Random former premier league players at the world cup

Random former premier league players that are at the world cup

 

The first thing I was interested in finding when I looked through the world cup squads was some random former premier league players. Not your Cesc Fabregas’s and Luka Modric’s the ones who were quite good but the random ones, who looked lost at premier league level, the ones who jumped ship early into their stay or raise a smile when a football fan mentions them as if to say  “I remember him”. I’m pleased to report there a large amount of these players going to the world cup, many more than I expected. Now I’ve got over the disappointment of Alessandro Diamanti not making the competition, here is my list of random former premier league players to look out for.

 

Jô

 

The £21 million man, the man to fire Man City into a new era who netted once in 21 games. His initial loan spell at Everton was relatively decent followed by a poor 2^nd loan spell and subsequent departure from the country. I think I speak for many English football fans in being surprised at his selection in a strong Brazil squad, but maybe he’s improved?

 

Jean Makoun

 

Gerard Houllier signed him for around £6million pounds with a high reputation back in France. An early red card a few weeks after joining was a bad start and it never really got better for the Cameroon man making just 9 league appearances in 18 months before a loan back to France.

Philippe Senderos

 

Senderos is a bit more experienced in English football than many of the other members of this list and he surely has a fantastic agent for his continual transfers to massive clubs far superior to his ability. Starting at Arsenal he made 84 league appearances, far too many in the opinion of Gunners fans I suspect. A surprise loan spell to Ac Milan was followed by a surprise loan spell for Everton for whom he only played twice. He even struggled when he went to Fulham so many would’ve suspected he’d finally drop out of the top tier, only for Valencia to decide he was good enough for them. A very confusing situation indeed.

Gelson Fernandes

 

The man Sven once described as the “best young player in Switzerland” he failed to light up Manchester. Unperturbed by this, Sven signed him on loan for Leicester in a very strange loan move. When Sven was sacked he was confined to the Leicester reserves and asked for his loan move to be terminated, I don’t think he’ll be queuing up to return to England. He seems to have rebuilt his career slightly with Freiburg in the Bundesliga but Sven’s ringing praise seems to have been misled.  

Eduardo

 

Certainly not as bad as others on this list and it’s a bit harsh to be critical due to a horrific broken leg injury however, I feel the need to include him on this list for that dive alone that earned him a 2 match champions league ban

Giovani dos Santos

 

This guy is someone who had a huge reputation when he arrived in England from Barcelona. 15 appearances in 4 years was very much a disappointing return for someone who’s attitude was heavily criticised by Harry Redknapp in particular his liking of the London nightlife. His brief loan spell at Ipswich surely makes him one of the more unlikely players to have taken part in the English 2^nd tier. He has 73 caps for his country at only 25 which is a big surprise to many, he did make his debut at 18 though

 

Giorgos Karagounis

 

I know he’s only just left Fulham but he certainly isn’t the most memorable of players and I think many of us still think we were just imagining that a veteran Greek midfielder played for Fulham for 2 seasons.

Alberto Aquilani

 

A big money Xabi Alonso replacement, injuries caused his Liverpool career to never get going. Roy Hodgson said he was loaning Aquilani to get some much needed match fitness the season after, 56 league games later in 2 different loan spells, he was sold for a massive lost.

Andranik Teymourian

The surprising stat about this man is that he had 2 different premier league clubs. Real blink and you’ll miss it stuff from the Iranian at Fulham as he made his only appearance in a 1-0 victory over Arsenal which makes you ask why he didn’t play more. Perhaps more well- known for his prior spell at Bolton including a man of the match performance against Wigan in which, he grabbed 2 goals and this performance will live long in Bolton fans hearts. He also had a brief loan spell at Barnsley in the championship.

 

Victor Obinna

 

This speed demon had a season long loan at West Ham back in the 2010/11 season in which he grabbed 3 goals in 25 games. His red card against Birmingham in the league cup semi-final in an incident with serial wind-up merchant Sebastien Larsson is unfortunately his most memorable action in a West Ham shirt.

 

Diego Forlan

 

Certainly not as random as many on this list but his 10 goals in 63 premier league appearances in a Man Utd shirt grabs him a place on the list. I do like that he ended his goal drought on signing for Manchester United with an 89^th minute penalty in a 5-2 win, certainly the best way to see a goal drought ended. Other than his spell at Man Utd however, his career has been a lot more successful than most on this list.

Jérôme Boateng

 

Another not so random selection on the list, but I thought I’d include him based on how he changed from being a bench-ridden right back to being at the centre of the defence of the best team in Europe within 2 seasons. Maybe an example of a player poorly used rather than him being awful for Manchester City.

Jonathan Mensah

I struggle to believe that this man was only 27 when he arrived at Sunderland, he seemed to be in his early thirties back then. His persistent injuries meant he was not a regular fixture in the side. His bust-up with Nedum Onuoha in which they had to be separated by other players was allegedly caused by his poor performance. Its lucky not all Nedum’s teammates take the same approach when they think he’s had a poor game…

Asamoah Gyan

 

Gyan wasn’t actually poor for Sunderland and looked like he may turn into a good signing. Then a ridiculous transfer in which he signed for Al-Ain to play in front of a reported 300 fans. To be fair I don’t blame him based on the reported £140,000 a week offer for 5 years, just the bizarreness of the transfer is something that brings a smile to the face. Gyan has banged in 81 goals in 65 games for his side so I’m sure the man and his dog are frequently celebrating avidly.

Hélder Postiga

 

The man who helped knock England out of Euro 2004, his Tottenham spell was particularly forgettable scoring just once in 19 league games. Still only 31 (I know), he is travelling to another world cup despite another poor season in which he has managed just 3 league goals. To be fair to him, his goal scoring record in international football is impressive with 27 goals in 66 games, the marked difference from his club form is probably just one of those unexplainable things.

Hassan Yebda

A member of the Portsmouth side that went down, need I say more? I will expand, he’s probably one of those players that you’ve heard the name of before but can’t think of where from or what position he played; he’s a defensive midfielder in case you’re wondering.

Park Chu-Young

 

I know he still technically plays for Arsenal, but I’m including him seeing as his one and only Arsenal league appearance was back in January 2012. Also had a 2 game loan spell with Championship side Watford to close the season and  with 1 of those appearances as a 90^th minute substitute, he doesn’t go into the world cup with much form behind him.

 

Ji Dong-Won

 

Probably more affectionately known than many of the list just because he produced that moment against Man City and Martin Tyler’s subsequent excitable reaction. Him and the aforementioned Park up front together could be a field day for fans of random footballer fans such as myself.