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.
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Cole Palmer (Chelsea)
The 21-year-old has been an absolute revelation at Stamford Bridge, which appears to be a far cry to what he was during his time with his boyhood club, City. Given the lofty sums of money spent on signings, by Chelsea in particular, his €47 million (R935 million) move is now widely viewed as a bargain as he has outperformed all his new teammates with 25 goals and 13 assists so far. Ironically, he has made 41 appearances under Mauricio Pochettino this term, which is the same number of matches he played under Pep Guardiola at City. The Citizens boss has also made it no secret that he couldn't give Palmer the game time he would've liked, and this ultimately led to the England star forcing his way out of the Etihad, a move that has already helped him break into the senior national team under Gareth Southgate.
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Ousmane Dembele (Paris Saint-Germain)
The France international joined PSG at the beginning of the season to replace Neymar, whom he, ironically, replaced at FC Barcelona in 2017. Due to his extensive injury record, which disrupted his Barca career, many would have expected more or less the same to happen when he joined the Parisians. However, Dembele has not missed a single game this season due to injury, making an impressive 39 appearances in all competitions so far. It has been a remarkable turnaround for the 26-year-old, who missed 141 games through injury during his time at the Camp Nou, according to Transfermarkt. His 14 assists in all competitions so far this season is also the most he has made in his career since his final season with Dortmund (21 assists) in 2016/17.
Mason Greenwood (Manchester United, on loan at Getafe)
After spending 18 months without playing football, Greenwood now appears to have been successful in rebuilding his career. The 22-year-old was arrested on charges of attempted rape, controlling behaviour, and assault in January 2022, but the case was dropped a year later by the Crown Prosecution Service. Following a further six-month internal investigation by United, he was loaned out to Getafe, where he has played 31 matches and registered 10 goals and six assists so far. His career seemed to be slipping away from him at one point, but recent reports suggest that he is now the subject of interest from some big clubs such as Juventus and Atletico Madrid. Like many English players in recent seasons, he has now made a bit of a name for himself outside of the Premier League.
Kai Havertz (Arsenal)
Arguably one of Arsenal's most important players today, things weren't always positive for the German at the Emirates, having gone through the first six Premier League games of the campaign without a single goal involvement. However, since the turn of the year, Havertz has 13 goals contributions in the league, which has been hugely beneficial in the Gunners' push for the title. Despite the huge criticism he faced in the first half of the season, the 24-year-old has kept the likes of Gabriel Jesus and Eddie Nketiah out of the starting line-up, and is now the first-choice striker in Mikel Arteta's team.
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