The Liverpool loanee’s career has been halted by injury problems.
Liverpool’s Jon Flanagan in action with Watford’s Ikechi Anya
Back in the 2013-14 season Liverpool were pushing all the way to try and claim their first ever Premier League title. Spearheaded by Luis Suarez and Raheem Sterling with Steven Gerrard the inspiration another player who played a key role in the side’s renaissance was Jon Flanagan.
The full-back was brilliant after coming in at left-back for Liverpool and his form even saw him make his England debut and the standby list for the World Cup in Brazil. Even Brazilian legend Cafu spoke highly of his chances of becoming one of the best full-backs in the world.
His demise in the three years since has been alarming and unfortunate.
He suffered a series of knee injuries over the next two seasons. Those ailments saw him miss the entire 2014-15 season. He spent 19 months out of action with the injury problems, by which time Brendan Rodgers was no longer the Liverpool manager.
In a bid for first-team football he was loaned out to Burnley in the summer, with Sean Dyche looking for reinforcements for his expected relegation battle.
Burnley’s Jon Flanagan in action with Crystal Palace’s Andros Townsend
However, he has started just three Premier League games and has not played at all since February – with Burnley preferring Stephen Ward and Matthew Lowton in the full-back positions.
Flanagan has gone from recommended by Cafu and England international to the Burnley bench in less than three years – quite the demise for the young defender.
The only hope, considering Flanagan is just 24-years-old, is that he can turn things around in the next couple of years.
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