Couldn’t do it on a cold night in Stoke: Part Two

The Premier League is an elite members club. The snobbery to those who have failed to achieve within it is untrue.

20 teams, 23 man squads. Around four hundred men will regularly vacate its pastures each season.

To be generally considered a success, you need to have really made your mark. As soon as foreign imports became common fodder in the Premier League era, the source material has become a lot more in-depth.

From the rarity in the seventies to see Ossie Ardiles and Ricky Villa sporting Spurs white, to now the number of foreign players outnumbering the domestic ones, it has certainly proven easier as time has gone by.

In this series I will be looking at five imports who failed to make it on our shores, and, according to the popular saying, ‘couldn’t do it on a cold night in Stoke’.

Today’s piece will be on fullbacks. Traditionally a less important position, nowadays it perhaps carries the most prestige that it ever has.

Which players failed to make the grade over here, as the domestic brilliance of Trent Alexander-Arnold, the Neville’s, Ashley Cole, Lee Dixon and the likes have taken the limelight.

1: Benjamin MENDY

I mentioned previously the growing importance of fullbacks in the modern game, especially with elite sides such as Manchester City.

The Pep Guardiola revolution had begun. The departures of ageing fullbacks Aleksandar Kolarov and Bacary Sagna allowed City to invest in the very premium at the time. Kyle Walker, and one Benjamin Mendy.

Mendy and Walker cost £100 million, money unheard of when it came to fullbacks, and at the beginning it was working out for both. City playing total football, Pep on his way to consecutive titles.

But a notable absence in both wins was a consistency at left full back. Due to injury, Benjamin Mendy is still yet to make 30 league appearances for the Citizens – meaning auxiliary replacements Fabian Delph and Olexandr Zinchenko have taken his place.

His lack of game time has simply meant his move has been a failure. At 25, he still has plenty of time to readjust and make the £50 million fee worth it.

2: Matteo DARMIAN

Excitement and transition. Two words preceding the Louis van Gaal era at Manchester United, and profiled by the ambitious recruitment which I’m sure will not stop at Matteo Darmian in this series.

Unfortunately not many worked out for them, including the versatile ex-Torino man.

In the season previous he’d scored five in 47 for the Turin side, attracting a whole host of sides across Europe. United picked him up for around £12.7 million, and he began by winning the clubs player of the month in August 2015.

It went severely downhill for Darmian from there though, going on to average just 15 appearances per season across four years with the club.

He departed at the start of the current season, joining Parma for under £1 million. One for United to forget about and certainly cut their losses.

3: Rigobert SONG

Internationally, Rigobert Song is considered an absolute icon. A Cameroonian who represented his country at eight AFCONs (a record), and four World Cups between 1994 and 2010.

His domestic career however, especially in England, was not as successful.

After spells in France and Italy, Song arrived on English shores for £2.7 million in 1999, for Liverpool and Gerard Houllier. He became a bit of a cult hero for his effort and all-action style but failed to really establish himself in the first team.

He played predominantly as a fullback, but could also be deployed in the centre.

After being traded to West Ham United for young Fin Daniel Sjolund, he was identified as the replacement for Rio Ferdinand – but shunned this as he believed it was derogatory to his own talent.

24 appearances later, he was shipped to FC Koln on loan, and then permanently to RC Lens.

4: DANILO

To have Porto, Real Madrid, Manchester City and Juventus on one’s CV, you have to be a half-decent player.

And that is what Danilo is – but perhaps his time in Manchester proves this more than his other spells in Europe. Never really a first team regular, always tidy, but slightly underwhelming.

He failed to dislodge Kyle Walker in City’s side after joining in 2017, and featured occasionally at left back in Mendy’s absence.

The Brazilian international never really made the impact that he wanted with his notable moment a screamer at Turf Moor, but will probably be a forgettable player from Pep Guardiola’s centurions.

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5: Oleg LUZHNY

A man who captained Ukraine a record 39 times, alike to Song, Oleg Luzhny isn’t recognised as much for his club career as he is for his international outings.

His career before he set foot on our shores mostly consisted of an eight year spell at Dynamo Kyiv, with his most notable achievement captaining the side who did a 7-0 aggregate double over Barcelona in 1997, then knocking out holders Real Madrid on his way to the Semi-Final in 1999.

He arrived at Arsenal as cover for Lee Dixon after a notable performance in a tie with the Gunners, and failed to displace him and with Lauren coming in just a year later, fell further down the pecking order.

He joined Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2003 but was relegated, only making ten appearances before returning to eastern Europe.

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