Football is a cruel game. While it possesses the ability to lift you from the depths of despair it is also a game in which reputations that took several seasons to build are destroyed in a matter of months. Sometimes, it is the saturation of the players as an individual, their inability to deal with the responsibility of being a superstar or something just not clicking whether it be the chemistry or the fit in the side.
Many footballers have gone from being a hero one season to being just another average footballer within a matter of months. However, there are some footballers who have gone from being the best in the business for several years to being an often ridiculed entity.
In this segment, we take a look at five superstars (current and former) who were brought back to earth in a matter of months.
#1 Andriy Shevchenko
The former Ukranian forward made a name for himself whilst at Dynamo Kyiv as he put several experienced defenders to the sword with his abilities in front of the goal. He was instrumental to his side winning the Ukranian Premier League for five consecutive seasons as he found the back of the net 94 times in 166 appearances as he along with Serhiy Rebrov helped his side to the Champions League semi-final in 1999.
Having won everything there was at Kyiv, it was time the forward found a greater challenge and that opportunity arrived when AC Milan came calling. Shevchenko, took to the rugged Serie A like a fish takes to the water and instantly enhanced his growing reputation as the best in the business. In the 260 games that he featured in for the Milan club, he scored 173 goals and was undoubtedly the best in the business.
Given his now established superstardom, Chelsea, who were keen to reach the top of both English as well as European football under the ownership of Roman Abramovich decided to pay a princely sum of £30.8 million to bring the best striker in the world to the club so as to strengthen their attacking resources. What followed would not make for sound reading if you happen to be a Chelsea fan.
The Ukranian failed to adapt to the faster and more physical Premier League and soon found himself on the bench more often than not despite the efforts of Abramovic to ensure he played more often. He scored a meagre 22 goals in 76 appearances for the Blues and was soon shipped to his former club AC Milan in a bid to help resurrect his career which was spiralling downwards at a rapid pace.
Post his move to Milan, it appeared that Shevchenko had failed to shake off the effects of a failed stint in West London and never truly got back to his best ever again, that despite being one of the best players in the Ukranian league in his second stint with his former club Dynamo Kyiv.
#2 Adriano
When Adriano first broke into the footballing limelight, he was believed to be the heir apparent to the great Brazilian striker Ronaldo. The striker possessed great skill on the ball, had very good close control, could get past the most seasoned of defenders with ease and most importantly knew where the back of the net was.
Having caught numerous eyes during his time at Flamengo, the former Brazilian international was snapped up by the then formidable Inter Milan in the summer of 2001. However, with a rich plethora of talent already available at the San Siro, Adriano spent three seasons on loan which included one year at Fiorentino and three years at Parma, where he further enhanced his reputation.
When he returned to the Inter set up in January of 2004, there was no denying the fact that he was amongst the best in the business. He scored goals for fun, as he found the back of the net 28 times across all competitions in the 2004-05 season and also became a mainstay with the Brazilian national team.
With the player still relatively young, a lot was expected of him, especially with the FIFA World Cup 2016 approaching. However, what the fans of Inter and the Brazilian national team were meted out was simply disappointment as Adriano’s troubled personal life came to the fore.
He was reprimanded regularly by the Nerazzurri hierarchy for being disinterested about playing football and his partying habit proved to be detrimental to his career as he was soon benched by both club and country for his indiscipline.
Adriano’s career has now become a lesson every young footballer is taught for it was his off the field antics that truly made the once world beater seem like another average footballer in a matter of months.
#3 Fernando Torres
It would be fair to say that very few players in the Premier League era possessed the elegance that Fernando Torres did. Torres was on the verge of being a world-class striker when he arrived at the Merseyside to sign for Liverpool in the summer of 2007. After all, during his time with the senior side of his childhood club Atletico Madrid, the blonde-haired hitman had shown great technical ability on the ball and a vision that very few attackers in the game possessed.
