We look who failed to consistently impress in the Premier League after promising spells

Premier League one-season wonders: 12 players who failed to deliver consistently in England's top flight

By Sporting Life

Football

Fri April 17, 2020 · 5y ago

Harry Kane was initially dubbed as a 'one-season wonder' in some quarters following a 31-goal haul during his breakthrough campaign with Tottenham.

With 181 goals in 278 appearances for the north Londoners, 32 in 45 for England and captaining his country at the 2018 World Cup, as well as reaching the Champions League final with Spurs the following year, it is fair to say he has proved his doubters wrong.

Unlike Kane though, plenty of former Premier League players have been unable to shake off the tag after initially setting high standards.

Here is a look at some of those who faded into relative obscurity after enjoying a standout top-flight campaign...

Have we missed anyone? If you have any suggestions, let us know on Facebook here or tweet @SportingLifeFC!

Fabrizio Ravanelli (Middlesbrough, 1996/97)

Bryan Robson's Middlesbrough forked out £7m in 1996 to sign silver-haired Italian striker Fabrizio Ravanelli from Juventus.

He lived up to his billing, firing 18 goals and laying on two assists in 37 appearances but that was still not enough to save the Teessiders from the drop, although they memorably reached the final of both the League Cup and FA Cup, losing to Leicester and Chelsea respectively.

A personality, that's for sure, Ravanelli moved to Marseille after one season after Boro's relegation.

He returned to England in 2001 with Derby, scoring 10 in his first season as the Rams also went down and he played a campaign in the First Division before moving north of the border to Dundee.

One-season wonder may be a little harsh after reaching double figures at Pride Park, but he is mostly remembered for his time at Riverside and that stint was certainly short and sweet.

Michael Bridges (Leeds, 1999/00)

England Under-21 international Bridges is perhaps unfortunate to be included on the list given his persistent injury issues.

Aged just 21, he fired David O'Leary's exciting young Leeds side to Champions League qualification by registering 19 league goals, a tally bettered only by Kevin Phillips, Alan Shearer and Dwight Yorke.

He failed to score again for the West Yorkshire club and, following unsuccessful stints with Newcastle, Bolton and first club Sunderland, became a journeyman striker whose career ended in Australia.

Marcus Stewart (Ipswich, 2000/01)

Stewart outscored Thierry Henry and Michael Owen as George Burley's Tractor Boys qualified for the UEFA Cup following a remarkable fifth-placed finish in their first campaign since promotion.

Only Golden Boot winner Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink managed more than his 19 league goals but, for both club and player, the good times did not last. Ipswich went down the following season and Stewart again suffered relegation a year later after moving to Sunderland.

A prolific Football League striker for Bristol Rovers and Huddersfield in the early days of his career, he never again played in the top flight, while Ipswich are yet to return.

Michael Ricketts (Bolton, 2001/02)

Ricketts initially continued his red-hot scoring streak in the top flight after firing Bolton to promotion via the play-offs, prompting England recognition.

His solitary international cap came in a friendly against Holland under Sven-Goran Eriksson in February 2002 but he had already fallen out of form by then and was overlooked for the World Cup squad.

The last of his 12 league goals that season came in January. A 2003 move to Middlesbrough failed to spark an upturn in fortunes and he went on to have limited success with a series of Championship and League One clubs before retirement.

Roque Santa Cruz (Blackburn, 2007/08)

Having arrived from Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich with a fairly uninspiring scoring record, Santa Cruz banged in the goals during his first season at Ewood Park.

He claimed 23 in all competitions, including 19 in the Premier League. Despite managing just four league strikes the following campaign, big-spending Manchester City opted to splash a reported £17.5million to reunite him with former Rovers boss Mark Hughes.

He flopped at the Etihad Stadium but, aged 38, was named Paraguayan footballer of the year for 2019 for his performances for Asuncion-based Club Olimpia.

Benjani (Portsmouth 2007/08)

Benjamin Mwaruwari arrived in England in 2006, joining Portsmouth from French side Auxerre for a club-record £4.1m - then aged 27.

Despite staying in England until 2012, he only managed double figures in one campaign.

That came in 07/08, firing 15 goals and three assists in 36 Premier League appearances. His performances in the first half of that season earned Benjani a move to Sven-Goran Eriksson's Man City for an initial £3.87m - although in the video below Harry Redknapp claims it was more.

Three of those goals that term only came for the Citizens and in the next campaign he scored three and assisted two in just 12 appearances in all competitions.

After that, he joined Sunderland on loan midway through 09/10, before moving to Blackburn permanently and returning to Pompey a year later.

A good excuse to get this story out from Redknapp, his boss at Pompey who encouraged a reluctant Benjani to move to the Etihad...

