A professional football player must know when to say goodbye to the club if it’s not going his way. There is no point in hanging on to a club knowing that it is not taking his career to any concrete level.
Football clubs and players are a unique love story which can go sour at any given moment. At times, clubs let go their key players for their own benefits while players move on to find new challenges in their career.
At present, we see far too many players being benched by their clubs and are not given enough opportunities to play at their full potential. On that note, we take a look at five supremely talented players who need to quit their current club to get regular playing time and restore their sinking career.
Theo Walcott (Arsenal)
There could not have been a better example to start with than Theo Walcott. The Arsenal striker gets a huge build up at the start of every season but end results are nothing short of shambolic. People are still hoping to see him play at the levels of Thierry Henry, which is clearly not going to happen.
Both fans and Walcott need to face the reality of being not good enough to carry Arsenal’s attack throughout the course of a season. Despite his improved finishing and goal scoring return, he is not cut to lead Arsenal’s attack at the moment.
He would be better off taking a career move and play close to 30 games a season, which will not only benefit him as a player but give England a better player to count on as well.
Mario Gotze (Bayern Munich)
World Cup winning hero Mario Gotze has been strongly linked with a move to Liverpool in the summer and it would make perfect sense for him to join Jurgen Klopp and try to find his lost form.
Gotze has been left out of the squad by Pep Guardiola and with Carlo Ancelotti coming in next season, we might see some new talent arrive at Allianz Arena which would further send Gotze down in the pecking order.
Klopp is keen to sign his former protégé and if signed, Liverpool would have a decent attacking lineup with Gotze, Coutinho and Firmino.
James Rodriguez (Real Madrid)
James is clearly suffering from manager’s favorable selection criteria. Zinedine Zidane prefers to have Casemiro and Toni Kroos both in his starting lineup, which has seen James get sacrificed.
At present, James is easily among top 5 playmakers in World Football. The Colombian star was voted as the best player at FIFA World Cup 2014, thus he clearly is a top player who needs a transfer away from his current club.
Manchester United and Chelsea are strongly linked with a move for the Colombian which would cost them about £50-60mllion. However, given his talent, the amount looks bleak.
Edinson Cavani (PSG)
Cavani is facing similar issues like James where his manager prefers to pick someone else ahead of him. Cavani is battling the demigod himself Zlatan Ibrahimovic at PSG for a place in the staring XI.
Often Cavani is either left on the bench or he starts in an unnatural position. Despite Ibra’s exit talks, Cavani is adamant to quit Parc des Princes next summer and there will be a line of clubs waiting for his signature.
Manchester United, Chelsea, Juventus and Atletico Madrid have been linked with the player. Wherever Cavani decides to ply his football next season, he will surely be an asset for that club.
Christian Benteke (Liverpool)
This £32.5million move clearly did not work out for either Liverpool or for Christian Benteke himself. The big Belgian is already finding it tough to save his International career due to the lack of game time at Anfield.
Benteke and his playing style would be a dream for many top teams including West Ham, Everton, Stoke and Manchester United.
More or less, we will see Benteke quit Liverpool after just one season which would be a wise move for him given Jurgen Klopp’s playing style which clearly has no place for him right now.