His performances in the first season provided enough evidence as to why the then Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez made him the subject of the highest ever transfer fee the club had ever paid for a player. He left defenders clicking their heels, scored some wonderful goals and instantly formed a devastating partnership with Steven Gerrard to make Liverpool a unit to be feared.
He scored 33 goals in his first season at Merseyside and was the fastest to reach the 50 goals mark for the club and despite missing out on the Premier League trophy narrowly, was undeniably the best striker in the Premier League when fit. With great performances in the league also comes great attention from the likes of Roman Abramovic's Chelsea and Torres was identified as an asset they could not forego signing, whatever the cost be.
The Spaniard signed for Chelsea on the final day of the Winter transfer window in 2011 in what was then the highest fees ever paid by a British club – £50 Million. However, the move that promised a lot failed to reap the rich rewards as Torres instantly became human again. He missed glorious chances, seemed off the pace and soon became a constant source of jokes on the internet.
Yes, he did score some very important goals during his time at Chelsea. However, he was never again the same feared professional that he was at Liverpool and the move to West London proved to be the catalyst for his downfall.
#4 Michael Owen
Michael Owen might be a constant source of jokes for the internet at the moment. However, there was a time when he was as devastating as a striker can get. He was quick, possessed the vision to create time and space for himself in and around the box and more often than not found the back of the net with his incisiveness.
The very fact that he found the back of the net 158 times in 297 appearances speak volumes about his abilities as a striker and it did not come as a surprise to many when he walked away with the prestigious Ballon d’Or award in 2001 ahead of the likes of Raul, Olver Kahn, Zinedine Zidane and Luis Figo.
The Englishman scored goals for fun and was tipped to be the leading figure to guide the Liverpool side to the Premier League trophy. That was until doubts began creeping up inside the mind of the feared striker about the ambitions of his club.
After all, the side had not come close to winning the Premier League title during his time at the club and could not be counted upon as an elite football club. With Real Madrid’s Galactico project underway, Owen forced a move to the Spanish capital and that we believe was the start of a downward spiral that very few footballers have experienced as he went from being one of the most feared strikers in football to another striker whose career went downwards after a wrong move.
Yes, he was still capable of scoring some wonderful goals and found the back of the net for Real Madrid and his subsequent club Newcastle United, his career never quite reached the heights as constant injuries mean he was never quite the same. Since leaving Liverpool he managed to score just 64 goals, before hanging up his boots to concentrate on life after football.
#5 Wayne Rooney
The enigma that was Wayne Rooney never failed to entertain us during his early days as a footballer. Rooney was a name discussed with great aplomb amongst the Everton faithful as he had shown great abilities as a youngster and was deemed to be the future of the club. A young Rooney was ferocious yet talented and it did not take a long time for him to etch himself in the memoirs of football fans worldwide when he scored a last-minute winner against a dominant Arsenal side in October 2002.
While he did enjoy some more great months at Everton, it was only after he moved to Manchester United in 2004 that Wayne was identified as someone who was ready to take the footballing world by the storm. Rooney scored 17 goals in his debut season with the Red Devils and it was increasingly evident that he had established himself as a fan favourite with his performances as his name was constantly the subject of chants by the United fans.
Cut to the present and a look at Wayne Rooney’s current situation suggests that things have taken a sudden dip for the captain. In the last two seasons, while Rooney has featured 80 times for the Red Devils, many of his appearances have been from the bench and inconsequential matches.
Add to that the fact that he is no longer his side’s leading striker and you could understand why Rooney might want to seek a move away from the Manchester club. However, it is not easy as it sounds, courtesy of David Moyes, who offered Rooney a massive wage package in 2014 that has now made him a problem child that nobody wants to have on their hand.
The former England skipper was once a feared striker who could turn a game on its head within a matter of seconds and was talked about in the same tone as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo (He actually beat Cristiano to the Golden Boy award in 2004). Now, he is another footballer approaching the end of his career and suffering a crisis of immense proportions.
