Premier League: Stats reveal the worst player in every season since 2009/10 | OneFootball

The Premier League can be a cruel mistress.

Such is the physical, relentless and wholly idiosyncratic style of England’s top-flight that even world-class players who have thrived elsewhere have been chewed up and spat out upon giving the division a go.

Everyone from Andriy Shevchenko to Angel Di Maria will attest to the fact that sometimes being a thoroughly talented baller isn’t enough to make a success of yourself in the Premier League.

The brutal world of the Premier League

What we’re trying to say here is that there’s no shame in having struggled in the sport’s blue riband division because the list of players branded with that cliché ‘flop’ label is as long as Mr. Tickle’s arm after he’s been put on the rack for a week.

And in the interest of showing both sides to the ever-churning Premier League machine, we’ve decided to take a look at those players who had the toughest time sporting wise in each of past 13 seasons.

Calling upon the data gurus at WhoScored, we looked at their average player ratings – informed by a number of key metrics – each season for every footballer to have made more appearances than the average number that year across the entire competition.

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That is, of course, to say that players who only appeared in a handful of games and may have performed anomalously poorly or impressively are parked to the side.

From there, we’ve pressed the ‘last’ button and seen whose average match rating was the lowest out of anyone for that particular season with the data going all the way back to the 2009/10 campaign.

Now, before we reveal who picked up the wooden spoon each year, it is important to disclaim that all of the players who feature are incredibly talented and successful individuals in spite of their difficult seasons.

Many of them had either already thrived or would go onto thrive in the Premier League and you might even argue that the numbers have done them dirty, protesting that their season was a lot better than the machinations over at WhoScored would have you believe.

Lowest-rated player in each Premier League season

All this is to say: a bad day at the office – for you, me or Lionel Messi – isn’t an indictment of the individual overall, so be sure to take the statistics with a pinch of salt.

But disclaimers aside, here are the worst-performing players from each Premier League season since 2009/10 in the eyes of WhoScored data.

2009/10: Scott Sinclair (Wigan Athletic) – 6.12

Gosh, is it just us that forgot Sinclair playing for Wigan on loan? It might have been a tough year for the young lad, starting and scoring just once in the league, but he went on to have a very respectable career playing for Chelsea, Manchester City, Celtic and even Team GB.

2010/11: Nile Ranger (Newcastle United) – 6.19

Truth be told, Ranger never quite looked cut out for the Premier League standard and finishing as the division’s lowest-ranked player in his only real, sustained attempt at making it in the top-flight is a testament to that.

2011/12: Conor Sammon (Wigan Athletic) – 6.05

For all his effort, Sammon was infamously goal shy in the Premier League with his overall record in the competition coming in at a miserable one strike from 32 games that no centre forward ever wants to lay claim to.

2012/13: Steve Morison (Norwich City) – 6.13

Morison enjoyed a solid enough debut year in the Premier League, scoring nine goals across the 2011/12 campaign, but second-season-syndrome clearly hit like a tonne of bricks as he only scored once in his sophomore year.

2013/14: Sam Gallagher (Southampton) – 6.07

Once perceived as the next best thing at Southampton, Gallagher was given his shot in the big time by Mauricio Pochettino, but ultimately failed to set the world alight as the fledgling forward scored just once across 18 appearances.

2014/15: Emmanuel Rivière (Newcastle United) – 6.21

It’s plain and simple: this was one of the worst signings in modern Premier League history. Rivière marked the nadir of Newcastle’s ‘French revolution’ as he scored just once in 23 matches leading the line in his debut season.

2015/16: Rickie Lambert (West Bromwich Albion) – 6.19

Straight off the back of a dream Liverpool move that ultimately crashed and burned, Lambert tried to start afresh at the Hawthorns the following season, but the magic was evidently gone as he failed to score a single goal from open play for the Baggies.

2016/17: Hal Robson-Kanu (West Bromwich Albion) – 6.24

Speaking of West Brom forwards, Robson-Kanu must have suffered a hangover on the back of his wonder goal in the Euro 2016 quarter-finals because his return to club action was uneventful to say the least, registering just three strikes and two assists.

2017/18: Andre Gray (Watford) – 6.25

Gray is another one of those strikers that just couldn’t quite transfer their prolific Championship record to the Premier League as evidenced by a bang average 2017/18 campaign where he notched just five goals.

2018/19: Shinji Okazaki (Leicester City) – 6.10

A player that will always hold a special place in the heart of Leicester fans, but Okazaki ultimately bid goodbye to the King Power Stadium on a whimper as he failed to score a single goal across his farewell season at the club.

2019/20: Josip Drmić (Norwich City) – 6.03

Who remembers Drmić’s doomed one-season fling at Carrow Road? The chances are, not many of you, because the Norwich flop boasts the simultaneously embarrassing and impressive stat of having scored the same amount of Premier League and World Cup goals: one.

2020/21: Romaine Sawyers (West Bromwich Albion) – 6.12

Truth be told, there wasn’t really any Baggies players who could hold their heads up high in a disastrous season that saw them drop straight back down to the Championship, but clearly the now Cardiff City midfielder’s stats were particularly grim.

2021/22: Fabio Silva (Wolverhampton Wanderers) – 6.09

The jury is ultimately still out on Silva because he’s only 20 years old, but the Premier League has hitherto proven to be a bridge too far for him and failing to score a single goal in his sophomore year did little to make fans think otherwise.

Every Premier League player is talented

So, there you have it, an eclectic and fascinating group of wooden spoon winners who just go to show how merciless the Premier League can be.

And trust us when we say that these players can still feel proud of themselves because frankly, anyone who so much as plays a single minute in England’s top-flight has more drive, determination and talent than we can imagine.

Each Premier League season’s ‘worst’ player is still a million times better than most every individual to have kicked a football anywhere around the world. Power to you, lads.