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Three Players Who Failed To Make It Big After An Amazing First Season; Featuring Former Arsenal And Liverpool Stars

There comes a season in which you feel a player has done amazingly well and the player gets linked with all the major clubs around Europe. In the recent examples, some players who have had an amazing season and gone down are Adnan Januzaj, Romelu Lukaku or maybe Harry Kane, who knows. Kane impressed after some not so successful loan moves and was thought to be leaving Tottenham but the English man has overcame all odds and scored a sky rocketing 21 goals last season. Today, we look at three players among those who were tipped for greatness but failed miserably.

Jose Antonio Reyes:

Jose Antonio Reyes joined Arsenal from Sevilla on the very first day of the year of 2004 for an estimated fee of around 20 million euros. It was the season of 2003/04, the biggest year in the history of Arsenal and the best phase of Arsene Wenger’s career with the Gunners as they were on course to create history and were about to become the Invincibles. Come January of 2004, Reyes joined Arsenal after performing well for Sevilla.

The Gunners had an amazing squad and enormous talents to their disposal. Reyes was thought to be one of them as he had initially showed some amazing spark and creativity by scoring crucial goals in FA Cup and the Champions League (who could forget his goals against Chelsea). However, after that sparkling start his career completely fizzled out and was loaned to Real Madrid. Reyes’ performances took a massive hammering and he moved to cross town rivals Atletico Madrid for 12 million euros. Constant injuries and dip in performances meant that his career never stabilized and was subsequently loaned to Portuguese giants SL Benfica in the 2008/09 season. In 2012, he signed again for his hometown club Sevilla and well his career has still been a mystery. From a major sensation to an averagish player Jose Antonio Reyes has seen it all and has been plagued by bad luck.

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Andy Carroll:

If Reyes’ career demise has been a misfortune, then to tell that Andy Carroll’s career has been a disaster would be an understatement to suffice. Carroll has been a product of Newcastle United’s academy and was loaned to Preston North End for some game time in the year of 2007. His career picked up after a loan move at Preston and Carroll carved himself as a first team option for the Magpies. He had an incredible season with Newcastle and was targeted by a series of English clubs.

Liverpool made a swift move to capture Andy Carroll and also signed Luis Suarez on the same day after Fernando Torres’ big money move to Chelsea. Well, the transfer move seemed to be a debacle for both Carroll and Torres but Suarez thrived at Liverpool and earned himself a move to Barcelona. Speaking about Carroll he has spent a year out on loan at West Ham United and eventually seeked a permanent transfer to the London club. Liverpool could only recoup a bare minimum 15 million euros out of the 40 million euros they forked out on the English forward. Well, just to look on the brighter side of things Carroll is 26 years old and still has time to improve, however injuries have taken a toll on the attacker and things seem to be a downhill for Andy.

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Charlie Adam:

Another player whose career has seen a downfall at Liverpool, Charlie Adam had an amazing time at Blackpool, both in the Championship and after their promotion to the English Premier League. He scored 19 goals in the 2009/10 season for Blackpool in the Championship and followed that up with 13 goals in the next season in their return to Premier league. His move to Liverpool was always doubted as he was a star of a relegation threatened squad and critics felt that he couldn’t make it big at Liverpool.

Unfortunately, the prediction came out to be true and Adam played a second fiddle to club captain Steven Gerrard. He played just two games for Liverpool the next season and later moved to Stoke City. His career has resurrected a bit and he scored a belter of a goal against Chelsea last season. However, he has never shown the amazing form he once showed at Blackpool.