Athletistic/ Football. In the summer of 2022, many players not only changed their club registration, but also returned to their previous clubs after a loan spell that was successful for some, but mixed or completely unsuccessful for others.
Alvaro Morata, Anthony Martial and Donny van de Beek – not the whole list of ‘returnees’. But these names are well known to football fans, as until recently each of these four football players was considered a rising star in the sport.
Which of them is still able to justify their hopes, and who has already missed their chance?
Donny van de Beek
One of the most talented Dutch players of the new generation, the Ajax star of the 2018/2019 season, who reached the semi-finals of the Champions League, was supposed to be Manchester United’s new star.
However, after joining the English club, van de Beek has simply not found the right candidate for the team’s head coach, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who finds no use for the player’s skills. . In his first season at Manchester United, van de Beek made 36 appearances in all competitions, including 19 in the Premier League, scoring one goal and providing two assists.
It wasn’t expected of one of European football’s top talents, but, in all fairness, it’s worth noting that it wasn’t expected of Solskjaer, who at times not only gave van de Beek minimal playing time, but ignored it, not including it in match requests.
The situation has not changed for van de Beek in his second season in Manchester, either under Solskjaer or under Ralph Rangnick, who replaced him in November 2021. The Dutch midfielder has made 14 appearances and scored one goal for Manchester United in the first half of the 2021/2022 season before joining Everton on loan on January 31, 2022.
It cannot be said that at Everton Donnie immediately began to prove that after the expiry of the lease he intended to return to Manchester United and fight for a place in the first team there : the Dutchman played only 7 games for the club Liverpool, in which he scored one goal.
Van de Beek’s future in England has predetermined the appointment of Eric ten Hag, the former Ajax coach, under whose guidance Donny emerged in the Dutch league, as Manchester United head coach for the 2022/2023 season. Ten Hag immediately said he was counting on van de Beek next season, so the central midfielder remained in the team.
Given that Serbian Nemanja Matic and Frenchman Paul Pogba have left United, it’s safe to say the Dutchman will get some playing time in the squad, it’s highly likely he’ll become a first-team player before ten. year.
Antoine Martial
French striker Anthony Martial’s Manchester United career has been in decline for two seasons. Antoni has been with the Red Devils since 2015 and was a regular between 2015 and 2020. In the 2019/20 season, Martial became the team’s top scorer of the season, scoring 23 goals for Manchester United in all the competitions.
During this five-year streak, Anthony has regularly played over forty games in all competitions during the season, with the sole exception of the 2018/2019 season, where he took part in 38 games. However, after the productive 2019/2020 season, one of Martial’s worst seasons followed – 2020/2021. In 36 games in all competitions, the striker has scored just 7 goals and provided 5 assists.
After such an unconvincing performance, Martial was expected to prove himself next year, but Cristiano Ronaldo returned to Manchester United and Anthony had to forget not only his place in the first team, but also the rare minutes played. part of the English club, the Frenchman spent the first half of the 2021/2022 season, playing 11 matches and scoring one goal, after which in January 2022 he joined Spanish Sevilla on loan until the end of the season.
In Sevilla, Martial did even worse: in 12 matches in all competitions, the striker only managed to score once and provided an assist. In the last part of the season, representatives of “Sevilla” said that they were not going to buy the striker from Manchester and that he would return to England at the end of the contract.
For now, Martial, like van de Beek, is back at Manchester United, but it’s still unclear whether the team’s new coach Eric ten Hag is counting on him or not. In the situation with Martial, a lot will depend not only on ten Hags, but also on Cristiano Ronaldo, who is paired with a new European club almost every day.
If Ronaldo and Martial both stay in the team, then Anthony will be a replacement. If Cristiano still leaves and Martial gets another chance, then he can try to prove to ten Hagu that he’s capable of the same feats he did in the 2019/2020 season.
Alvaro Morata
Spanish striker Alvaro Morata has played exclusively for top clubs. His track record includes Real Madrid, Juventus, Chelsea and Atlético Madrid. At each of these clubs, Morata showed roughly the same performance indicators, scoring around 20 goals per season.
If you look at Alvaro’s stats, you might be wondering why he was so highly rated by all the clubs above. Barely reaching the mark of 15-20 goals per season, Morata manages to be a valuable shot for the giants of world football and the Spanish national team, in which he also does not shine with his performances – 26 goals in 56 games since 2014.
Perhaps the point is that Alvaro’s functionality isn’t limited to playing up front. In great shape and in good spirits, Morata is good at playing along, shooting, and even down one of the flanks.
On June 30, 2022, Juventus officially said goodbye to Alvaro, who played for the Turin club in the 2014/2015, 2015/2016, 2020/2021 and 2021/2022 seasons. When he first arrived in Turin, Morata scored 27 goals and provided 17 assists in 93 games. The second trip brought him 32 goals and 18 assists in 92 appearances.
The striker returned to Atlético Madrid, where he played in the second half of the 2018/2019 season and in the 2019/2020 season. It’s not yet clear whether Morata counts on ‘mattress’ head coach Diego Simeone. Luis Suarez has left Atlético, and if the club’s management aren’t considering acquiring a centre-forward to replace the Uruguayan, Alvaro could get another shot at Madrid.
If the “mattress” still acquires a striker, then Morata should try his luck at another club. For some reason, there is no doubt that this club will belong to the “top” category.
Maxim Fomchenkov, sport.ru
Source: Sport
I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
