It is only natural that in football we sometimes see players who look a little out of their depth. Whether it’s a player who starred at a smaller club only to struggle with the step up in quality and heightened expectations following a transfer to a bigger club, or just an ageing player in a side that is improving whilst he is regressing.
In some cases a player who appears to be out of their depth can go on and prove you wrong, but in the majority of cases, they will move on to a club more suited to their talent and mentality. I should point out that we’re not going to feature any of the players who appeared in our 7 footballers who played 0 minutes last season, just so those of you who have already seen it don’t have to see duplicate entries, and those of you who haven’t seen it can watch it after this video with no spoilers should you so wish to do so. I’m also limiting it to just one player per club.
Here are my 7 footballers who are out of their depth:
7. Shkodran Mustafi
It seems a little bit bizarre to talk about a World Cup and Confederations Cup winning German international as being out of his depth at a club that finished 5th last season and hasn’t finished in the top four for three seasons, but that’s exactly what I am going to do here. Mustafi became the second most expensive signing in Arsenal’s history back in 2016, behind only compatriot Mesut Ozil, when he joined the club for a reported £35 million.
In three seasons at the Emirates though, the former Valencia star could fairly be described as a car crash of a signing. Clumsy, error-prone and inconsistent are three attributes you’d rather not hear associated with your centre-back, but they’re all viable adjectives for the one-time Everton academy player.
Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Laurent Koscielny and even full-back Nacho Monreal all look like more solid options at centre-back, and Rob Holding and Callum Chambers probably would too. Despite Mustafi’s unhelpful knack for creating havoc at the back, Unai Emery stuck by him for the majority of last season, to the bemusement of many Arsenal fans. If the Gunners want to return to the top four, Mustafi needs to make serious improvements or be axed from the side altogether, it’s as simple as that.
6. Chris Smalling
Chris Smalling of Manchester United takes a free kick during the match between the Perth Glory and Manchester United at Optus Stadium on July 13, 2019 in Perth, Australia.
Somewhat amusingly, almost exactly four years ago now in the summer of 2015, back when I used to do some freelance work for an American website called the Sportster, I made this exact list, except it was 20 players rather than 7. Whilst the likes of Mike Williamson at Newcastle and Rickie Lambert at Liverpool seem like distant memories now, Chris Smalling is the only player from that list still at the same club.
That rather exposes the problems at Manchester United since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement, as the club has failed to be ruthless in moving players on when they’re no longer of sufficient calibre for a team that wants to be competing for major honours. Many people would argue the likes of Ashley Young and Phil Jones also fall into that category, but personally Chris Smalling stands out to me as someone who has never looked like a Manchester United player.
The former non-league man did have an impressive 2015-16 season which gave him a platform to really push on and prove people wrong, but he has only regressed as a player since then. As with Mustafi, it’s hard to see Manchester United competing for the Premier League or the Champions League with Chris Smalling as a regular fixture in their side, and it seems remarkable that he has managed to rack up more than 300 appearances for the Red Devils.
5. Mariano
This video could age badly if any of the players are sold before I manage to get it uploaded, and certainly Real Madrid forward Mariano is one player with whom that is a real possibility. The once-capped Dominican Republic international has been linked with Roma, AC Milan and Tottenham in recent times, having had a rather quiet debut campaign at the Bernabeu.
Mariano first joined Real Madrid as an academy player at the age of 17, and he was a regular fixture for both Los Blancos’ B and C teams. He made just 14 appearances for the first team though, before spreading his wings and heading to Lyon in a deal worth around €8 million. A tally of 21 goals in 45 games in his first season in France was enough to convince Real to bring Mariano back the following summer for €23 million.
He was handed the number 7 shirt vacated by the departing Cristiano Ronaldo, so that was a pretty easy void to fill… The 25-year-old made just 13 La Liga appearances, 17 in all competitions, and scored only 4 goals in what was a really disappointing campaign for the Spanish giants. Teenager Vinicius Junior got a lot more game time than him last season, and his prospects look even bleaker following the arrivals of Eden Hazard, Luka Jovic and Rodrygo in forward areas. Mariano isn’t just out of his depth now, he’s also surely surplus to requirements.
4. Jack Hendry
Jack Hendry of Celtic arrives at the stadium prior to the Betfred Scottish League Cup Semi Final between Heart of Midlothian FC and Celtic FC on October 28, 2018 in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Another player who could be on the move this summer, Jack Hendry hasn’t made the best of impressions at Celtic during his 18 months at Parkhead. Rather like Mariano at Real, Hendry was previously an academy player at Celtic, before returning after an impressive half-season at Dundee. In Hendry’s defence, he is still only 24 and he hasn’t had the best of luck with regard to injuries, but he hasn’t looked like a Celtic first team player at any time over the last year-and-a-half.
Celtic have already improved their centre-back options this summer following the departure of Marvin Compper and the arrival of Christopher Jullien, but they could probably do with another central defender coming in if Hendry is to leave.
