overnight

[antsmithmk]

OK so with Torres officially gone from Chelsea now, I would like to hear of other players who had similar sudden drops in form and ability...

So just to set the scene... Fernando Torres was perhaps the best striker in the premier league for at least two seasons. Every time united played Liverpool and Torres played, he seemed to make Vidic look like a pub league player. More than once Vidic got sent off hauling Torres down when he had shot past him. He went from that, via £50 million, to missing open goals for Chelsea. Yes you can drag out the odd goal, but on the whole his time at Chelsea made him look like 10% of the player he was at Liverpool.

Who else springs to mind?

 

[JUPITER]

Kagawa? No quite as sensational a fall as Torres, and of course we (predictably) played him out of position, but compared to how he was at Dortmund it's certainly a dramatic fall.

 

[Rado_N]

OK so with Torres officially gone from Chelsea now, I would like to hear of other players who had similar sudden drops in form and ability...

So just to set the scene... Fernando Torres was perhaps the best striker in the premier league for at least two seasons. Every time united played Liverpool and Torres played, he seemed to make Vidic look like a pub league player. More than once Vidic got sent off hauling Torres down when he had shot past him. He went from that, via £50 million, to missing open goals for Chelsea. Yes you can drag out the odd goal, but on the whole his time at Chelsea made him look like 10% of the player he was at Liverpool.

Who else springs to mind?

He'd turned shit before he left LFC, that transfer fee was one of, if not the, most mental in memory.

 

[peterstorey]

Morientes was shockingly poor in the PL, having been shit hot in La Liga /CL.

 

[shivab]

shevchenko

 

[sizzling sausages]

He'd turned shit before he left LFC, that transfer fee was one of, if not the, most mental in memory.

Yep, a lot of people seem to forget that he was shit at the WC and for the first half of that season at Liverpool, the two goals against Chelsea aside.

 

[El Zoido]

On the subject of Chelsea strikers, Shevchenko had a pretty quick fall from grace once he moved there.

Also Pato, though I don't know if it counts that injuries hampered his career?

 

[Hernandez - BFA]

Kaka.
Fellaini.

 

[Chorley1974]

Two Year loan for Torres wtf?

 

[Theafonis]

Maicon.

 

[MikeUpNorth]

David Seaman seemed to turn from reliable keeper to a walking calamity pretty suddenly.

 

[RORY65]

I remember seeing Thomas Brolin at Palace when I was 5 or 6, he was utterly useless and massively overweight. I didn't appreciate that he was only 28 and had been one of the best players in the world just a few years previously.

 

[Piratesoup]

Adriano
Marko Marin
Alexandre Pato
Denilson

 

[Invictus]

Ronaldinho unfortunately. The most electrifying player I've ever seen and was truly majestic from 2002 to around 2007. By the time Guardiola became Barcelona's manager, Ronaldinho was already washed up when he could've been a pillar of their second great team in succession. Was it the infamous party-style, perpetual lack of fitness or his apparent distaste for working hard on the craft in the later years ? Dunno. But he should've been in his peak at 27-28 years old. Instead he went on a downward spiral and never quite found the magic touch at Milan, Flamengo or Mineiro apart from a a few flashes in 2008/ 2009.

He's not the only Brazilian that peaked way too early and spontaneously combusted BTW. The same goes for Kaka, Adriano, Denilson, Robinho, even Ronaldo before he turned it around in style at the 2002 World Cup.

PS : IMO Ozil is heading in the wrong direction too which is rather sad because he's one of my favorite oppo player. He tailed off towards the end of last season, was quite pedestrian at the world cup and hasn't had a strong start to the season. If he doesn't revover and fast, it wouldn't been unrealistic to see his national teams spot swallowed whole by Germany's excellent new generation.

 

[Moby]

Ronaldinho?

Edit : Invictus beat me to it.

 

[Damien]

He'd turned shit before he left LFC, that transfer fee was one of, if not the, most mental in memory.

Yep. Here's the transfer thread at the time with most acknowledging he was crap at Liverpool, and you laughed at the transfer fee. Effectively £35m + Sturridge - or Sturridge, Suarez and a few mill... Liverpool were laughing all the way to the bank with that

Sucks to be either club at the moment. Torres will be 27 shortly and his valuation will probably go nowhere but down in the future. His brand is greater than his performance these days.

