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After ten months of action, we’re literally days away from the end of the 2017/18 Premier League season. It’s been an eventful one – we’ve seen Manchester City storm to the league title, Stoke City and West Bromwich Albion relegated to the Championship, and Mohamed Salah score an incredible 43 goals in all competitions for Liverpool.
It hasn’t been great for a handful of other players, though. Whether it’s been down to injuries, lack of form or a clash with management, the following 5 players will probably want to forget 2017/18 as quickly as possible and move on with their careers – hopefully regaining some lost momentum in the process.
#1: Tiemoue Bakayoko
Most of Chelsea’s signings in the summer of 2017 have struggled to an extent this season, but none have had as torrid a time as Frenchman Tiemoue Bakayoko. Signed from Monaco for a fee of around £40m, Bakayoko was expected to fill the role of defensive midfielder vacated by Nemanja Matic, who was sold to Manchester United. Instead, the French international has simply looked miles off the pace most of the time and has been one of the Blues’ worst performers.
Making 28 appearances in the Premier League, Bakayoko has never looked likely to live up to his lofty price tag. His average rating of 6.93 on WhoScored.com is the second-lowest of any outfield player making more than 25 league appearances for Chelsea, and highlight reels of his various mistakes and misplaced passes can be consistently found littering social media.
Undoubtedly, his nadir came in February when he was sent off in a match against Watford for two bookable offences in just 30 minutes. It was a truly shocking display.
Some people – including former French international Robert Pires – have suggested Bakayoko could come good in time, as he’s only 23 years old and took some time to really establish himself at Monaco. But whether he’ll be given that much patience at Chelsea is another thing entirely. Either way, 2017/18 has been a season to forget for the midfielder.
#2: Renato Sanches
After suffering a torrid time at Bayern Munich in his first season with the German champions, 2017/18 was supposed to be the season in which Portuguese wonderkid Renato Sanches rebuilt his career and re-established himself as one of Europe’s hottest prospects. Instead, after essentially wasting a season on loan at strugglers Swansea City, Sanches’ reputation has never been lower.
The winner of Euro 2016’s Young Player of the Tournament award, Sanches’ move to South Wales was always a curious one, but on the surface, it appeared to make sense. He’d be hooking up with a manager in Paul Clement who had plenty of links to Bayern, the loan move gave Swansea no option to buy, and due to the Swans’ relatively low profile, it felt like a low-pressure situation for the Portuguese attacker.
Unfortunately for Sanches, he never displayed anything close to his Euro 2016 form while wearing a Swansea shirt. He ended up starting just 9 Premier League games for the Swans and was even substituted at half-time in a match against Chelsea after playing a simple pass into the advertising boards. Things didn’t get any better for Sanches when Clement was sacked in December and replaced with countryman Carlos Carvalhal either, as just weeks later he picked up a hamstring injury in an FA Cup tie with Notts County.
The injury saw him sent back to Portugal and then Bayern in an attempt to rehabilitate, and while he’s returned to Swansea since, he still hasn’t featured in a game. Not only will Sanches want to forget his diabolical 2017/18 season, but he’ll probably be keeping his fingers crossed that another club even want to take a shot on him in 2018/19 as he looks to rebuild his career.
#3: Jese Rodriguez
When Stoke City goalkeeper Jack Butland publically criticised the club’s transfer policy following their relegation this weekend, one could be forgiven for thinking that a lot of his words were aimed towards striker Jese Rodriguez, who was signed on loan in the summer from Paris St. Germain. The former Real Madrid striker was expected to fire the goals in for the Potters, but instead, he suffered a terrible time at the bet365 Stadium and isn’t expected to return.
Surprisingly enough he actually started well – scoring the winner in an August victory over Arsenal – but that was as good as it got. Looking at the statistics alone paints a damning picture – just 13 appearances in the Premier League, 8 of them starts, and just 1 goal is a diabolical return for any striker, but Jese has had problems that go beyond just misfiring in front of goal.
Firstly there was the incident in December that saw him go AWOL – that was resolved when the club granted him compassionate leave to visit his prematurely born son. The same situation reared its head again in March – only this time Jese didn’t return when he was supposed to, triggering Stoke to grant him leave until the end of the season, essentially terminating the loan deal.
Sandwiched between those incidents was also the ludicrous situation that saw him argue with teammate and regular penalty taker Charlie Adam over who would take a spot-kick against Brighton (Adam eventually missed), an incident which caused dressing room friction.
In no uncertain terms, Jese has had a nightmare 2017/18 season and he’ll be hoping that wherever he surfaces next, it goes better than his brief tenure at Stoke.
#4: Daniel Sturridge
Once considered the best English striker in the Premier League, Daniel Sturridge struggled throughout 2016/17 as his style didn’t seem to mesh with the type of football that Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp seemed to want to play. He made just 7 Premier League starts that season and only delivered 3 goals – his lowest return since moving to Anfield in 2012.
It seemed like a move was a no-brainer for Sturridge in 2017/18, and sure enough, in the January 2018 transfer window he received it – a loan move to struggling West Brom. Unfortunately, rather than score the goals to save his new club, Sturridge has suffered even more bad luck. On just his third appearance for the Baggies in a game against Chelsea, he was forced out after just 4 minutes with a serious hamstring injury.
The England striker has since returned to action, but he’s only managed 2 appearances and 21 minutes of football, and unsurprisingly he has yet to find the back of the net for the now-relegated Albion. Sturridge has always had a chequered record when it comes to injuries but it could be argued that 2017/18 represents his worst season yet – recent reports have suggested he’s cost West Brom around £50,000 a minute since moving to the Hawthorns.
With any ideas of an England recall for the World Cup now a distant dream, Sturridge will probably look for another loan move to attempt to rebuild his career in 2018/19. He’s clearly got the talent but whether he can manage to stay injury-free is a major question mark.
#5: Grzegorz Krychowiak
When West Brom captured the signing of Polish international Grzegorz Krychowiak on loan from Paris St. Germain in the summer, it was supposed to represent one of the best deals done from one of the Premier League’s smaller clubs. After all, Krychowiak was only a year removed from a £34m move to PSG, and while that move had gone horribly wrong – he made just 11 appearances and manager Unai Emery questioned his abilities – he was still considered a hugely talented player.
Sadly, the Pole has never come close to living up to his billing. He looked promising in his debut against Brighton but since then it’s simply been a downhill slide for the former Sevilla player, as he’s only made 19 starts for the Baggies as they’ve slipped down the table, eventually being relegated this week. His debut saw him attempt 59 passes, but he hasn’t reached that total since and has largely appeared disinterested for most of his tenure.
Some writers have looked to blame West Brom’s general negativity for his poor performances, suggesting he would’ve performed better in a more attacking-centred side, but when you consider West Brom have had four managers this season – Tony Pulis, Gary Megson, Alan Pardew and Darren Moore – and none have been convinced by the Pole, then there’s something clearly wrong.
Where Krychowiak will end up next season is anyone’s guess, but the likelihood of any club spending something close to the fee that PSG once paid for him is laughable after his performances at West Brom. At 28 years old he should be in the prime of his career, but instead, 2018/19 will have to be a total rebuilding period for him.
