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Professional footballers in Europe are some of the highest-paid athletes in the world. Top-tier football clubs don't mind shelling out tens or hundreds of millions in order to secure the services of a player who they believe can improve their squad.
In the modern world where social media has taken charge of our lives, optics matter a lot. There's intense scrutiny over every word that's spoken. Because players and their agents get the same level of access to fans as the coaches and club spokespeople do, player power reigns supreme and always needs to be checked.
Otherwise, players could just come out and undermine their club or their managers. Any football team, institution or entity will try to steer clear of such controversies. But in case such a thing happens, players need to be put in their place. Discipline is very important to team building.
At times, managers will need to put their foot down and if a player undermines the club, they need to take action. We've seen plenty of such instances in recent times.
Without further ado, let's take a look at five high-profile players who have been disciplined by managers this season.
#5 Michael Obafemi (Swansea City)
Republic of Ireland and Swansea City star Michael Obafemi was dropped from his club's squad earlier this season. The youngster has started just one Championship game all season and manager Russell Martin urged the 21-year-old to improve his off-the-field behavior.
Obafemi joined Swansea City from Southampton in the summer and his lack of form and disciplinary issues have rendered him a peripheral figure at his new club. Swans' boss Martin discussed Obafemi's lack of involvement back in November.
"Michael understands why he’s not in the squad. He agrees that he shouldn’t be in the squad. It’s nothing major.
"We’re here to try and improve players. It’s such a strong group culturally. We spend a lot of time talking and he understands he needs to be better in a few aspects to become the player he wants to become and to become the person he wants to become.
"We have to really try and help him to get there. Too often in football you’re expected to sign someone, a young man on a good contract, then just play football — it’s not the case.
Martins then shifted focus to the reason behind Obafemi's omission.
"He needs more support from us, he’ll get it and he’ll become the player we think he can be and he wants to be. But there are certain things you have to make sure you do to be in the squad.’
"You have to behave every day like what you are – a professional footballer. He’s done nothing major but there’s stuff we need to help him with. It’s just a few disciplinary things in terms of the way we train, time-keeping and it does matter unfortunately."
Since those comments, Obafemi has featured thrice for the Welsh outfit and he has come off the bench on all three occasions.
#4 and #3 Phil Foden and Jack Grealish (Manchester City)
Manchester City thumped Leeds United 7-0 in December. Phil Foden opened the scoring for Pep Guardiola's men as early as the eighth minute. Jack Grealish added their second just five minutes later. After the game, Foden and Grealish decided to go out to a nightclub to have a little fun.
But they reportedly showed up in a poor state for the next morning's recovery session. This led to Foden and Grealish being omitted from the lineup for Manchester City's subsequent game against Newcastle United.
The duo were unused substitutes and Guardiola had this to say about their omissions after the game.
“Not rotation, no. I decided for this team because they deserved to play today, these guys and not the other ones. At Christmas time I pay a lot of attention to behaviour on and off the pitch. And when off the pitch is not proper they are not going to play.
“So we have to be focussed all the time because of distractions at Christmas time and everything that happens - you have to still be focussed.”
#2 Pierre-Emerick Aubamayeng (Arsenal)
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was handed the captain's armband after it was taken off Granit Xhaka a little more than two years ago. Disciplinary action was taken against Xhaka in 2019 by Unai Emery after he reacted poorly to Arsenal fans as he was taken off during a 2-2 draw against Crystal Palace.
Aubameyang returned late from a sanctioned holiday in early December 2021 and the club released a statement informing everyone of the action they were going to take.
"Following his latest disciplinary breach last week, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will no longer be our club captain, and will not be considered for selection for Wednesday's match against West Ham United.
"We expect all our players, particularly our captain, to work to the rules and standards we have all set and agreed. We are fully focused on tomorrow's match."
Reports have suggested that Aubameyang was relieved of his duties as captain due to a string of disciplinary problems. Back in March 2021, he arrived late for a team meeting on the day of a North London derby against Tottenham.
Prior to that, Aubameyang was culpable of going to get a tattoo by breaching the Covid-19 protocols.
#1 Romelu Lukaku (Chelsea)
It's the talk of the town right now. It's one of those situations which cannot be spun positively no matter how you look at it. Romelu Lukaku joined Chelsea from Inter Milan this past summer for a club record €115 million. After getting off to a bright start, his form dipped and he was also sidelined with an injury.
The Belgian international was slowly reintegrated into the side as he returned from the sidelines and appeared to be getting back into form. But then a controversial interview with Sky Sports dropped and all hell broke loose.
Not only did Lukaku say he was not happy with the situation at Chelsea, he went on to suggest that Chelsea was his fifth-choice club.
"In my opinion, there are three absolute top teams in football - Real Madrid, Barcelona and Bayern Munich. Every player dreams of playing for one of these teams one day. So I thought if I ever had that possibility, I would sign a new contract with Inter and then go there.
"But it didn't happen, so I told myself that there is only one team where I could possibly see myself - Chelsea. I wasn't thinking about going there, but at one point they came in for me and so I asked [Inter boss Simone] Inzaghi to leave."
That's just the tip of the iceberg. Lukaku jabbered on about his admiration for Inter Milan and his desire to return to Italy. Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel was predictably unhappy with the player's behaviour. Tuchel dropped him from the Chelsea squad that took on Liverpool in a crucial encounter this past weekend.
