Mario Gotze voted 2nd worst Bundesliga player by peers
The annual survey of the recently concluded Bundesliga season was conducted by German sports magazine Kicker and the players voted for the best performers of the season. Voted for by 183 German top-flight players, Karim Bellarabi was named as the best player in the league while Rafael van der Vaart was voted the worst.
Bellarabi, who returned to Bayer Leverkusen for the 2014/15 season after spending a year on loan with Eintracht Braunschweig, scored 12 goals and provided 9 assists during the season. He also made his senior international debut for Germany in October and has been a mainstay of the team ever since.
Karim managed to push out Belgium sensation Kevin de Bruyne for top honours, who has made a name for himself at Wolfsburg after a disappointing spell with Chelsea. His impact was so huge that he was linked with all the major European clubs throughout the season. De Bruyne scored 10 goals and provided 21 assists, beating Jonas Hector of Cologne to the 2nd spot.
Talking of the worst performers, former Hamburg captain Van der Vaart wasn’t able to make any impact for his team as the club narrowly avoided relegation with a two-legged Bundesliga relegation/promotion playoff against Karlsruhe. Once dubbed as the ‘new Johan Cruyff’, the former Netherlands international has now joined Real Betis on a free transfer.
Mario Gotze was voted the 2nd worst performer, despite scoring 9 goals and providing 4 assists for Bayern Munich. While the Munich-based club were crowned champions, the former Borussia Dortmund star was inconsistent throughout the season with club legend Franz Beckenbauer going on to criticise Gotze for his underwhelming displays during the campaign.
Ghanian midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng came in at no. 3 after playing only six full matches for Schalke. He was suspended indefinitely by the club two weeks before the end of the season for indiscipline and will not be returning to the club, according to club director Horst Heldt.