The biggest downfalls in football ft. Sancho, Hazard & Pogba | OneFootball

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One of the most exciting and interesting things about football is how it is consistently unpredictable and perpetually evolving. Every season, there are numerous examples of players who looked brilliant months ago, but now can hardly seem to kick a ball.

One recent example of this is Fabinho who went from being the beating heart of Jürgen Klopp's all-conquering Liverpool team to a complete liability in the middle of the park seemingly overnight. The Reds jumped at the opportunity to offload him to the Saudi Pro League this summer, but more on that later... With the Brazilian's demise in the news of late, it got us thinking: what players have had the biggest drop-offs in football history?

16 Jadon Sancho

Sancho is still just 23 years of age and has plenty of time to turn around his career, but since moving to Manchester United in 2021 for £73m, things have not gone well for the Englishman. After bursting onto the scene as a teenager in Germany, he scored 50 goals and picked up 64 assists in 137 games at Borussia Dortmund. At Old Trafford, he has just 12 goals and six assists in 82 games.

As things stand he is currently exiled from first-team training with the Red Devils amid a public fallout with manager Erik ten Hag. Sancho has needed time off in the past for mental health reasons, however, so hopefully he can get his career back on track in the future. Perhaps it will be best for him to do this away from Manchester.

15 Sadio Mané

When Liverpool signed Mané from Southampton in 2016, many knew they had a good player on their hands but few would have predicted just what he would achieve at Anfield, winning the Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup and Club World Cup all in six years.

In the summer of 2022, Bayern Munich would have hoped to get this version of the Senegalese international but instead appeared to sign Mané's shadow. After just one uninspired season in Germany, in which he lost his regular spot in the starting lineup, the winger left for Saudi Pro League club Al Nassr.

14 Alexis Sánchez

Perhaps it's less about the players and more about Man United... After all, like Sancho, Sánchez is another example of a winger reaching great heights at one club before then flopping at Old Trafford. Indeed, the former Arsenal winger lit up the Premier League in North London but couldn't replicate that form after making a switch in January 2018.

He scored just five goals for the Red Devils in 45 games across all competitions. An abysmal return, especially considering he scored seven league goals alone for the Gunners in the half-season before leaving in the winter window. And while he's continued his career at some big European clubs such as Inter Milan and Marseille, it's safe to say Sánchez just hasn't been the same since leaving Arsenal.

13 Jack Wilshere

Sometimes a player's drop-off is by no fault of their own. A fine example of this is Wilshere who looked as though he had the world at his feet, only for his body to unfortunately let him down. People often speak about that incredible Barcelona game where he dominated the midfield aged just 18, but it was more than just that – as proven by him being named the PFA Young Player of the Year award in 2010–11.

In the pre-season after his breakout year, he suffered a stress fracture to his ankle and was simply never the same player again. The injury was so bad, in fact, the surgeon who operated on him was shocked to later learn that Wilshere had carried on playing. Fitness issue after fitness issue halted him from ever gaining true momentum and he retired aged just 30 after unsuccessful spells at West Ham, Bournemouth and Danish side AGF Aarhus.

12 Fabinho

As alluded to before, Fabinho had a sharp fall from grace at the back end of his Liverpool career, going from one of the best holding midfielders in the world to a complete castaway. What's remarkable about this case is that he's still only 29 years of age – when most players don't fade away like this until well into their 30s.

Perhaps his drop-off can be best summed up by a viral clip which emerged online this week of the Brazilian in action for new side Al-Ittihad. The midfielder attempts to close down Al Akhdoud’s Leandre Tawamba with a complete lack of urgency as he is promptly nutmegged. Instead of snapping back to try and recover from his mistake, Fabinho just stands still as if he really isn't bothered.

11 Gareth Bale

Gareth Bale is 34 years of age. He has won the Champions League five times, and La Liga three times (as well as numerous other accolades). And yet, this week, he is in the news because he is set to become a playable character on the PGA Tour golf video game.

Indeed, the Welshman is no longer involved in football, having retired in January this year, and it had been a long time coming after he drastically fell out of favour at Real Madrid. He went from the club's superstar world record fee of £85.3m signing to a huge scapegoat among the fans. In his final season in Spain, Bale played in just five league games.

10 James Rodríguez

Rodríguez was the breakout star at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, he tallied six goals and two assists before Colombia were eliminated by the host nation in the quarterfinals. And this was enough to secure a £71m move to Real Madrid that very same summer.

Life in Spain started well enough – with 13 goals and 13 assists in his debut La Liga campaign – but eventually, he fell out of the team. Two reasonable seasons in Germany at Bayern Munich suggested he may yet be able to rekindle his career but a disastrous move to Everton effectively destroyed his reputation. After spells in Al-Rayyan SC and Olympiacos, he now plays for São Paulo in Brazil.

9 David de Gea

Once regarded by many as the finest shot-stopper in the world, De Gea unfortunately developed a reputation for being a complete liability in his final seasons at Man United. For so long, he was the one player at Old Trafford who could be relied upon, but as the game evolved and goalkeepers were asked to play with the ball at their feet, the Spaniard just couldn't keep up.

