Reaching the pinnacle of the game is the dream of every aspiring footballer and those fortunate enough to make it to the very top are the most likely to win silverware. At least, that is generally what happens.
Sometimes no matter how hard a player tries, though, the quest to
land a major domestic title is ultimately a fruitless one; perhaps due
to the lack of quality teammates around them, a unique sense of loyalty
to their employers or in some cases, just rotten bad luck.
All
three of the above factors can be applied to Steven Gerrard who,
despite going close on a couple of occasions, was unable to captain his
treasured Liverpool to a Premier League title.
However, it seems his retirement came a few years too early as the Reds under Jurgen Klopp are closing in on ending their 30-year championship wait, but a COVID-19 outbreak — which the World Health Organization (WHO) has since declared a pandemic — has brought everything to a temporary halt.
With everything in limbo it remains to be seen if the 2019/20 Premier
League season resumes. Following this unprecedented announcement it was
being reported a few clubs were seeking outright cancellation. A number
of their star players, like Gerrard, have never lifted a league title.
They
include: Alisson, Roberto Firmino, Joe Gomez, Adrián, Jordan Henderson,
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Adam Lallana, Andrew Robertson, Divock Origi,
Joël Matip, Trent Alexander-Arnold.
But among them are
winners from their previous clubs; Fabinho (Monaco), Virgil van Dijk
(Celtic), Georginio Wijnaldum (PSV), Dejan Lovren (Dinamo Zagreb), James
Milner (Man City), Naby Keïta, Sadio Mané plus Takumi Minamino (all Red
Bull Salzburg), Mohamed Salah (FC Basel) and Xherdan Shaqiri (FC Basel
and Bayern Munich).
But there are plenty of others who have
fallen just short of adding that particular honour to their CV. Below
are nine world class players who, despite their best efforts, are yet to
be part of a title-winning side.
1. Antoine Griezmann
Age: 28
Clubs represented: Real Sociedad, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona
League apps: 386
In his first full season, Antoine Griezmann scored six goals in 39
games as Real Sociedad won the Segunda Division and over the next four
seasons he played a key role in establishing the club as a top-half side
in Spain’s top-flight.
So good were the Frenchman’s
performances, Atletico Madrid saw fit to sign him as Chelsea-bound Diego
Costa’s replacement following their improbable La Liga triumph in
2013/14, but in the years to follow Griezmann has finished third on
three occasions for Los Colchoneros, while the past two seasons they
have finished second.
The Frenchman will be hoping he can
change his major league title fortunes at his next club, Barcelona, who
are locked horns with arch-rivals Real Madrid for this season’s La Liga
crown.
2. Marco Reus
Age: 30
Clubs represented: Rot Weiss Ahlen, Borussia Monchengladbach, Borussia Dortmund
League apps: 328
After failing to make the grade as a youth team player at Borussia
Dortmund, Marco Reus returned home in 2012 having shot to prominence
while playing for an overachieving Monchengladbach side.
BVB
had just won back-to-back Bundesliga titles when Reus joined, but as
Bayern Munich began flexing their financial muscle, winning another
title has proven to be an impossible task.
Dortmund came
closest in the 2018/19 season, missing out on the Bundesliga title by
two points despite having led the table for a large part of the seasons.
But Reus will be looking to go again next season, even more desperate
to land a first major title as captain of his beloved Dortmund.
3. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Age: 30
Clubs represented: Saint-Etienne, Borussia Dortmund, Arsenal
League apps: 373
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang spent his first four seasons in
professional football with AC Milan back when the Italian giants were
still competitive. However, he failed to make a single first-team
appearance before leaving for Saint-Etienne in 2011.
While
with Les Verts, Aubameyang exploded into life becoming one of the most
feared strikers in Europe which led to a switch to Borussia Dortmund in
2013, with whom he failed to win the Bundesliga. Now at Arsenal, the
Gabonese international will be hoping that Mikel Arteta can guide the
north London club to domestic dominance next season, that is if he
remains at the club.
4. Hugo Lloris
Age: 33
Clubs represented: Nice, Lyon, Tottenham Hotspur
League apps: 470
France’s captain Hugo Lloris has only a solitary French Cup success
on his club CV as he joined Lyon from Nice just as their iron grip on
Ligue 1 began to disintegrate. Of course, he is a World Cup-winning
captain now, which is a pretty big silver lining.
No honours
have yet been forthcoming since he moved to Tottenham in 2012 but
having penned a new deal at White Hart Lane until 2022, Lloris must be
hopeful of ending that drought in north London.
5. Juan Mata
Age: 31
Clubs represented: Real Madrid Castilla, Valencia, Chelsea, Manchester United
League apps: 391
A product of Real Madrid’s esteemed academy, Mata was not quite able
to break into the first-team and eventually found himself at Valencia
where he won the Copa del Rey in his first season.
After
four productive years at the Mestalla, Mata moved to Chelsea in 2011 and
quickly established himself as an integral part of the team, before
heading up north to sign with Manchester United. And despite playing for
two of England’s most decorated sides, a Premier League trophy has so
far escaped Mata.
6. Marek Hamsik
Age: 32
Clubs represented: Slovan Bratislava, Brescia, Napoli, Dalian Yifang
League apps: 501
The Slovakian playmaker has had to watch stars such as Ezequiel
Lavezzi, Edinson Cavani and Gonzalo Higuain leave Napoli to win titles
elsewhere but he stayed extremely loyal to the cause with 2018/19
representing his twelfth season at the club. And that’s where it
finished as he joined Chinese club Dalian Yifang in February 2019.
During
over a decade’s service, Napoli have flirted with winning a first Serie
A title since the Diego Maradona glory days in the 1980s but second
place is the closest they have come.
7. Dimitri Payet
Age: 32
Clubs represented: AS Excelsior, Nantes, Saint-Etienne, Lille, Marseille, West Ham
League apps: 452
Perhaps unsurprisingly given he has only truly blossomed into an
elite performer in the last few years, Dimitri Payet is yet to win a
league championship.
Payet joined Lille in 2011 just after
Eden Hazard, Gervinho et al had inspired them to a surprise league
victory but the arrival of the Qatari millions at PSG made it infinitely
harder for clubs like Lille and Marseille – who he joined in 2013
before returning three years later after a brief spell at West Ham – to
win the top flight.
8. Laurent Koscielny
Age: 33
Clubs represented: Guingamp, Tours, Lorient, Arsenal, Bordeaux
League apps: 391
After spending his first few years in Ligue 2, Laurent Koscielny
stepped up into Ligue 1 to sign Lorient in 2009 and after one
outstanding season with them, he earned a dream move to Arsenal.
After
making the Emirates home, Koscielny won two FA Cups but the Gunners’
never came close to Premier League glory and he’d leave in the summer of
2019 opting for a return to France with Bordeaux.
And the
chances of them winning a first league title since 2009 are remote with
The Girondins sitting 31 points behind runaway leaders PSG.
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