Last year, we did a video on the 7 best footballers of 2017 as we went into the New Year. It didn’t do great, so we’re probably not going to do it again this year, but we are going to take a look at 7 of the most improved players this season today, and then probably 7 players who need or deserve January transfers before we go into 2019.
From a change of club to a change of management or systems, there are so many factors that can cause an upturn or downturn in a players form.
Today, we wanted to take a look at some players who we feel have made the biggest improvements in terms of their form so far this season in comparison to the way in which they were playing last term.
Here are our 7 most improved players this season:
7. Luke Shaw
It’s been a really mixed few years for Luke Shaw, who became the most expensive teenager in world football when Manchester United first signed him for £30 million in the summer of 2014. Shaw has played in less than a third of Manchester United’s league games since then, managing just 55 Premier League appearances in four-and-a-half years, thanks in no small part to the shocking double leg fracture he sustained in September 2015.
It’s been a long road back to recovery for the former Southampton man, and a fairly bumpy road at that. Former United boss Jose Mourinho didn’t always speak in glowing terms about his young left-back, who has often found himself behind makeshift left-back Ashley Young in the United pecking order.
Shaw made just 11 appearances in the league last season, being axed at half-time towards the end of the season and called out in public by his own manager. This season has seen a real turnaround in fortunes for the 23-year-old though, as his bright early season form forced United into handing him a new 5-year-deal on improved terms.
Shaw has had the odd knock here and there once again this season, and he’ll be determined to get as many minutes as possible under his belt this season. But when he has played, he’s been pretty impressive, and certainly a million miles better than the form we saw from him last season.
6. Brais Mendez
Brais Mendez of Celta de Vigo looks on during the La Liga match between RC Celta de Vigo and CD Leganes at Abanca-Balaídos on December 14, 2018 in Vigo, Spain.
A player who will be a little less well-known to some of you, I suspect, Brais Mendez plays for 11th placed La Liga outfit Celta Vigo. The 21-year-old was promoted from Celta B in the third tier of Spanish football to the first team in La Liga ahead of the start of the 2017-18 season, but failed to make much of an impression in his debut campaign, recording just one goal and one assist from 20 appearances.
It’s been a completely different story this season though, as Mendez has been one of the most eye-catching players in the division. A typical classy and intelligent Spanish midfielder, Mendez has scored 4 goals and made 5 assists in just 12 appearances so far this season, making him one of the most productive midfield players in La Liga.
His form has been so impressive that he was handed his first cap for Spain last month, coming on as a second half substitute and scoring the only goal of the game in a 1-0 win over Bosnia & Herzegovina, so it’s fair to say the campaign is going pretty well for Mendez.
He has already been heavily linked with a move to Leicester City, but if he maintains his current form for Celta until the summer, he may be setting his sights even higher.
5. Callum Wilson
Now, Callum Wilson is a player who we have been a big fan of ever since his prolific League One campaign with Coventry that prompted Eddie Howe into signing him, so we can’t say that his rich vein of form this season has come as a total surprise.
Nevertheless, Wilson has probably exceeded even our expectations of him so far this term, having bagged 8 goals in 15 Premier League games. Finding a striker capable of scoring better than a goal every other game, especially outside of the top 6, is not easy in the Premier League, but that’s the rate of goal scoring that Wilson is maintaining at the moment.
It’s quite possible that we’d have seen this level of performance from the Englishman three years ago were it not for a horrible ACL injury that he sustained in September 2015, less than a month after scoring his first Premier League hat-trick.
He’s certainly firing on all cylinders now though, and at the time of this recording, only Mohamed Salah, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Harry Kane have scored more goals in the Premier League, and none have as many assists as Wilson.
As with Mendez, Wilson recently won his first cap and scored his first goal for his country, making it 1 from 1 for the Three Lions, and we’d expect him to add plenty more caps and goals over the next few years.
4. Glenn Murray
Glenn Murray and Dale Stephens of Brighton and Hove Albion arrive at the stadium the Premier League match between Brighton & Hove Albion and Chelsea FC at American Express Community…
Staying in the Premier League and another man who has been in amongst the goals this season, I think a lot of people may have felt that Glenn Murray had hit his ceiling for Brighton last season. The six foot frontman bagged 12 in the league and 14 in all competitions, a very respectable record for a former non-league man in his mid-30’s whose previous highest tally in the Premier League stood at 7.
Those people, and I may have been one of them – despite being a fan of Murray’s – have been proved enormously wrong. He has scored 8 goals this season, the same number as Callum Wilson and Sergio Aguero, at the grand old age of 35 and in a hardly free-scoring Brighton team.
