Sportskeeda Football 2018 Awards: 3 Players who resurrected their Careers this Year
2018 has been an exciting year for football especially with fans witnessing a competitive World Cup where underdogs refused to be brushed aside; mainstay players rocked the world with transfers and football saw an immense change in its landscape with the introduction of VAR. It has truly been an eventful year for the game, but there is one aspect of the game that we never get tired of seeing, the revival of a player's career. There are so many football players across the world that start out with so much promise but fail to capitalise on their potential for one reason or another and just drift into the vast ocean of mediocrity. You don't often see these players come back stronger and prove a point to their critics but when it does happen it is the ultimate romanticism that can be witnessed in football.
Often players need to move away from their clubs to start afresh and build their career, and all three players on this list did precisely that. So, in an attempt to commend their achievements, here are the top 3 players who resurrected their careers in 2018.
#3 Axel Witsel- Borussia Dortmund
The Belgian International has been pivotal in Dortmund's resurgence as a European powerhouse. But it wasn't all peach and roses for Witsel before this.
Axel Witsel was one of the most sought-after players in Europe in 2016. The central midfielder was a key player for Russian Club Zenit St. Petersberg and had even established himself as a key figure in the Belgian National team. With Europe's elite clubs battling it out for his signature, Witsel probably made the biggest mistake of his career when he signed for Chinese Super League Club Tianjin Quanjian.
He wasn't a bad player in China and the €20 million a season certainly helped the central midfielder move to the lucrative league. But after moving to China in January 2017, Witsel forced a move to Dortmund in August 2018, with his lawyers getting involved in a Legal battle with Tianjin Quanjian. It's a shame that Witsel wasted one and a half years of his prime in a Country that is renowned to be a retired player's paradise. But as they say, better late than never and now Witsel is doing something special at one of the most exciting clubs in Europe.