5 players looking to rebuild their careers in 2018/19 after serious injuries

2017/18 has been a breakout season for a lot of players. The likes of Mohamed Salah, Nick Pope, and Trent Alexander-Arnold have seen themselves become household names thanks to some tremendous performances for their clubs and going into 2018/19 there’s no doubt that they’ll want to continue their upward trajectory.

For some players, though, 2017/18 has been a season to forget about. Plenty have had poor performances but for these five players, injuries have been to blame for the derailing of their season. All five had high hopes for good performances but now, they’ll simply be looking to regain their momentum in 2018/19.

Here are 5 players who will be looking to bounce back in 2018/19.

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#1: Nathaniel Chalobah

Nathaniel Chalobah's bright start at Watford was curtailed by a fractured kneecap

When Nathaniel Chalobah chose to move to Watford last summer – for a bizarre cut-price fee of just £5m – rather than stay at Chelsea and attempt to make his way into a crowded first team, it seemed like perhaps the best move of his young career. Always highly rated by observers of youth football, Chalobah was finally set to get a chance to show what he was capable of at the top level.

The defensive midfielder started his season in fine form, appearing in all 5 of Watford’s opening fixtures as his side picked up 8 points, losing just once to eventual champions Manchester City, and his performances saw him called up to the England senior side by manager Gareth Southgate for September’s games against Malta and Slovakia.

Unfortunately, disaster then struck. In mid-September, Chalobah was sidelined with a knee injury, which ended up being diagnosed as a fractured kneecap. And since then he hasn’t kicked another ball as he’s now been on the shelf for 8 months, meaning his World Cup chances are done and dusted.

When he returns, he’ll find Watford to be a slightly different place – largely because the manager who signed him, Marco Silva, has been fired and replaced by Javi Gracia. Regardless, the Spanish boss is likely to relish the chance to work with such a tremendous prospect, and hopefully, Chalobah can pick things up where he left off by performing well for the Hornets – and earn his place in the England squad back in the process.

#2: Izzy Brown

Izzy Brown's loan move to Brighton was ruined by a torn ACL

Alongside Tammy Abraham and Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Chelsea youngster Izzy Brown was looking to become a successful member of the Blues’ Premier League ‘Loan Army’ in 2017/18. After a successful loan period at Huddersfield in the latter stages of 2016/17 that saw him score 4 goals, he ended up moving in another loan to newly promoted Brighton and Hove Albion – despite supposed interest from Huddersfield in making his move permanent.

Upon arriving at Brighton, Brown picked up an injury in his new side’s first game of the season, and when he returned in October he struggled to establish himself in the Seagulls’ first 11 as boss Chris Hughton seemed to prefer using the likes of Glenn Murray and Jose Izquierdo in their attack. But he was still getting plenty of game time as a substitute before he suffered a knee injury in a January FA Cup tie with Crystal Palace.

Unfortunately for Brown, the injury was diagnosed as a full tear of the anterior cruciate ligament, and immediately it was announced that he’d be sidelined for the remainder of the season. Following the injury, the England U-20 international moved back to his parent club in order to begin rehabilitation – and where he goes next is a question mark.

With Brighton managing to avoid relegation, another loan move to the Amex Stadium could possibly work for the attacker – he’s clearly got a lot of talent and would offer the Seagulls another attacking option without costing them a lot of money. But with this kind of injury behind him, it could be the case that Chelsea will want to offload him for good – meaning other clubs might look at him. Wherever he goes, he’ll be looking to restart his career in 2018/19.

#3: Harry Winks

Harry Winks' ankle injury has forced him onto the sidelines

2017 was a massive breakthrough year for Tottenham youngster Harry Winks, as he made 21 appearances in the Premier League in 2016/17 and then broke through into the England side to star in their final World Cup qualifier against Lithuania last October. It looked like the sky was the limit for the cultured midfielder – particularly when he produced the best performance of his career in Spurs’ 3-1 Champions League victory over Real Madrid in November.

