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Premier League houses a handful of the biggest clubs in Europe. Consequently, these clubs are always trying to outshine one another and channel all their resources into assembling the best players available.
As a result, the importance of transfer windows cannot be understated. In the inflated market that exists now, players are being sold and purchased for whopping amounts of money. But investing a lot of money on a player is a gamble of sorts.
On that note, let's take a look at 5 Premier League players who flattered to deceive this season:
#5 Wayne Rooney- Everton
After making the move to Everton from Manchester United, Wayne Rooney started off on a bright note for the Toffees but his contributions dwindled to a trickle as the season progressed.
He scored on his second debut for Everton and then followed that up with another goal against Manchester City, nine days later. Later in November, Rooney scored a hat-trick, which included a stunner from inside his own half, against West Ham United.
It looked like Wayne Rooney had enough fire in him to buoy this dull Everton side forward. But ever since, Rooney has been drawing blanks. Though he equalled Frank Lampard's number of assists and became the player with the third highest number of assists in the Premier League, Rooney hasn't had much else to show.
Everton will hope that Wayne Rooney will get back to his best early on in the next season.
#4 Xherdan Shaqiri- Stoke City
Shaqiri's career has spiralled out of control now. From winning the treble with Bayern Munich not less than half a decade ago to getting relegated with Stoke City, I guess it's safe to say that Shaqiri's journey has been a rare one.
It's the quality of players like Shaqiri that kept Stoke a feature in the Premier League for a decade and with that gravely lacking, there was only one way the Potters were going.
But more than his performances on the pitch, it was his behaviour off of it that leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. Back in March when Stoke City were heavily involved in the relegation battle and still had a chance, Shaqiri spoke to Swiss magazine Schweizer Illustrierte and said that there was a 'lack of quality' in the side.
Shaqiri has all of 8 goals and 7 assists in the season and while it's not a bad return, that's simply not the kind of level a player of Shaqiri's quality should be operating at. He couldn't inspire Stoke to stay in the Premier League.
Shaqiri scored just once in the last 10 games of the season when Stoke were going through their worse phase in the season which eventually culminated in them getting relegated.
#3 Davy Klaassen- Everton
When Everton signed Davy Klaassen in the summer, people that it was a coup. He was Ajax's captain after all. Already experienced and a mature presence on the pitch, Klaassen looked every bit the kind of inspired signing who was already good but had so much room to improve.
Johan Cruyff had compared him to the likes of Toni Kroos and Xavi! But here he is in the Premier League, written off and ostracized owing to the sheer lack of quality he put on display when he was asked to put in a shift.
Klaassen just couldn't up his pace and was often caught in the middle not knowing what to do with the ball at his feet. Premier League can hit you like a sack of stones sometimes and Klaassen is a good example of it.
So many expectations were riding on Klaassen when he first arrived and in those couple of months before the season kicked off when Everton's summer business was still considered a success.
Anyway, at the end of the campaign, Davy Klaassen has started just 3 games in the Premier League and has come off the bench on 4 other occasions. Klaassen just seems too set in his ways to evolve and he might not have a lot of time left at Goodison Park.
#2 Alexandre Lacazette- Arsenal
Not saying that Lacazette had a terrible season, but a player for whom Arsenal broke the bank, he should really have not faded out of relevance halfway through the season. Lacazette came to Arsenal on the back of a sensational season at Olympique Lyonnais where he scored 28 goals in 30 games in the Ligue 1.
Lacazette scored on his debut but couldn't keep it up or evolve into a menacing presence in the box to follow it up. Eventually, as he grew more and more ineffective, he started seeing his opportunities coming at a premium.
Perhaps Lacazette's inability to become the striker Arsenal wanted him to be is best evidenced by the fact that the Gunners went ahead and gave an arm and a leg to buy Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang from Borussia Dortmund.
Lacazette has signed off on a high and has shown some really positive signs, playing alongside Aubameyang but it came long after Arsenal had lost all hopes of accomplishing anything worthwhile this season.
But for the initial glossing up and the fervour that followed, Lacazette failed to live up to his price tag and the hype.
#1 Alvaro Morata- Chelsea
Alvaro Morata had a great start to life at Chelsea after making the switch from Real Madrid. He scored and assisted on his Premier League debut. Later in September, Morata scored a spectacular hattrick and it looked like Chelsea had put their money on the right player.
He was still being looked at as a good signing when he scored the lone goal in Chelsea's 1-0 win over Manchester United at Stamford Bridge in November. However, from that point on, Morata has been poor.
He had a nightmare against Arsenal and missed three 1-on-1 opportunities. His season took a turn for the worse and he was sent off in the FA Cup replay against Norwich City for diving and dissent.
Chelsea went on to sign Olivier Giroud from Arsenal and now Morata plays second fiddle to the Frenchman. Morata was tipped to give Lukaku a run for his money but as his Belgian counterpart has gone from strength to strength, Morata has almost dropped out of the race and has left Chelsea regretting some of their transfer calls from last summer.