Robinho (Man City 2008/09)

Robinho was the real statement signing which signalled the start of a glorious era for Manchester City.

The Brazilian was the first world star to switch to the Etihad after Sheikh Mansour's takeover, joining from Real Madrid for a British record £32.5m despite interest from Chelsea.

There have been suggestions that Robinho did not know who City were when he signed, but being a Brazilian, a big name and former Real Madrid star and commanding such a price tag brought big expectations from the fans.

His quality was there to see and the attacker scored 14 and assisted five in 31 Premier League appearances in his first campaign.

His second season was interrupted by injury, failing to score in 10 appearances before returning to old club Santos in January to boost his World Cup prospects.

The following summer he then left for AC Milan in a permanent deal, reportedly for a fee in the region of £18m.

Amr Zaki (Wigan, 2008/09)

Similar to Ricketts, Zaki is another striker perhaps more accurately described as a 'half-season wonder'. The Egypt international's superb start to life in England prompted comparisons to Premier League record goalscorer Alan Shearer from Wigan's chairman Dave Whelan.

On loan from Zamalek, he scored 11 goals for the Latics before the end of 2008, including twice at Liverpool, but failed to add to that tally after the turn of the year.

A goalless loan spell with Hull followed before he returned to the Middle East, playing in his homeland, Turkey, Kuwait, Morocco and Lebanon.

Michu (Swansea, 2012/13)

MICHU | All 28 Goals for Swansea City

The Spaniard was relatively unknown when he joined Michael Laudrup's Swans from Rayo Vallecano for around £2million. He promptly made his mark, hitting 22 goals in all competitions as the club lifted the League Cup for the first time and secured a top-half finish.

After an extremely underwhelming second year at the Liberty Stadium, which included an international cap, a subsequent injury-hit loan spell in Serie A with Napoli proved even less fruitful.

He briefly represented amateur side UP Langreo and second-tier Spanish club Oviedo following his departure from south Wales before retiring aged 31 in 2017.

Papiss Cisse (Newcastle, 2012/13)

Newcastle signed Senegalese forward Papiss Cisse from German outfit Freiburg for a reported £10m fee in January 2012, in the hope he could form a deadly partnership with compatriot Demba Ba.

They showed promise together, with Cisse netting 13 and assisting two more before the end of the campaign.

The following year, a season in which Ba departed for Chelsea in January, he scored 13 goals (just eight in the Premier League) in 47 appearances in all competitions.

The year after saw him bag four goals and three assists in 27 appearances in all competitions, an improved 11 Premier League goals in 22 appearances in 14/15 and three goals in 21 before leaving for China at the end of 15/16.

Cisse is now 34 and plying his trade with Turkish Super League side Alanyaspor.

Not the worst on this list, but disappointing after hitting the ground running in his first six months. A player that will, ultimately, be remembered for THAT goal for Alan Pardew's side at Stamford Bridge in his first campaign- see below...

Asamoah Gyan (Sunderland, 2010/11)

Asamoah Gyan scored three goals as Ghana reached the quarter-finals of the 2010 World Cup, going out on penalties to Uruguay in controversial fashion after that Luis Suarez handball.

Gyan's impressive displays earned the 24-year-old Rennes forward a move to Sunderland for a club-record fee reported to be 'in excess' of £13m.

Aside from irking football purists by wearing the number three shirt for his country - 'a powerful number,' he later revealed - Gyan took to the English game well, scoring 11 goals and assisting five more in 33 appearances for the Black Cats (all comps) in his first campaign.

He made just four outings in 11/12 before his head was turned and he left for the UAE, initially on loan in a move he has since admitted was financially motivated.

“I enjoyed every single minute there," he has since told FourFourTwo of his Sunderland spell.

"It’s one of my proudest moments in life to have played at such a great club in such a unique football country. Sometimes I feel that I left early but maybe that’s what fate had in store for me.

“The fans were unbelievable through thick and thin. Day and night, they’d travel to see us play. Man, it was something else.”

Nikica Jelavic (Everton, 2011/12)

Rangers signed Croatian striker Nikica Jelavic, 24, from Rapid Vienna for £4m in 2010. He enjoyed life in Glasgow, scoring 36 and laying on 15 assists in 56 appearances to become a hit with the fans.

Halfway through his second campaign at Ibrox, Everton secured his services for £5.5m. He made an impressive start to life at Goodison, netting on his home debut (below), scoring nine goals in 13 Premier League appearances, alongside two and assisting another couple in three FA Cup displays.

The following campaign was more disappointing, scoring just eight in 43 outings and seven in 26 in 13/14, a campaign in which he moved to Hull City for £6.5m.

He joined West Ham for around £3m 18 months later but moved to China after just five months.