Top players who bounced back from a two (or more) year decline in form

[giorno]

Iirc VdS's problem was declining eyesight and his refusal to admit to it. Once he did and started wearing contact lenses he went back to being an excellent gk

Dzeko is a great shout. Fairly disappointing in his last season at city, in his first season at roma he was so hilariously bad he became a meme. And then turned back into one of the best strikers in the world

 

[Josh 76]

Mo Salah

 

[MrMarcello]

Veron

World class at Lazio, subpar with short spells of brilliance at United, crocked at Chelsea, then class for Inter and Estudiantes.

 

[hellhunter]

Isnt Thomas Müller showing something similar? He was really rather average the last couple of years but seems he found his groove again big time this season.

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

Lingard in the future? Still young and talented enough to turn it around.

 

[Gio]

You’ll struggle to find any examples of players who have hit their peak, eventually declined and then have returned to the peak of their powers. A couple of examples where a player has not adapted to a new league but found a more natural home sonewhere else (such as @KirkDuyt’s Bergkamp shout). To me that’s more about the environment rather than the player. Or where someone such as Scholes has reinvented themselves as a different player. But again that’s partly because the environment has changed (3-man midfields, hole where Keane patrolled). Once the vast majority of players lose it, it’s gone.

 

[MrEleson]

On a lesser scale; Benzema.

He was relatively poor from 2016-2018 - recording 11 & 5 league goals respectively on their road to consecutive CL triumphs. Now since Ronaldo has left, he has grown immensely and is arguably Real’s more important player as they have no replacement for him.

 

[Robertd0803]

Carrick was abysmal after the CL final in Rome for about 18 months. Was back to himself then until we played Barca again at Wembley. Thankfully he was great in 12/13.

*Edit* just read the thread title properly oops.