At the 2018 World Cup, he was the undisputed number one for his country but his last international appearance came just two years later, back in 2020. What's more, De Gea is currently without a club having left the Red Devils in the summer as a free agent. It's certainly been a rough few years for the 32-year-old to say the least.

8 Harry Maguire

What's this? Another once-promising player who is now at Manchester United with zero confidence. Shock... There aren't many individuals who have suffered greater reputational damage than Maguire over the years, and right now it feels as though he is the most mocked footballer on the planet.

Public feeling towards him is so poor, in fact, it's easy to forget that he was once viewed as one the best defenders in the Premier League. Indeed, that's why the Red Devils happily forked out £80m to land him from Leicester City in 2019, but they weren't alone in wanting the Englishman with Pep Guardiola later revealing that Manchester City wanted to sign him but were priced out of a deal.

7 Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

First at Borussia Dortmund and then at Arsenal, Aubameyang banged in the goals with ease, winning both Bundesliga and Premier League Golden Boot awards. However, he fell out with Mikel Arteta amid discipline issues, sending his career on a downward spiral.

The Gunners shipped him off to Barcelona as soon as they could and after a brief spell in Spain, he was back in England at Chelsea. Life in West London was not good for the striker as he scored just three times in 21 appearances. In the space of just a few seconds, Aubameyang had gone from one of the division's most lethal attackers to a complete dud.

6 Mesut Özil

Another former Gunner, at his best Özil could spot and execute passes with his other-worldly technique and vision. At Real Madrid, and then under Arsène Wenger in North London, he effortlessly glided across the pitch, sprinkling magic with every feathered touch of the ball. However, as time went on, the game quickly evolved beyond him.

Unai Emery arrived at Arsenal and didn't have full faith in the midfielder, while Arteta also decided it was best to take the team in a different direction. The German steadily became less and less relevant over the years and retired this year after spells with Fenerbahçe and Başakşehir in Turkey.

Before the dominance of Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo claimed the Ballon d'Or for nine years in a row between 2008-2017, Kaká was the last recipient of the award. Indeed, the classy Brazilian was a sight to behold at AC Milan with his blend of technical skill, passing ability, ball-carrying, speed, power and decision-making.

Unfortunately, a move to Real Madrid in 2009 never really panned out as many expected. Eight La Liga goals and one Champions League strike in his debut season was fine but not particularly impressive and things only went downhill from there. He returned to Milan on a free transfer just four years later, but it was evident he'd peaked during his first spell in Italy.

4 Paul Pogba

Pogba left Man United as a youngster in seek of more regular game time. At Juventus, he got those minutes and made the most of them, becoming one of the best young talents in the sport. While he had the wisdom to leave Old Trafford as a youngster, he made the mistake of returning in 2016 for a world record fee of €110m (£93.2m).

He showed glimpses of quality – while also winning the 2018 World Cup with France – but certainly didn't live up to his price tag. Criticism was fierce from both the media and manager José Mourinho and Pogba left for free in 2022 having never really lived up to the hype. He returned to Italy, hoping to rediscover his best form, but injuries have disrupted any hopes of a dream homecoming while he now also potentially faces a four-year ban from the game after failing a drug test.

3 Philippe Coutinho

Barcelona paid £146m to sign Coutinho from Liverpool in January 2018. He was billed as the ideal replacement to take over creative responsibility from legend Andrés Iniesta but instead has about the same legacy in Spain as Alex Song...

Indeed, the Brazilian completely flopped, failing to ever truly find his groove within the team, and after 18 difficult months, he went off to Bayern Munich on loan. In 2022, Barca managed to offload him permanently to Aston Villa in 2022, taking a mammoth loss of £129m on the deal.

2 Fernando Torres

Roman Abramovich was apparently a huge fan of Torres and appeared desperate to sign the Spaniard, even though there were already signs of decline at Anfield following a few scintillating seasons with Liverpool. The Chelsea owner stumped up £50m to get the deal across the line and the Reds laughed all the way to the bank (until they blew most of the cash on Andy Carroll).

Yes, Torres arrived at Stamford Bridge not quite the player he once was and his confidence just plummeted from there on. It took him 14 appearances to grab his first goals for the Blues and he eventually left with only 45 strikes in 172 games – for reference, he managed nearly double that (81) in 142 games for Liverpool. His fall from grace truly was remarkable.

1 Eden Hazard

Like Wilshere and Pogba, injuries are in part to blame for Hazard's change in fortunes and it's really sad to see how his career has panned out. In his pomp, a true joy to watch, the former Chelsea man used to run Premier League defences ragged with a twinkle in his eye.

His £100m+ move to Real Madrid has been a complete failure, however. He is the most expensive player in the club's history, only just ahead of Jude Bellingham who arrived this summer. Perhaps most damningly, the young Englishman has played just four times for Los Blancos in La Liga but already has more goals than the Belgian (five compared to four.) Aged just 32, Hazard is now without a club and appears to be considering retirement.