Players with the steepest declines

[Zehner]

Kaka - known story

Arshavin - looked immense when he joined Arsenal and I thought he'll be exellent for them but after all he was quite underwhelming

Torres - known story

Diego - looked like a future world beater for Bremen. Was absolutely sure he'd be among the best in the world sooner than later when he left but he never showed his quality after that

van der Vaart - similar to Diego really but a bit less extreme

Fabregas - was perceived as the greatest Spanish talent in ages and was brillant for Arsenal, then average for Barca and nowhere near the former player for Chelsea. He declined aged 20 something.

Götze - he can still turn it around but from being one of the best players in the world already as an U20 player to a decent Bundesliga player at 24+ is an extreme case



Some others from the top of my mind: Sahin, Kagawa, Thomas Müller, Adriano, Pato

 

[Josep Dowling]

Mhkiterian, looked very good in the Bundesliga and now can’t get a game for Arsenal.

Had his moments with us but wasn’t consistent enough.

 

[Josep Dowling]

A lot of shouts in here are for players who hit 30+ and then their form declined. I think that is a bit unfair because of course a player's form is going to drop once he reaches a certain age.

Are there any examples besides Rooney and Ronaldinho of a player having a steep decline in his 20s?

Pablo Aimar? I always thought he was destined for big things when he was at Valencia. Next minute he was playing for Benfica.

 

[montpelier]

an old Utd one

Gordon Hill

also a hilarious pun - .

 

[RochaRoja]

David Bentley went from the next Beckham and £15m player (back when that meant something) to washed up nobody loaned out to the Championship and Russia almost overnight.

 

[SadlerMUFC]

I still don't understand how people can make judgments on players like Sanchez and call him shite. Please save your judgment. All that we have to compare him to is his time under Mourinho where everyone was horrible. Let the guy get a few games in first and then make judgment...

 

[Charles Miller]

David Bentley went from the next Beckham and £15m player (back when that meant something) to washed up nobody loaned out to the Championship and Russia almost overnight.

*Lord Bentley.

 

[RedRonaldo]

His decline coincided with his father dying. There was a good article about him on the BBC.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/article/81bd6a47-38f7-4087-a666-e07e25e1988b

Didn’t know that, thought he was a party animal which result in his decline. Could be both though. I mean, Ronaldo father death didn’t stop him becoming best in the world.

 

[Javi]

Jesé Rodriguez after Kolasinac tore his ACL.

 

[Basa1987]

Dani Guiza probably merits a mention. Top scorer in La Liga, won a European championship and then disappeared off to Turkey.

 

[ravi2]

Fernando Redondo for me

 

[KTP_ZA]

Haven't read the whole thread but anyone mentioned Hleb yet?

Arsenal to Barcelona, won the treble there then ended up on loan at Birmingham and then buggered off to Russia/Belarus/Turkey I think.

 

[Wittmann45]

Wesley Sneijder - He probably should have won the Ballon D'or in 2010 with his performances for Inter and at the 2010 WC, but he was not even in the final three nominees, which is an injustice. Almost transferred to United and then I think he had a number of injury problems the next season. He performed well at the 2014 WC, but that was only after years of steady decline. He was great fun to watch, but he simply couldn't keep up his early Inter form

Roberto Soldado

Fernando Llorente

 

[the_irish123]

Has to be Ronaldinho because he never had any structural injury. Dude was the best in the world in Summer 2006 and in Fall 2006 he was like a top25 player at most. Kind of like if the Monstars sucked the skill out of him.

The other players usually have an injury to justify it.

 

[Enigma_87]

Fernando Redondo for me

It was due to injuries that practically ended his career. He played dozen of matches or so after that.

 

[red4ever 79]

I still don't understand how people can make judgments on players like Sanchez and call him shite. Please save your judgment. All that we have to compare him to is his time under Mourinho where everyone was horrible. Let the guy get a few games in first and then make judgment...

You do realize that Sanchez was also very poor in his last 6 months for Arsenal. So that is now 18months of really poor play.

 

[Escape Goat]

Andy Carroll.

Adriano for Inter Milan - was unstoppable by any team. Would score goals from absolutely anywhere - I watch some of his videos to this day.

Wasn't that because he turned to the sauce big time after his father died?

 

[Hound Dog]

Has to be Ronaldinho because he never had any structural injury. Dude was the best in the world in Summer 2006 and in Fall 2006 he was like a top25 player at most. Kind of like if the Monstars sucked the skill out of him.

The other players usually have an injury to justify it.

It was not that he lost skill, he lost interest to keep himself in peak physical condition

I first saw this photo in late 2006.

 

[Escape Goat]

Not sure whether these declined, or whether they were simply overhyped and got found out:

1. Gourcuff(?), young midfielder for Milan who was the next big thing. He's now at Dijon apparently.

2. The Cissé fella, Lord of Frodsham. He was banging them in in France, but then got Liverpooled.

 

[TheLord]

Nobody can match Andriy Mykolayovych Shevchenko in this regard.

