Unused Substitute: The Best Wasted Talents in Europe
Anyone who follows football is aware of how inflated transfer prices have become in recent years, with European super-clubs paying well over the odds for up-and-coming stars. However, over the past year a new trend has developed, which has seen clubs stockpile talent for extortionate prices only to then restrict such talent to the substitutes bench for most or all of the season. Here are some examples of this worrying new development which could see some of Europe's best players regressing to such an extent that their careers cannot recover.
Mariano Diaz
A product of the Real Madrid academy, Diaz rejoined the Spanish giants in 2018 having been offloaded only a year previously to Lyon, where he scored 18 goals in 37 games. Arriving with a £22m price tag and the Number 7 on his back, which had only just been vacated by a Juventus-bound Ronaldo, few expected Diaz to be CR7's successor but most will have hoped for more than just 4 league goals in his 2 years back at Madrid. With zero starts in all competitions and having spent little more than an hour on the pitch this season, it could be argued that Diaz has been criminally under-used by Zidane, with the Dominican Republic international scoring just one minute after coming off the bench in March's season-defining El Classico. However, with Karim Benzema, Luka Jovic, Eden Hazard, Vinicius Junior, Gareth Bale, Rodrygo, Marcos Asensio and Lucas Vazquez also currently on the books, Mariano has proved to be a very expensive reserve in an inflated squad.
Xherdan Shaqiri
Despite proving himself to be a useful super sub in his first season at Anfield, the diminutive Swiss winger has been largely forgotten about this season amidst Liverpool's unprecedented success. The form of first-choice attacking trio Mo Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane, as well as the unlikely emergence of Divock Origi, has limited Shaqiri to just two league starts all season and 1 minute of Premier League football in 2020. The signing of Takumi Minamino from RB Salzburg in January to act as cover for wingers Salah and Mane suggests Klopp has lost faith in a player he once trusted to start the biggest games, and a career including stints at Bayern Munich and Inter Milan is now at risk of stalling out unless Shaqiri can get a move away from Liverpool.
Mario Gotze
A crucial part of Borussia Dortmund's double title-winning side of the early 2010s, Gotze's status as the rising star of German football was elevated exponentially when he scored the winning goal in the 2014 World Cup final in the 113th minute against Argentina to give Germany their first world championship in 24 years. His three-year spell at Bayern Munich failed to live up to expectations, but a return to Dortmund in 2016 was supposed to restore the prodigy to his anticipated glory. 5 starts this season has instead left Gotze even further from replicating the form that earned him 63 caps for his national side, as he continues to slip down Dortmund's pecking order and closer to obscurity.
Federico Bernardeschi
Signed for an initial £36m in 2017 by Juventus after a breakthrough season with Fiorentina, Bernardeschi is the epitome of Juve's transfer policy to sign the best players from smaller Italian teams primarily to weaken their opposition. Bernardeschi has not been a total failure in Turin, featuring frequently in European competition, but this season has seen him become surplus to manager Maurizio Sarri's requirements as the reigning champions' set-up becomes more and more geared around Ronaldo in the hope of delivering a first Champions League since 1996. With Gonzalo Higuain being preferred as the best strike partner for Ronaldo, and widemen Paulo Dybala, Douglas Costa and Juan Cuadrado all competing for the final attacking berth in Sarri's 4-3-3 system, the promise shown by Bernardeschi early in his career is being wasted on the Juve bench.
Mariano Diaz
A product of the Real Madrid academy, Diaz rejoined the Spanish giants in 2018 having been offloaded only a year previously to Lyon, where he scored 18 goals in 37 games. Arriving with a £22m price tag and the Number 7 on his back, which had only just been vacated by a Juventus-bound Ronaldo, few expected Diaz to be CR7's successor but most will have hoped for more than just 4 league goals in his 2 years back at Madrid. With zero starts in all competitions and having spent little more than an hour on the pitch this season, it could be argued that Diaz has been criminally under-used by Zidane, with the Dominican Republic international scoring just one minute after coming off the bench in March's season-defining El Classico. However, with Karim Benzema, Luka Jovic, Eden Hazard, Vinicius Junior, Gareth Bale, Rodrygo, Marcos Asensio and Lucas Vazquez also currently on the books, Mariano has proved to be a very expensive reserve in an inflated squad.
Xherdan Shaqiri
Despite proving himself to be a useful super sub in his first season at Anfield, the diminutive Swiss winger has been largely forgotten about this season amidst Liverpool's unprecedented success. The form of first-choice attacking trio Mo Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane, as well as the unlikely emergence of Divock Origi, has limited Shaqiri to just two league starts all season and 1 minute of Premier League football in 2020. The signing of Takumi Minamino from RB Salzburg in January to act as cover for wingers Salah and Mane suggests Klopp has lost faith in a player he once trusted to start the biggest games, and a career including stints at Bayern Munich and Inter Milan is now at risk of stalling out unless Shaqiri can get a move away from Liverpool.
Mario Gotze
A crucial part of Borussia Dortmund's double title-winning side of the early 2010s, Gotze's status as the rising star of German football was elevated exponentially when he scored the winning goal in the 2014 World Cup final in the 113th minute against Argentina to give Germany their first world championship in 24 years. His three-year spell at Bayern Munich failed to live up to expectations, but a return to Dortmund in 2016 was supposed to restore the prodigy to his anticipated glory. 5 starts this season has instead left Gotze even further from replicating the form that earned him 63 caps for his national side, as he continues to slip down Dortmund's pecking order and closer to obscurity.
Federico Bernardeschi
Signed for an initial £36m in 2017 by Juventus after a breakthrough season with Fiorentina, Bernardeschi is the epitome of Juve's transfer policy to sign the best players from smaller Italian teams primarily to weaken their opposition. Bernardeschi has not been a total failure in Turin, featuring frequently in European competition, but this season has seen him become surplus to manager Maurizio Sarri's requirements as the reigning champions' set-up becomes more and more geared around Ronaldo in the hope of delivering a first Champions League since 1996. With Gonzalo Higuain being preferred as the best strike partner for Ronaldo, and widemen Paulo Dybala, Douglas Costa and Juan Cuadrado all competing for the final attacking berth in Sarri's 4-3-3 system, the promise shown by Bernardeschi early in his career is being wasted on the Juve bench.
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