Hottestgistnaija.com
From Yaya Toure to Yaya Sanogo… Here are 10 of the Premier League’s forgotten men from this campaign
- Sportsmail take a look at some of the Premier League’s forgotten players
- Yaya Toure and Matteo Darmian have both been alienated in Manchester
- £13.5million man Oumar Niasse is still yet to feature at Everton this season
- Yaya Sanogo and John Obi Mikel have also fallen down the pecking order
Have you glanced at a Premier League squad list this season and thought – ‘How on earth is he still there?’
As hard as managers try to keep their squads happy through rotation, there are always some who play so rarely that you’d almost forgotten they exist.
We take a look at 10 forgotten men in this season’s Premier League squads.
+11
No players are safe in the Premier League with Jose Mourinho (left) and Pep Guardiola in town
YAYA SANOGO (Arsenal)
You have to go back to September 2014 to find the last time French striker Sanogo pulled on an Arsenal shirt yet there he is, listed next to No 22 on their squad list for this season.
Having spent time out on loan at Crystal Palace, Ajax and Charlton Athletic since then – without any success – it is a surprise that Sanogo wasn’t offloaded or at least loaned over the summer.
Apparently Arsene Wenger blocked a loan move to Leeds United on deadline day yet he hasn’t played a single minute yet this season and, quite frankly, isn’t likely to.
Yaya Sanogo looked short of Arsenal standard when he signed – that continues to be the case
MATTEO DARMIAN (Manchester United)
Through no fault of his own, Darmian appears to have become an unwanted relic of the disastrous Louis van Gaal era at Old Trafford.
The Italian right-back played 39 times last season but Jose Mourinho has limited his opportunities, with just one outing, in the Europa League loss to Feyenoord, to date in this campaign.
Little wonder his agent is saying that he’ll look to move away in January unless the situation changes.
Matteo Darmian (right) has featured once under Jose Mourinho and looks set for a move away
JOHN OBI MIKEL (Chelsea)
Mikel was allowed time to recover after leading Nigeria to a bronze medal at the Olympics out in Rio, but he hasn’t featured in a Chelsea squad since his return.
Used often by Jose Mourinho and Guus Hiddink last season, Mikel has fallen down the pecking order after Antonio Conte brought in N’Golo Kante over the summer.
Mikel, whose contract expires at the end of the season, may well have played his last game in a blue shirt.
John Obi Mikel is out of favour under new boss Antonio Conte and out of contract this summer
DANNY INGS (Liverpool)
With Liverpool in excellent early-season form, you’d imagine Danny Ings is irritated the club turned down big money offers for him over the summer.
The unlucky striker barely featured last season because of serious injury and hasn’t yet played a minute of this one despite making a recovery.
And with the likes of Roberto Firmino and Philippe Coutinho impressing, he’ll have to go some to win his place back.
Danny Ings has recovered from his ACL injury but cannot displace Liverpool’s in form strikers
TOM CARROLL (Tottenham Hotspur)
Tottenham have made a brilliant start to the season, with Mauricio Pochettino’s men flying high in the Premier League.
But with a settled team, it means someone has to miss out and Carroll has played just one minute of Premier League football so far.
The summer arrivals of Victor Wanyama and Moussa Sissoko haven’t helped his cause and you sense Carroll might have to look elsewhere for greater first-team opportunities.
The arrivals of Victor Wanyama and Moussa Sissoko have put Carroll down the pecking order
YAYA TOURE (Manchester City)
A Manchester City club legend, Toure’s final season isn’t quite the swansong he’d imagined.
First, new manager Pep Guardiola questioned his fitness. Then his agent got into a war of words with the boss. And, since Guardiola picks the team, Toure has consequently made just the one appearance this season.
It doesn’t exactly help that free-scoring City are playing so well and topping the table in his absence.
Yaya Toure is yet to play a single minute in the Premier League under new boss Pep Guardiola
OUMAR NIASSE (Everton)
Everton paid £13.5million for Niasse back in February and have received pretty much the worst possible return on him.
It was already painfully apparent last season that he wasn’t up to scratch and new manager Ronald Koeman told him to find a new club.
Niasse didn’t go anywhere and it comes as no surprise that he hasn’t yet featured this season.
Oumar Niasse was signed for £13m in January but clearly has no future under Ronald Koeman
MATTY JAMES (Leicester City)
A mainstay of the Leicester team that won promotion to the Premier League and then pulled off the ‘Great Escape’ in 2014-15, James was desperately unlucky when he ruptured his anterior ligaments and spent the most famous season in the club’s history on the sidelines.
Only now is James returning to fitness and the club he has served so well has been transformed in the meantime to something he could never have imagined.
Matty James was a key player for the Foxes but long term injury has seen the club pass him by
ZEKI FRYERS (Crystal Palace)
The youngster who left Manchester United for Tottenham under a cloud of controversy in 2012 has barely been seen since.
He’s on the books at Palace, but has played only 15 minutes of Premier League football this season and none last. Much of the intervening period has been spent on loan in the Championship.
Fryers is 24, but has played just 11 top-flight matches in England.
Zeki Fryers is a rare starter for Crystal Palace having been on the books of Manchester United
SEBASTIAN LARSSON (Sunderland)
Larsson was likely to have featured for Sunderland more prominently this season under David Moyes after a disrupted campaign last year.
But he suffered a six-month setback after damaging his knee ligaments in training on the eve of the season.
The Swede, who has been at Sunderland since 2011, found opportunities limited last season as they somehow survived relegation.