Widely considered to be the most prolific goalscorer in Europe with 120+ goals for Milan, Ballon d'Or winner only a season before his move to Chelsea and then the most disastrous decline in the history of English football.

He scored only around 10 goals in his Chelsea career. And all that without a major debilitating injury.

I don't think there's a steeper decline in football.

 

[roonster09]

Nobody can match Andriy Mykolayovych Shevchenko in this regard.

Widely considered to be the most prolific goalscorer in Europe with 120+ goals for Milan, Ballon d'Or winner only a season before his move to Chelsea and then the most disastrous decline in the history of English football.

He scored only around 10 goals in his Chelsea career. And all that without a major debilitating injury.

I don't think there's a steeper decline in football.

Yeah, think he is remembered more for his goal line clearance vs us than his goals for Chelsea.

 

[antihenry]

Andy Carroll.

I thought you were supposed to be good at some point for your career to decline.

 

[ravi2]

I thought you were supposed to be good at some point for your career to decline.

daaamn!

 

[1950]

Victor Ikpeba. Wasn't a prolific scorer, but a very versatile forward who did very well in France. Won the league with Monaco and the African Footballer of the Year award in 1997. Moved to Dortmund in 1999 to score 2 goals in his first season. Fell out with Sammer and that was that. He was finished as a top level footballer before turning 27.

 

[United58]

Has to be Adriano

From one of the best upcoming star player, to a shite player overnight, without even reaching his peak years.

Apparently he had a lot of mental health problems when his dad died when he was 22

 

[Schweigaard]

Steven Gerrard lost his legs after the 08/09 season (I believe he was 28 years old at the time?) - was never the same energetic marvel after that. Still a good player, but not top 5 in the league like he was for many seasons in a row before that.

But if I had to pick one of our players it'd have to be Harry Kewell.

2 players who were both world class at Liverpool they signed for RM and became mediocre:
Steve McManaman
Michael Owen

McManaman was great for Real Madrid. I don't think you'll find many Real Madrid fans who agree with you here.​

 

[rcoobc]

Steven Gerrard lost his legs after the 08/09 season (I believe he was 28 years old at the time?) - was never the same energetic marvel after that. Still a good player, but not top 5 in the league like he was for many seasons in a row before that.

Wasn't that in 2014

 

[JPRouve]

M'vila. IIRC Rennes were fed up with his attitude, sent him to Russia and his career was over.

 

[Schneckerl]

Tomas Brolin was only 24 years old during the 1994 WC and I remember him being fat and useless shortly after that in the Premier League.

 

[pacifictheme]

Not sure if posted but Nani. Jes only 32 but has been in football journeyman mode for about 5 years it seems. Was unbelirvable in his best yeqrs for us.

 

[Patrick08]

Mario gotze?

 

[Rasendori]

The Barca fans I know in real life, have wanted him gone since Neymar left.

 

[Hughes35]

Has Ivanovic from Chelsea been mentioned?

One of the best defenders in the PL area for many years and then one year he just turned into a disaster.

 

[Gopher Brown]

I should imagine there is a fairly strong connection between a steep decline and being heralded as a potential world beater when these players were teenagers. It’s like footballers bodies have a distance limit. If you’re in the first team at 17/18 you’re less likely to be playing a 35. Then again, players like James Milner and Giggsy were regulars at 17/18 and are/were still good in their mid thirties.

 

[RochaRoja]

2. The Cissé fella, Lord of Frodsham. He was banging them in in France, but then got Liverpooled.

He broke one leg a few months after arriving at Liverpool, was played as a right winger by Rafa the following season (where he scored a lot of goals but never seemed to be trusted) and then broke the other leg in a pre-WC friendly.

Both his leg breaks were pretty awful. Incredibly unlucky to have two injuries like this in less than two years.

Spoiler

 

[Tommy]

Man, spoiler that injury picture Others will thank you for it.

 

[RochaRoja]

McManaman was great for Real Madrid. I don't think you'll find many Real Madrid fans who agree with you here.

Yeah, Macca turned from a quality midfielder for one of the top clubs in Europe into a total waste of space for a pre-relevance City overnight.

 

[RochaRoja]

Has to be Ronaldinho because he never had any structural injury. Dude was the best in the world in Summer 2006 and in Fall 2006 he was like a top25 player at most. Kind of like if the Monstars sucked the skill out of him.

The other players usually have an injury to justify it.

Ronaldinho did decline in 2006-07 but it wasn’t that rapid. He actually scored some of his most iconic goals during that season and it just seemed like he was going through a ropey period of form.

2007-08 was when he really looked finished at the top level.

 

[pascell]

Adriano from Inter, looked like he had everything and then went to nothing after his dad died, poor fella.

 

[FootballHQ]

Alvaro Negredo. Solid scoring record in Spain then he had that incredible half season at Man. City when he seemed to score every game. Then got injured and possibly loaned back to Spain but within two years of that he was playing upfront for Boro.