5 superstars who have struggled at their new clubs
Well, you could say that it's too early in the season for this to be made a topic of discussion. However, seeing as several high-profile stars have hit the ground running at their new clubs, it's only fair that we look at the ones that haven't.
Cristiano Ronaldo has got off to a flying start at Manchester United, scoring four goals in three appearances so far. Players like Jack Grealish, Romelu Lukaku, Raphael Varane and Ibrahima Konate, to name a few, have all impressed as well.
This summer was quite unlike the recent ones in that we saw way more movement than we had expected to. It's a transfer window where Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo changed clubs after all.
Teams were more or less forced into a situation where they had to part with some of their players due to their financial troubles caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. Without further ado, let's take a look at five players who have struggled at their new clubs.
#5 Ben White (Arsenal)
Arsenal got off to an awful start to the 2021-22 Premier League season. The Gunners spent the most money this past summer transfer window but their choice of signings has been suspect. Chief among those is former Brighton defender Ben White.
Arsenal spent €58.5 million to sign the 23-year-old but he has not come close to justifying his price tag. While he was sidelined for the defeats against Manchester City and Chelsea, he did not cover himself in glory in the other games.
In fact, White turned in a sub-par performance on his Arsenal debut as they fell 2-0 to newly promoted Brentford. He was sloppy in possession in Arsenal's latest outing, which came against Burnley.
White was lucky that his stray backpass did not lead to a penalty as goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale was forced to stretch to keep the ball away from Matej Vydra.
Ben White won 5/8 headers. Gabriel won 4/10. I don't believe Ben White was good today, he was decent. Needs to work on his positioning and get used to his teammates more. A lot of overreaction.
#4 Gini Wijnaldum (Paris Saint-Germain)
Paris Saint-Germain hijacked Barcelona's move for Georginio Wijnaldum in the last minute. The Dutchman was immense for Liverpool during his five-year stay at Anfield and had a good outing at Euro 2020 with the national side as well.
He was half-expected to hit his stride straightaway at Paris Saint-Germain. However, Wijnaldum has only turned in six underwhelming performances for the Ligue 1 outfit so far.
The 30-year-old received a lot of stick for his performance against Club Brugge in the Champions League in particular. He was sloppy and looked tired and was too caught up passing sideways or to his defenders.
His defensive work has also been criticized and Wijnaldum will need to up his levels or it won't be long before he starts warming the bench on a regular basis.
📰 | Georginio Wijnaldum, 30, is ‘worn out’ according to a close friend and says his move to #PSG in the summer was a mistake
[Paper talk] https://t.co/IPmWTFKKPE