10 Great Premier League one-season wonders of the decade (2010-2019)
The past decade – 2010 to 2019 – has seen the rise of some true greats in the Premier League, from imports like Sergio Aguero and Mohamed Salah to home-grown superstars such as Harry Kane and Raheem Sterling.
Every season sees new stars burst onto the scene, but naturally, it’s much easier to make it to the top than it is to stay there. On more than one occasion in the last 10 years, we’ve seen the emergence of a potentially great player during a season, only for them to fall off the map entirely in the following one.
Here are 10 of the past decade’s ultimate Premier League one-season wonders.
#1 Michu
Spanish forward Michu joined Swansea City from La Liga side Rayo Vallecano in the summer of 2012 for a fee of just £2m, and promptly scored the 2012-13 Premier League season’s first goal on the opening day against QPR. The same game saw him score a second goal and register an assist for Scott Sinclair, and from there, the Spaniard didn’t look back.
He kept on scoring goals at a ridiculous rate and ended up with 22 in all competitions – 18 in the Premier League, making him the competition’s 5th highest goalscorer – as Swansea finished in an impressive ninth place and won the EFL Cup. Unsurprisingly, Michu scored in both the semi-finals and the final of that competition.
The striker was named the Swans’ Player of the Year, and the summer of 2013 saw him linked with a move to Liverpool or Tottenham for a fee of £35m. Instead, Michu stayed at Swansea – and partially due to an ankle injury, his form fell off a cliff.
2013-14 saw him score just twice in 17 Premier League games, and the summer of 2014 saw him move to Napoli on loan. That move turned out to be a disaster as he played just six games with the Italians, and after returning to Swansea, he was promptly released from his contract. The Welsh side probably wished they’d cashed in on him when they had the chance.
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