One Season Wonders in the Premier League

We’ve all heard of one hit wonders, stars who had their fifteen seconds of fame, then fell out of the loop forever. Stars who’s fame was restricted entirely to the aforementioned fifteen seconds.

We at ES would like to present to you the footballing equivalent of a one-hit-wonder, our list of the “top” ten one-season-wonders in EPL History.

Read on for more!

1. Michu

Michu proved to be a excellent buy on his arrival at Swansea from La Liga. He appeared to be physically fit for the Premier League and had the knowledge of technicalities, as expected of a Spanish player. His intelligent move from midfield to a more advanced role made him feature among the division’s top strikers. In his debut season in 2012-13, he had 18 goals in 35 games when only Robin van Persie, Luis Suarez, Gareth Bale and Chritian Benteke scored more. His next season was not as impressive as he went on to score just 2 goals in 17 games and later picked up a nasty injury. Since then he has not played for the club and his future remains unclear.

2. Roque Santa Cruz

Considered as one of the greatest one-season wonders in history, Cruz joined the Blackburn Rovers from Bayern Munich in 2007 and had an amazing start in the Premier League. Rovers paid a fee of just $5 million to Bayern which proved to be one of the bargains of the century. In 2007-08 season, he scored 19 goals in 37 games with only Cristiano Ronaldo, Fernando Torres and Emmanuel Adebayor scoring more. His second season saw a slow start with only 4 goals in 20 games for Blackburn. This did not prevent Manchester City from bidding a huge amount of $25 million for Cruz but during his 4 year stay there, he scored just 3 goals.

3. Robinho

Manchester City, under their billionaire owners, made their first signing with Robinho in 2005 and he came in on the Deadline Day. The Brazilian was bought for $50 million, which appeared to be reasonable during his first season at the club when he scored 14 goals in 31 games, making 9 assists alongside. In his second season, he played only 10 games and failed immensely. He scored a grand total of zero goals. Once a highly regarded youngster, Robinho currently plays for Guangzhou in China.

4. Benjani

All of the right elements of a good Premier League striker combined well in Benjani’s 2007-08 season when his performance was nothing short of superb. Initially when Benjani came to England in 2005, he looked a little unsuitable for the League but in 2007-08, the Zimbabwean looked agile and strong and would not stop scoring and went on to score 15 goals in only 23 games. In his 4 years at Manchester City he scored only 4 goals and the Zimbabwean dropped off of everyone’s radars.

5. Stephen Ireland

Currently playing for Stoke City, aged 29, Ireland was a playmaker at Manchester City. During the 2008-09 season. At City, the Irishman was at the top of the world, playing in an attacking role, and scored 9 goals, 13 in all competitions and found himself at the top of the club’s assists chart. He was awarded the Player of the Year for his outstanding performance and was handed a new 5 year contract. He headed to Aston Villa when he was made a sub by Roberto Mancini, but injuries and lack of application skills saw Ireland out of form ever since.

6. Marcus Stewart

Another famous one-season wonder, he proved to be a delight for Ipswich Town when they finished in 5th place in Premier League. He scored 19 goals in that season, leading the club’s scoring charts, with only Jimmy Flyod scoring more than him. Stewart received the call to the English national team following this season. The next season, Ipswich were relegated and Stewart started to ply his trade for Sunderland, but the Stewart of Ipswich was lost forever.

7. Habib Beye

Beye came to Newcastle United in 2007 and was a massive threat in the 2007-08 season. He won Newcastle’s Player of the Year (2008) award. People in North East considered him as a hero and chanted “Monday, Tuesday, Habib Beye ” to the tune of Happy Days. He began his next season with an injury and was sent off in his first game. In his next three seasons he committed a lot of errors and retired in 2012 following his release from Doncaster Rovers.

8. Michael Ricketts

Ricketts, aged 23, took the 2001-02 season by storm when by February he had 15 goals to his name and was called up to the England squad. Following this, he played for 45 minutes for England and sadly did not score at all for Bolton during that season. He did score 6 goals before his move to Middlesbrough where he proved to be a big flop, scoring just 3 goals in all of the 32 games he played in. His poor form made him play in the second and third tier for the rest of his career.

9. Georgi Kinkladze

Georgi had the capability of creating and scoring goals and was excellent at tackling the ball. In his first season, City were relagated, but Georgi stayed by the club. Though the team failed miserably to win even a single league title, Kinkladze became famous quickly. In his 1996-97 season he scored 12 goals in 42 games. He did return to Premier League, spending 4 seasons with Derby, but his exploits were never quite the same.

10. Michael Johnson

Unlike other successful footballers, Johnson saw his best season in 2007-08 at just 19 years of age. Once considered the rising future of English football, the youngster rose through the ranks at Manchester City. He played 23 league games in 2007-08 season and started his next enthusiastically but was injured. Sadly though, this was an injury he never recovered from. After struggling mentally and physically, he retired at 24.