5 players whose careers have stalled this season
For all the passion and joy football evokes, it can often be a cruel game, especially to players thrust into the limelight after a successful season only for them to be unable to live up to their own hype. One disappointing season can turn into another and a career can be over before you really realize what’s happening.
With the beautiful game’s growing international profile and 17-18-year-olds being often burdened with immense responsibility that forces them to mature, there’s always the risk that players will fail to live up to their potential and never again be able to attain the standards they set themselves at an early stage of their career.
In this article, we will look at the players whose careers have seemingly stalled their progress this season:
Mario Balotelli
In truth, Balotelli hasn’t been doing too well for more than a couple of years. He struggled at Liverpool and often looked like a square peg in a round hole. He was never really suited to their high-intensity style of play and failed to adjust his game accordingly.
A return on loan to Milan was supposed to inspire him but unfortunately that never really happened. There was a lot of promise and endeavor in his initial performances but after he missed a series of games through injury and returned he never really made a mark. 3 goals in 23 games make for depressing reading for a player of his caliber and he wasn’t even seriously considered for Conte’s 23 man Euro squad.
Balotelli still has the talent, but at 25 years old he has a lot less time to begin to express his potential than before.