7 TOP FOOTBALLERS WHO FAILED BEFORE RETURNING TO THEIR BEST LEVEL

Occasionally, players do lose their levels. At Chelsea, De Bruyne was a shadow of his former self, at Manchester United, Depay failed but eventually they returned to the top.

1. KEVIN DE BRUYNE.

At Chelsea, De Bruyne had a hard time trying to form a relationship with the manager at that time, Jose Mourinho. His career was halted and had to go to Germany to re-launch his career. He went from being a loser at Chelsea to bean the best of the best at Wolfsburg and then later on at Manchester City.

• ROMELU LUKAKU.

Romelu was heavily criticized when he was at Manchester United. People claimed that he was too slow, too clumsy and not suited to Manchester player’s fat game. However, he finished his first season with 27 goals and 9 assists. This bad patch continued up to 2019 until he was transferred to Inter Milan. Since his transfer, his partnership with Lautaro Martinez has taken over to become one of the dangerous ones in Europe.

• MOHAMED SALAH.

Salah was not backed up by Mourinho when he first arrived at Chelsea back in 2014. His opportunity at the top level seemed to have gone but Salah still had a chance. His transfer to Roma got him back to the big leagues and now in Liverpool, Salah is untouchable, scoring goals and assists like never seen before.

• MEMPHIS DEPAY.

Everybody knows the story of him and Manchester United was not successful. When Depay arrived at Old Trafford, the fans expected to see a fully packed creative player but what they got instead was a mockery of what they expected. The arrival of Mourinho at Manchester put an end to Depay’s premier league adventure and so he went on to Lyon and while there he became a creative fully packed player and great at taking free kicks

• MANUEL NEUER.

The German goalkeeper revolutionized his position. In the 2014 world cup, he was a goalkeeper and a sweeper and he even attained the third position in the 2014 ballon di’or but in 2017 he injured his metatarsals while playing against Real Madrid and even after he recovered, his level dropped. He made unusual mistakes but not for long because in 2019 Neuer re-discovered his worth and effectiveness. He confirmed this by winning his second champions league.

• JEROME BOATENG.

Boateng was humiliated by Messi in 2015 during the champion’s league semi finals and because of this, he needed months to lose his status as a humiliated player. It was in 2019 that Boateng reclaimed his title of being one of the best defenders in the world. He is slow but has an incredible and long game.

• PHILIPPE COUTINHO.

When Coutinho arrived at Camp Nou, Barcelona, he was referred to as Neymar’s successor except he flopped. He did not meet the required expectations. He decided to go to Bayern Munich in 2019 and it was in Bayern that he re- discovered his football talent. He won the champions league and Barcelona called him for the second chance and so far, things are going good for him