Top 5 players in the bottom half of the Premier League this season

#3 Xherdan Shaqiri

The Swiss has all the attributes to play at a higher level

This player’s time at Stoke City has been a curious one, to say the least. Shaqiri possesses so much footballing talent but never seems to consistently show it.

He has scored some sensational goals for the Potters, end-of-season contenders; he has bullied left-backs on occasion with his lethal combination of skill and power. What he has not done, however, is put together a quality run of games. Too often, the real Shaqiri does not show up and Stoke are bereft as a result.

The Swiss international has now not found his best form at 3 different clubs since leaving FC Basel: at Bayern Munich he struggled to find a chance amidst their plethora of superstar attackers, he did not spend enough time at Inter Milan to show his talents, and his years at Stoke so far can’t be called a complete success.

In his defence, Shaqiri has not been able to gain a good relationship with those around him, because ex-manager Mark Hughes never settled on his best first team. Playing in a side battling relegation has meant Shaqiri has not found the time and space a player like him needs to show their best football.

What he has shown when on form is good enough to mean that his career is not dead yet, and it feels like Shaqiri just needs to find the right club and the right coach to unleash his true best form consistently.