There are players who are missed this season that fans wish they were present. The 2023–24 season has been interesting so far, but there’s something we’ve noticed: a number of clubs around Europe seem to be missing one player or another, and that’s what we are focused on in this video today.
These are 7 Players who are missed this season.
1. Sergio Busquets
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We’ll start with Sergio Busquets; Barcelona are definitely missing their old boy. The fans seemed to have been fed up with him and that caused him to leave his boyhood club last season, but with the way the 2023-24 campaign has been going, it has become so obvious that the Catalan club actually weren’t ready to say goodbye to him.
They bought Oriol Romeu to replace him and the former Southampton man has been heavily underwhelming. They’ve also tried to use Gundogan and de Jong in that position, but neither of them has been able to cover the defensive midfield the way Busquets used to.
If you ask a Barcelona fan what the priority in the transfer window is, they’d surely say a defensive midfielder. That tells you all you need to know about how much the club misses Busquets.
2. Ilkay Gundogan
At least Barcelona have someone another club currently misses, and we’re talking about none other than Ilkay Gundogan. Look at the way Man City have been playing this season and you can just tell that they miss having a Ramdeuter who interprets space in and around the box perfectly.
During the period when Rodri and Haaland were unavailable, it became extra evident how much City missed their former captain. He’s one of the best at holding the midfield together while also threatening the opponent’s box at the same time, that’s something you’re always going to miss.
3. Granit Xhaka
Arsenal are really missing Granit Xhaka. Yes, the club really needed to let go of some players last summer, but Xhaka should not have been one of them. Right now, the Gunners lack bite in the midfield and that’s exactly what Xhaka used to bring to the team.
And it’s worse because they sold Xhaka to get Havertz. Yeah, there’s the age factor, but even at 31, Xhaka definitely offers more than Havertz, and he’s sorely missed by Arsenal right now.
4. Jude Bellingham
One super obvious one is that Borussia Dortmund are currently missing Jude Bellingham. With the Englishman in the team last season, Dortmund were actively in a title race, but now, they’re only watching from outside the top 4.
Bellingham was so influential that he was named Bundesliga Player of the Season in the 2022-23 campaign, so they were always going to miss him. It’s probably worse because of how good he’s doing at Real Madrid. You look at all those goals he could have been scoring for your club and you just miss him even more.
5. Messi and Neymar
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The Parisian giants obviously miss Messi and Neymar, but they have no one else to blame but themselves. They blamed the pair for all their misfortunes and practically forced them out of the club last summer, and now look how they struggled just to finish second in their Champions League group.
They thought they’d be all right by getting Ousmane Demebele as a replacement, but the Frenchman has now scored just one goal in 21 appearances. Who the hell thought getting Dembele to replace Messi was a good idea in the first place?
6. Ivan Toney
Ivan Toney has definitely been really missed by Brentford. These guys finished in the top half of the table last season, but this time around, it seems they’re being dragged into a relegation battle, and it’s obvious all this is happening because they aren’t scoring enough.
They were without Toney throughout the first half of the season and that has really affected them. And to worsen the case for the London club, Bryan Mbeumo also picked up an injury, so Thomas Frank’s men are really starving in front of goal.
Toney is expected to be back in January, but there’s also a chance he doesn’t even come back for Brentford at all as he’s looking like he’s on the way out of the club. Must be tough to be a Brentford fan right now.
7. Kevin De Bruyne
Finally, Kevin De Bruyne has been sorely missed by Manchester City this season. The Belgian midfielder picked up an injury in the opening game of the Premier League season and has been unavailable since. During that period, City have struggled to create and it has heavily affected their output and results.
City have looked poor a lot of times this season and much of it is because their main man has been absent. You can see just how much the fans missed him with the way they cheered so loudly when he came out to warm up against Sheffield.
Honestly, if there’s one person who can turn City’s season around, it’s definitely Kevin De Bruyne. The fans will be hoping he stays fit until the end of the season.
Are there more players you think have been sorely missed this season?
Let us know in the comments.
