In the world of sports, there are those who are hyped as the best, and perform like the best. After that, we have the players who hide in the shadows. They play just as well as those before them, but never receive the attention or hype that they rightfully deserve.
Then, there are those who are hyped as the best players in the world, but never perform to the level of hype that they receive. These Premier League players show this to be true. No matter how poorly they perform, the hype surrounding them will always be the same. Below are the most overrated players of the English Premier League.
Angel Di Maria – Winger – Manchester United
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Di Maria was signed from European Champions Real Madrid this past summer for a British transfer record. Coming to Manchester United, Di Maria was expected to be somewhat of a savior for the club. The expectations that were placed on the Argentine were so high, there was no way the player could ever match them.
Having cost a reported £59.7 million, Di Maria has failed to meet anyone’s expectations. During his time at Real Madrid, Di Maria lived and played in the shadow of both Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale. His arrival at Old Trafford was supposed to be his time to become a world star. Those expectations were never reachable. Even halfway into his disappointing campaign, Di Maria is hyped as one of the Premier League’s top stars.
That is nowhere near the case. Di Maria sits 36th in the Premier League’s performance index. He currently sits behind Morgan Schneiderlin, Juan Mata and Stewart Downing. All of these players receive little to no attention, but currently rank as better players than the savior that is Angel Di Maria.
Whether it be the expectation or the hype, Di Maria will never be able to match either, and will continue to be one of the Premier League’s most overrated players.
Tim Howard – Goalkeeper – Everton
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As painful as this one is for me. As an American Outlaw and big time United States soccer supporter, it pains me to call the great Tim Howard overrated. Sadly though, Howard lands on this list. However, he lands on this list not because of the Premier League fan, but because of the United States soccer supporters.
Howard has long been hyped as the Greek God of goalkeeping by the American soccer fans. Unfortunately for us, that point stands as completely untrue. He currently sits as the 15th best Premier League goalkeeper this season by the player performance index. For a goalkeeper that’s supposedly one of the best in the world. He also sits fifth in the Premier League’s goals against average.
His poor form this season can be contributed to the poor form of the entire Everton squad. However, Tim Howard has never dominated the Premier League like we as American’s like to believe. Is he a good goalkeeper, yes. Is he a great keeper, no. With so many young American keepers now coming up through the ranks, Howard may not even be seen as the Best American goalkeeper for much longer.
Dejan Lovren – Defender – Liverpool
Following last season’s great performance by Southampton, the club was targeted by the Premier League’s big boys and quickly raided for most of its desirable assets. Unfortunately for Liverpool, they seem to have grabbed the biggest bust of the raid in Dejan Lovren.
Spending £20 million for the Croatian international seemed an inflated amount to begin with. Before Southampton’s campaign, no one had even thought of signing Lovren. An overnight sensation, Lovren was then expected to be a top defender for Liverpool and was handed a contract that payed him like one.
However, Lovren has not even come close to his previous season’s form with Southampton. Instead of helping Liverpool, Lovren has only compounded the issues for the club, and earlier this season had the most unforced errors in the Premier League. Unless his form improves greatly, Lovren could be one of the most overrated defenders of the entire season.