The Glasgow-born former Wigan defender has looked positionally poor and really weak in the air given his large frame during his 26 outings at Parkhead, and a return to somewhere like Dundee or maybe a League One club south of the border could be the best course of action for Hendry’s career at this point.
3. Georges-Kevin Nkoudou
Two players Tottenham signed in the summer of 2016, namely Vincent Janssen and Georges-Kevin Nkoudou, could have made this seven, but in the end it is the latter of the two who gets our pick. Nkoudou was signed by Spurs off the back of a decent season in Ligue 1 with Marseille, and he set the North Londoners back £11 million.
Three years on and the former French youth international has managed just 26 appearances in a Tottenham shirt, and only 10 of them have come in the Premier League. A quick wide player with a trick up his sleeve, there have been question marks surrounding Nkoudou’s end product.
One thing that doesn’t bode particularly well for the 24-year-old is his two half-season loan moves to Burnley and Monaco respectively. Both short-term deals from January until the end of the 17-18 and 18-19 seasons respectively, Nkoudou made just 8 appearances for Burnley and just 3 for Monaco, failing to register a single goal or assist. In all 18 of Nkoudou’s Premier League outings, he has managed just one assist and no goals. It’s certainly fair to say he looks out of his depth in what is now a very strong Tottenham side, and it’s surely time for the Frenchman to move onto pastures new.
2. Danny Drinkwater
Danny Drinkwater of Chelsea and Mariano Diaz of Lyon in action during the pre-season friendly match between Chelsea and Lyon at Stamford Bridge on August 7, 2018 in London, England.
It was recently reported that Chelsea have paid Danny Drinkwater £10 million in wages since signing him for £35 million two years ago. An outlay of £45 million to date, for a player who has made just 12 Premier League appearances, is an average of £3.75 million per game. For that amount of money you would want a player who made Lionel Messi look like Phil Bardsley, and Danny Drinkwater certainly isn’t that player.
The 29-year-old former Manchester United academy graduate impressed during his time with Leicester City, particularly during the Foxes 2015-16 title winning campaign alongside N’Golo Kante. He followed Kante to Stamford Bridge 12 months after the Frenchman made the same move for £3 million less than Drinkwater.
Whilst Kante won the Premier League Player of the Year award and made the top 10 of Ballon d’Or voting off the back of his debut campaign in West London, Drinkwater made just 12 Premier League appearances that were about as memorable as the 2006 BBC Two game show Petrolheads. Remember that? It was a panel show all about cars with Neil Morrissey from Men Behaving Badly, Richard Hammond off Top Gear and Chris Barrie who played Arnold in Red Dwarf. No? Well, exactly, that’s why it was a sound simile for Drinkwater’s first season at the Bridge.
Anyway, his first season was a roaring success in comparison to his second – last season – in which he played only half an hour of football in the Community Shield all season and was found guilty of drink driving after crashing his Range Rover in Cheshire. The only things working in Drinkwater’s favour are the fact that Chelsea currently have a transfer ban, Frank Lampard has said he will give everyone an opportunity and the big clubs do struggle to meet homegrown player quotas. Nevertheless, he’s still out of his depth, and one suspects there may be more talented central midfielders in the Blues youth academy who they could promote and develop in the coming seasons.
1. Eric Choupo-Moting
Eric Choupo-Moting, or Jean-Eric Maxim Choupo Moting in full, is perhaps the ultimate out of depth player in world football right now. The 30-year-old was relegated from the Premier League with Stoke City in the 2017-18 season, and following his less than spectacular form he hadn’t registered a single Championship appearance by the end of August 2018.
It was at the end of August that PSG began sniffing around Choupo-Moting in what seemed like the most unusual rumour of the summer. It was more than a rumour though, as PSG boss Thomas Tuchel had previously managed Choupo-Moting at Mainz, and he saw him as a decent addition for the Parisians. His Stoke contracted was cancelled by mutual consent, and Choupo-Moting was officially unveiled as a PSG player.
In the shadows of Kylian Mbappe, Edinson Cavani and Neymar, Choupo-Moting made 31 appearances in all competitions last season, in which he scored 3 goals, which is fewer than left-back Juan Bernat, right-back Thomas Meunier and centre-back Marquinhos. What’s more, he also pulled off what is either the miss of the century or the best goal-line block of the season, depending on which team he thought he was playing for in PSG’s 2-2 draw with Strasbourg last season.
There’s no suggestion that Choupo-Moting could be on the move this summer at the time of recording, but we’d say it’s fairly clear the gamble hasn’t really paid off for Tuchel. Choupo-Moting isn’t just out of his depth, but the large amount of game time he got last season prevented some of PSG’s good younger players from getting opportunities. Both Moussa Diaby and Timothy Weah have left the Parc des Princes this summer, whilst Choupo-Moting remains at the club.
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