Would be a good move for all concerned. Would Give the scousers the money they desperately need. Would give the player a clean start at a new club especially considering how he doesn' seem to be arsed with Liverpool any more, and would give Chelsea a new striker to be the fulcrum of their side.

Let's be honest with his injury record and recent sketchy form - he isn't worth 50 million.

Infact, if they spend 50 million I'd rather it be on Torres, then say an Aguero or equally good attacking midfielder.

As a United fan I'm really hoping this doesn't happen.

Torres with a taste for blood (a title challenge) which he could get at Chelsea would see the same player we saw 2 years ago especially with quality players around him again.

Liverpool on the otherhand don't need a luxury player right now, they need investment in genuine quality throughout the team, something they can't afford to do right now. £50m in their hands now without Benitez to piss it away on 17 Spanish fringe players could see them really strengthen.

Hopefully the Scouse are stupid enough not to sell.

£50m would strenghten their team drastically. Torres doesn't have the players behind him right now to be the sort of threat we know he is capable of being.

Torres is twice the player Aguero is.

I am gonna stick my neck out and say that not only will we not sell torres, we will also sign Suarez.

You may hail me as your messiah when the prophecy comes true.




Or at least hail me as a prophet. That would be ok too. As long as there is hailing.

Torres won't go and Suarez won't sign, I am the true messiah.

£60m for Torres?! feck me, surely nobody is that daft?!

He's gone now. Hey ho, wish he'd left before the 15 games early in the season that he played utter, utter sh*t. At least Ngog would have scored 3/4 more goals in those games.

New transfer rules coming in this summer right? So Chelsea are up against it to get this deal through now and not then. So £60 million will be the starting price and if its no deal then he can go to City in the summer for more. Obviously they'll find a way to get over the transfer rules, obscene money usually does.

 

[Piratesoup]

To be fair, it always seemed obvious to me that Kaka's drop in form was mostly down to injuries. His body was ravaged already when he joined Real.

 

[royboy16]

shevchenko

Yeah,Sheva was devastating for Milan and disaster for Chelsea.

Kaka

 

[C'est Moi Cantona]

Arshavin
Aquiliani
Santa Cruz

 

[royboy16]

Diouf
runs away

 

[sizzling sausages]

Hleb was very good for Arsenal in the 2007-08 season, only to join Barca and never be heard of again.

 

[MUFC07]

Verón? He never showed his true football here, at Chelsea and Inter. Dramatic fall and sudden rise again with Estudiantes (won the Libertadores with Sabella as head coach, I also remember they almost beat Pep's Barça at the CWC).

 

[dumbo]

Anelka, Bojan, Gourcuff, Reyes. Mata when Mourinho arrived. Expect him to recover though.

 

[montpelier]

Seaman - the mystery for me, is no one seemed to notice did they?

Veron - another mystery, great player (but not in England, obv)

Owen - after the WC injury, wasn't it?

 

[sizzling sausages]

I think Valencia's a good example, too. Got POTY for us in 2012 and then deservedly got the number 7 for the start of the next season, but since then has been in a constant state of pants shitting. Don't think there was any injuries in between either like there was for a lot of the players mentioned.

 

[LR7]

Kaka.
Fellaini.

Fellaini's fall was certainly not from grace.

 

[fontaine]

Kaka sucked for Madrid but he still was class for NT in that 08-2010 period

 

[montpelier]

How about

One week you're Captain of Manchester United and then the next you're not anymore.

= R Keane obviously

''better to burn out than fade away'' - Neil Young

 

[B20]

Anelka, Bojan, Gourcuff, Reyes. Mata when Mourinho arrived. Expect him to recover though.

Quite short fall for Bojan and Gourcuff.

 

[montpelier]

Garry Birtles won 2 European Cups at Nottingham Forest.

Couldn't have found his own arse using both hands at Utd.

 

[DeMono]

Quaresma, although he declined to a slow excruciating death.

So feckin sad..

 

[Spoony]

Was Torres just a flash in the pan? His record for Athletico wasn't mind blowing and his Spain record is average at best His first two seasons at Liverpool were impressive but seems to have been the exception rather than the rule.

The first names that come to my mind are Harry Kewell, I saw a best goals in the PL show the other day and virtually every 5th goal from 1996-2003 seemed to be Harry Kewell for Leeds. Michael Owen is another obvious one.

