A number of top European football stars are finding life at their various clubs difficult, if they’re given an opportunity to jump the gun right away to a new club they won’t think twice before moving.
Life can be full of twists and turns, what seems going fine now may turn out sour tomorrow. That is the story of these football players going through difficult times.
Class they say in football is permanent, while the form is temporary. Some of these football stars have had their time to impress their managers but failed to take it, while others haven’t and equally been frozen out of their team totally.
As the penultimate month that preceded the January transfer window edges closer, a number of top European football stars going through bad times would look forward to finding a new life at a different club come January.
Let’s look at 6 of Europe’s football stars going through difficult times.
- Christian Eriksen – (Inter Milan)
The Danish player was looking for a new challenge having had a very successful spell at Tottenham Hotspur under Mauricio Pochettino amassing 226 match appearances, 51 goals, 62 assists.
After meteoric serving years with the North London side, he was often linked with Europe’s top teams but eventually got his way with a January move to Inter Milan.
The Danish midfield maestro has only played 22 matches for the Nerazzurri since he joined them. Eriksen seems to have lost his place in Antonio Conte’s led side, having only played just 212 minutes of Seria A action so far.
As it stands, it’s been a strange and difficult time for Eriksen who isn’t used to sitting out on the bench for a longer period of time at Tottenham, if not injured. But right now the only way out of the mess he found himself is to play his way back into the good book of Conte, or seek an alternative by moving out of Inter Milan in January.
But then with the Covid 19 still very much around which has done a lot of harm to the financial aspect of transfer, it’s left to be seen which club would be financially buoyant to help him leave the den of Conte.
- Dele Alli – (Tottenham Hotspur)
Dele burst to the scene as an 18-year-old lad for MK Dons against Manchester United, where he dominated the EFL cup game at MK Dons and has since then not looked back.
He joined Tottenham in 2015 in the last hour of the mid-season transfer window on a five year and a half deal, for an initial fee of £5m but stayed back on loan with The Dons before joining his parent club in 2016.
His meteoric rise matured properly under the supervision of Pochettino in the Premier League, as well as at the international level with the Three Lions of England. Unfortunately, the former MK Dons midfielder has failed to regain that form that made him one of the most sought-after players in Europe in the last couple of seasons even with Jose Mourinho in town.
He seems to have lost his passion for the game that made him one of the best midfielders in the Premier League some seasons ago. The 24-year-old has been on the fringes this season and looked set to leave the club in January after falling out of favor under the Portuguese coach.
With his poor form, the Tottenham boss doesn’t seem satisfied with his work rate and has struggled for game time, starting just once in the Premier League to date with Mourinho leaving the England international out of his last five matchday squads.
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- Francisco Alarcon Isco – (Real Madrid)
Class is one unique thing about good footballers that makes them stand out among their comrades, even when they’re injured or off form.
They often find a way to climb the ladder of a fantastic form, but as it stands it’s no news that Isco is going through the most difficult moment of his career in Madrid shirt.
Since arriving in Madrid, Isco has scored 51 goals for Los Blancos in 313 games, lifting 16 trophies. However, this season he has started in some of Madrid matches but failed to respond with a good performance, and he has only played 260 minutes in the league plus no single minutes yet in Europe.
The question now is, when would the old Isco return back to the amazing midfield maestro we all know?
He’s had his chances but can’t find his form yet, sad for a player who has won four Champions League with Real Madrid, started the UCL finals in 2017 and 2018. But sadly this season he has only been opportune to get six-match appearances for Los Blancos.
- Paulo Dybala – (Juventus)
It’s been a strange season for the Argentine so far, even under Maurizio Sarri before he was shown the exit door. Dybala was expected to be the ideal playmaker orchestrating things behind the new striker Alvaro Morata, and Ronaldo under the supervision of Andrea Pirlo, sadly things didn’t turn out that way.
The former Palermo forward has only had just 160 minutes in Seria A and for a brilliant player like Dybala not getting enough playing time under the manager he once shared the dressing room and pitch with is quite sad to be going through such a tough time in Turin.
The only way out of his sparing game time at Juventus would be finding a new life elsewhere, that time could be the January transfer window.
- Kepa Arrizabalaga – (Chelsea)
The agile, quick Kepa Arrizabalaga signed for Chelsea from Bilbao for €80m to be the most expensive goalkeeper in world football in 2018, having proven his goalkeeping prowess, reflexes, swift development in between the stick as the Basque first-choice goalkeeper.
Kepa’s first season in the Blues shirt came with over 4,860 minutes of match appearances, 1.06 goal conceded in each of his 90 minutes match appearances, he did have a decent debut campaign for Chelsea.
With his decent first season debut, a lot of football enthusiasts thought he would up his performances with an upgrade compare to the debut campaign.
Surprisingly, he didn’t turn out that way after a disastrous season with consistent porous performances, Chelsea made it a priority to replace the former Bilbao number one this summer with Edouard Mendy who joined from Rennes.
Since the Senegalese international joined, it’s been very obvious that Kepa may not regain his position as the Blue’s number one goalkeeper.
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- Mesut Ozil – (Arsenal)
The former World Cup winner’s talent is certainly undoubted, but his appetite, passion, the work rate that made him a superstar at Real Madrid isn’t burning hot again.
The emergence of Mikel Arteta as the current gaffer of Arsenal saw him featured in the Gunners first ten matches, yet he wasn’t that convincing with his performances.
From then on, he has further gone down the pecking order in Mikel Arteta’s team, perhaps due to his usual sluggish attitude or the board’s decision. Arsenal’s highest-earning player on £350,000 ($454,000) a week – has not featured at all since football’s restart in June following the coronavirus-enforced suspension.
With the Gunners lacking a proper creative midfielder in the team in the mold of the former Werder Bremen man, some set of the fans were of the opinion that if he has been reinstated back into the team the fortune of the Gunners may have turn out fine in terms of creating chances.
The German international has been very vocal with his tantrums on social media, and that hasn’t gone down well with the club management.
There is no imminent end to the saga. Ozil has a year remaining on his contract and has demonstrated no desire to leave the club, while Arteta appears under no pressure to accommodate him in the side.
Come January, we might get to see Ozil play for a different club, perhaps in Germany, Turkey, or even Asia but as it stands the midfielder is still under the payroll of Arsenal without playing.
