With many high-profile players having gone through difficult times in recent seasons, here are five stars who have proved their doubters wrong in 2023/24!
Jadon Sancho (Manchester United, on loan at Borussia Dortmund)
Sancho has been making headlines for all the right reasons of late, with his January loan switch to Dortmund allowing him to rediscover his form after a horrible first half of the season at United. The skilful winger had a dreadful time at Old Trafford as he was given just 76 minutes' worth of action and spent four months frozen out of the team by Red Devils boss Erik ten Hag earlier in the campaign. However, at Dortmund, he has been a prominent figure in the squad, starting in 15 of his 17 appearances for the German outfit. Having joined the Red Devils for a mouthwatering fee of €85 million (R1.6 billion), there were some arguments the 24-year-old has failed to live up to the hype and his fallout with Ten Hag was blamed on a supposed poor attitude. This week, many doubts over his ability were put to bed when he almost single-handedly inspired BVB to a 1-0 win in their Champions League semi-final first leg against Paris Saint-Germain. He also achieved a stunning milestone by becoming the first player to complete 10 or more dribbles in a Champions League semi-final across the past eight seasons.