Smart and clinical, Murray’s game relies upon his fantastic movement and neat finishing. He is no stranger to scoring prolifically, but never at this rate in the Premier League, with some suspecting that he fell into that category of player who is too good for one division but not good enough for the one above it.
It’s hard to see Murray keeping on improving, given his age, but he’s set for a remarkable campaign if he maintains his current rate of scoring, and it’s refreshing to have a player of his vintage make this seven.
3. Lucas Moura
Lucas Moura was always on my shortlist for this seven, but after his crucial Champions League group stage strike away at Barcelona, he had to make the cut. That’s not the first big goal Moura has scored for Spurs this season, indeed you may recall that he scored 2 of Tottenham’s 3 goals in their 3-0 win away at Manchester United back in August.
His contribution in the first half of this season has been incomparable to last season, a campaign which saw him frozen out at PSG and relatively invisible following a move to Tottenham. He seems to have got to grips with life in North London and the way in which Mauricio Pochettino wants his team to play this term though, and even with the presence of players like Dele Alli, Son Heung-min and Christian Eriksen, it looks as though Moura has a major role to play.
As well as his eight goals in all competitions this season, Moura has brought raw pace, real energy and a slightly different proposition to Tottenham’s attack. He could soon look like an absolute bargain in today’s market at £25 million.
2. Emiliano Sala
Nantes’ Argentinian forward Emiliano Sala (L) vies with Rennes’ French defender Damien Da Silva (R) during the French League Cup round of 16 football match between Rennes (SRFC) and…
This is the second time in only a month or so that Emiliano Sala has featured on this channel, and that is because the Argentinian late bloomer is having a truly remarkable campaign. The 28-year-old, who has been with Nantes since 2015, has matched the tally of 12 goals that he has set in each of the last two seasons.
Except, whilst it took him 34 starts to hit that figure last season, it’s taken him only 13 this season, as he teeters close to a goal a game for the mid table outfit.
That goal scoring output currently puts him joint top of the Ligue 1 scoring charts, tied with Kylian Mbappe, and by nature then, ahead of the likes of Falcao, Neymar and Edinson Cavani.
Currently being linked with a January move to Cardiff City, Sala is 6’2” tall, hard working and strong in the air, so he’d suit a Neil Warnock side down to the ground.
0. Honourable Mentions
There are plenty of players who we could mention here, from the likes of Robert Snodgrass and Javier Hernandez at West Ham, to Ben Chilwell at Leicester City and Ryan Fraser at Bournemouth.
One thing we wanted to clear up is that we haven’t included very young players, such as Jadon Sancho, who – although he has performed beyond expectation this season – is so young that one would expect him to improve season upon season at this stage in his career.
Then there’s someone like Marco Reus, who has been tremendous for Borussia Dortmund as they have emerged as real title challengers once more, but he was actually pretty impressive when fit last season, he just spent the majority of the campaign out injured.
Other players who made our shortlist but not the final seven include Roberto Pereyra at Watford, Thorgan Hazard of Borussia Monchengladbach, and Tiémoué Bakayoko at AC Milan.
1. Paco Alcacer
Paco Alcacer of Borussia Dortmund looks dejected during the Bundesliga match between Fortuna Duesseldorf and Borussia Dortmund at Esprit-Arena on December 18, 2018 in Duesseldorf, Germany.
The man who has to top this seven, it’s been a stunning turnaround this season for Paco Alcacer, who can’t stop scoring for Borussia Dortmund. Joint top of the Bundesliga scoring charts with 10 goals at the time of this recording, Alcacer has averaged a goal every 36 minutes in the top flight of German football.
That stat is so extraordinary I’m going to have to repeat it. A goal every 36 minutes. Once more, just for good measure, every 36 minutes, he’s scored a goal, on average, this season…
Spread out over 90 minutes, that’s 2.5 goals a game, or 85 goals over the course of an entire 34 game Bundesliga season if he were to play every minute of every game.
That’s off the back of a season at Barcelona in which Alcacer scored just 4 goals in 17 La Liga appearances, so it’s hard to overlook him when it comes to top spot.
An old school poacher, a type of player that has almost died out, Alcacer has a sixth sense for sniffing out chances and excellent composure when through on goal. His fine form has seen him recalled to the Spain squad for the first time in two years, and he’s scored 3 goals from 2 caps since earning that recall.
It’s little wonder that Dortmund have already exercised their option to purchase the 25-year-old for €23 million, he could be worth treble that once the season comes to an end.
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