Des Walker is one I've heard about. Here's Paul Doyle writing about him in the Guardian: Joy of Six


Des Walker


Few players emerged from the wreckage of England's Euro 92 campaign with any credit, but Des Walker strode out of it with trademark elegance. While all around him were losing their heads and reputations, the Nottingham Forest centre-back remained unflappable and confirmed the impression that here was the most gifted English defender of his generation. He was only 26 and would surely be a linchpin for years to come. Then he went to Italy, where great defenders tended to get even better, and inexplicably lost it. At Sampdoria Sven Goran-Eriksson tended to play him at left-back but that cannot explain why his performances for his country dipped deeply, and so quickly.



His England downfall began in a World Cup qualifier at Wembley in April 1993, when Marc Overmars left him lumbering like a lead-footed oaf and all Walker could muster by way of response was a clumsy tackle that gave Holland a penalty. That was embarrassing for a player for whom pace had always been a key characteristic, but Overmars was exceptionally fast too so no one was writing Walker off just yet.



He looked alarmingly out of his depth in the next match against Poland, however, floundering in a comically confused way for Dariusz Adamczuk's goal. Similar ineptitude followed against Norway and though he did win a couple more caps in worthless matches, his international career was effectively over. Walker made his last appearance for England at the age of 27, when centre-backs are usually coming into their prime. Though he continued to play for Sheffield Wednesday, Terry Venables emphasised just how far Walker had fallen by ignoring him while deploying centre-backs such as Neil Ruddock, John Scales, Colin Cooper, David Unsworth. And Steve Howey.

I'm sure he lost pace as a result of an injury. Was a cracking defender in his Forest days though.

 

[fontaine]

What about Krasic? He had a great season at Juventus, then was shit again

 

[Invictus]

Err a few prominent example I could think of apart from Ronaldinho.

Patrick Kluivert : Was exceptional at Ajax, one of the best young talents of his generation. Abysmal at Milan, transferred to Barcelona where he was good but not great and completely went bust upon his arrival at Newcastle aged just 28.

Freddy Adu aka 'the next Pele' : Early phenom who became the youngest player to sign a pro contact in American sports history. Had a trial wth United, was linked to a move with us, Internazionale and others. Disappointing at Benfica and a whole host of clubs and now plays at FK Jagodina in Serbia.

Sebastian Deisler : Evidently more talented than even Ballack and Germany's greatest midfielder since Matthaus. Suffered from chronic injuries/ depression and never fulfilled his tremendous potential.

Robbie Fowler : What exactly happened there ? Was a bit too young to watch his prime days at Liverpool but I'm told he was the bomb. Moved to Leeds and City before completely falling off the radar. Eerily similar to Michael Owen.

Also Alan Smith, Lee Sharpe, Jonathan Woodgate, Paul Gascoigne and Georgie Best for varied reasons.

 

[matherto]

Liverpool have a history with strikers doing this.

Before Torres, they had Owen and Fowler. You could also argue Heskey after his first season there when he scored 22 goals, off the back of a promising start to his career as a beast for Leicester City.

I doubt Suarez will do the same mind.

Patrick Kluivert : Was exceptional at Ajax, one of the best young talents of his generation. Abysmal at Milan, transferred to Barcelona where he was good but not great and completely went bust upon his arrival at Newcastle aged just 28.

Kluivert is a really odd one. Without looking at his stats you'd swear he still scored loads for Barça but then he never once scored 20 goals in the league, a bit like Owen in that respect.

 

[Oo0AahCantona]

Michael owen springs to mind. one of the elite level youth striker talents in world football, and within a few years due to injury/lack of mental strength/whatever completely nose dives to blandness.

 

[peterstorey]

There is the theory that players have 8-10 years at the top. Hence the likes of Owen, Rooney and Fabregas are done by 26 and Drogba, Lampard et al carry on to 35 (and Giggs is a phenomenon)

 

[Ole's_toe_poke]

Hence the Owen, Rooney and Fabregas are done by 26

You have a funny definition of "done".

Why were you recommending Arsene to sign Cesc over the summer then?

 

[duffer]

Des Walker was excellent for pretty much his whole career. Ask any Sheffield Wednesday fan and they'll have him as one of their best ever centre backs.

 

[peterstorey]

You have a funny definition of "done".

Why were you recommending Arsene to sign Cesc over the summer then?

Rooney's been in decline for years (pace went at about 24), Wenger thinks Cesc is a busted flush.