The hangover left by the loss of a top player and how teams are recovering from it
Football is a team sport, there is no doubt about that, eleven players with different roles that push together to achieve a common goal, win. But, sometimes, we can see cases when a player is or could be, more important than the rest of his teammates. And, when this happens it is noticeable when he is and when he is not on the field.
In the summer, before the start of the 2021/22 season, we witness one of the, if not the, craziest transfer windows ever. Players returning to their old teams like Antoine Griezmann to Atletico de Madrid, or Romelu Lukaku coming back to Chelsea, and even big surprises, like Sergio Ramos leaving Real Madrid.
But, in this article, I will talk about three of the most surprising moves, how their previous teams are being affected by their departures, and how they are trying to recover.
Lionel Messi (FC Barcelona)
First, the incredible move by Lionel Messi, from Barcelona to PSG. This was a huge surprise for everyone, Messi was arguably the best player in the world at that moment, and losing someone who contributed at every stage of the offense, could be really complicated to replace. Although they suffered other departures, such as Antoine Griezmann, the one from the number 10 from Argentina was undoubtedly the most sensitive for the team.
Today, we can see how FC Barcelona is doing without their best player ever. At the moment of writing this article, the Spaniard team is in third place and 15 points away from their biggest rival, Real Madrid, which are the leaders of La Liga, and are competing in the Europa League, something unexpected a long time ago…. But, they are getting better with every match, especially in 2022, ‘Xavi effect’ finally seems to make the difference and new signings like Ferran Torres, Adama Traore or Aubameyang meant a plus for the squad. So, the future looks bright for the ‘culers’.
Cristiano Ronaldo (Juventus FC)
On the other hand, we have Cristiano Ronaldo, who this season left Juventus side, after three years, and came back to one of his old homes, Manchester United. The impact of Cristiano is never in doubt, that’s why we could imagine Juventus struggling after his departure.
So, at the beginning of the season, their performances were bad, many lost matches, and were, at one point, 14 points away from the teams at the top…But, despite this, Juventus still have a competitive squad, and a familiar face as a coach that meant great success for them, Massimiliano Allegri, so they started to pick their level up. Plus, more good news came for the Vecchia Signora with the arrival of Dusan Vlahovic and Denis Zakaria in the winter transfer window. This is helping the team to be consistent with their results for, at least, securing the Champions League qualification for next season.
Right now they are just 7 points behind Milan who are in the 1st seed. So, for Juve, despite a season with highs and lows, like their elimination from UCL, injuries, and the departure of CR7, the season could still be saved and end in a much better way than it started.
Jack Grealish (Aston Villa)
Last but not least, this is also the case for Aston Villa, who lost their star player, Jack Grealish in a record £100m transfer to Manchester City. Maybe this is a different situation unlike those teams previously mentioned, given that the Birmingham team is not usually in the top spots, but the past season, the team finished in eleventh place, their best finish in the Premier League since the 2010/11 campaign.
Jack Grealish was outstanding the whole season and was even called up to represent his country in the Euro 2020. This brought with it a great interest from big teams, which would culminate in his departure from his beloved team. Even though they brought players like Bailey or Buendia, the team could not find themselves in the first half of the season, and this resulted in the decision of parting ways with their manager, Dean Smith and appointing Steven Gerrard to improve the team, something that he is doing so far.
The team was ranked in sixteenth place, only two points above relegation places, and now they are ninth, and the chances of relegation have vanished almost completely. Again, the winter transfer window was important, with the arrivals of Lucas Digne, Calum Chambers, and especially Philippe Coutinho from Barcelona, the Brazilian stats are impressive, with 4 goals and 3 assists in 9 Premier League matches, the balance for Stevie’s team after Cou’s arrival is 4 victories, 2 draws and 3 losses.
The bottom line
So, after a frenetic summer transfer window, with their stars leaving things were difficult, but as we saw, the winter transfer window was key for these teams and help them to recover from a bad beginning, plus, the patience for the new coaches helped too, as they tried to stick their ideas to the team and, with every game they learned how to take advantage of their squads.
Which cases like these do you remember?