Sadly for Winks though, it’s largely all been downhill since then. The midfielder picked up a niggling ankle injury in his first post-Madrid game against Crystal Palace and despite trying to play through it, the injury ended up sidelining him as 2017 became 2018. Since then he’s only made a handful of appearances – all in FA Cup ties – and in those games, he was clearly struggling.

The cup replay against Rochdale in late February in particular saw Winks have a torrid time, as he appeared to be miles off the pace and just didn’t display the usual tight control and excellent passing range that he had done prior to the injury. And since then, he hasn’t made another appearance for Spurs as he recently traveled to Qatar to seek expert advice on how to recover from the ankle injury.

With his World Cup dreams now in tatters, Winks will undoubtedly be looking forward to 2018/19 to regain his momentum. Thankfully for the England international, Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino remains a huge admirer of his talents and he’ll likely be afforded plenty of time to return to form. When he does, it’ll be a huge boon for Tottenham’s chances in next year’s Premier League.

#4: Benjamin Mendy

Benjamin Mendy has recently returned from a torn ACL at Manchester City

When Pep Guardiola expressed a wish to upgrade his full-backs at Manchester City last summer, he immediately made Tottenham’s Kyle Walker the world’s most expensive defender by spending £50m on the right-back. Just 10 days later that record was broken when Guardiola paid £52m to Monaco to bring French left-back Benjamin Mendy to the Etihad. But while Walker has had a tremendous season, Mendy’s has been wrecked by injury.

The Frenchman started the season brightly, appearing in City’s first 4 Premier League games as well as their opening Champions League fixture against Feyenoord, and his impact was immediately felt as he assisted in a Leroy Sane goal against Liverpool and helped City to keep 3 clean sheets. But in his 4th league game against Crystal Palace, he injured his knee badly in a challenge with Andros Townsend – an injury confirmed to be a ruptured anterior cruciate ligament.

The initial prognosis was that Mendy would be out for the remainder of 2017/18 – a massive blow to Guardiola, who was then forced to use Fabien Delph as a makeshift left-back for the majority of the rest of City’s season – but after months of rehab the Frenchman was able to make his return for City’s recent games against Huddersfield and Brighton, albeit appearing as a substitute in both.

Mendy is now reportedly eyeing a place in France’s World Cup squad but with so few games under his belt this season that’s probably an unlikely target for him. Assuming he does miss the World Cup then 2018/19 will be a pivotal season for him, as he looks to rebuild his Manchester City career and re-establish himself as Guardiola’s first-choice left-back.

#5: Ross Barkley

Ross Barkley has struggled to kickstart his Chelsea career

The case of England international Ross Barkley is perhaps the most bizarre story of 2017/18 when it comes to players who have been sidelined. Beginning the season at Everton, Barkley was largely frozen out by then-boss Ronald Koeman as he refused to sign a new contract and made his intention to move to another club clear. As the season started, though, he picked up a serious hamstring injury and then surprisingly turned down a move to Chelsea.

The injury kept him out until January’s transfer window, where – in a strange turn of events – he finally made the move to Stamford Bridge, albeit for £20m less than the original fee of £35m that had been spoken about. The move was controversial and caused the Mayor of Liverpool to complain about “fraud”, although no wrongdoing was eventually found.

Since then though, Barkley has barely featured for his new club, bringing into question exactly why he moved in the first place. To date, he’s appeared three times for the Blues – with only one of those games being in the Premier League – and in February he picked up another hamstring injury that kept him on the sidelines for another period.

Whether Barkley can rebuild his career at Stamford Bridge is anyone’s guess, but with Antonio Conte reportedly on his way out of the club, 2018/19 could be his chance to impress a new manager and establish himself as a first-team player. Considering he was once considered the “new Paul Gascoigne” then he clearly has the talent to do so. To say next season will be pivotal for him would be an understatement.