Top 5: Forgotten Premier League footballers

In the world of football, with players coming and going twice a season, it tends to be fairly easy to forget anyone who struggles to settle in at a club or fails to live up to their original expectations.

Who remembers Andriy Shevchenko? He was part of the AC Milan squad that won the Champions League in 2003, won the Ballon D’or in 2004 and was top scorer in the Champions League during 2005/06.

You’d think that Chelsea had got a bargain when they signed him for £30m in 2006, but he only scored 22 times in three seasons and was soon shipped off back to Milan on loan… and you probably haven’t thought about him since!

Other players who often get forgotten are those that have just been around for so long that they just disappear completely off the radar. The majority of the time, though not always, these players tend to be goalkeepers and you just have to think of Manchester City’s Richard Wright and Newcastle’s Steve Harper to name just a few.

Here are five current Premier League players that you might just have forgotten about over the last few years… With no emergency loan window this season, you wouldn’t expect many of these players to get much game time and they’ll be hoping that January comes around quicker than most.

Costel Pantilimon

Pantilimon joined Manchester City from Romanian side Politehnica Timișoara back in 2011, but only managed seven appearances during his three seasons at the Etihad Stadium outfit.

The 29-year-old quickly made a name for himself under Gus Poyet at Sunderland, but soon fell out of favour with Sam Allardyce and was sold to Watford for a fee of £5m in January after losing the number one shirt to Vito Mannone.

Since arriving at Vicarage Road, the Romanian keeper has only made four cup appearances in a squad that has four shot stoppers. It was heavily rumoured that he would be off to Aston Villa in the summer, but the move never materialised.

Zeki Fryers

Despite being only 24 years of age; Fryers has already been in and around the Premier League for a number of years, beginning his career at Manchester United, before switching to Tottenham and then ending up at Crystal Palace.

The youngster performed regularly for England at youth level, but has never quite found his feet at any club.

Fryers joined Palace on deadline day in 2014 for £5m, but has only made one appearance for Alan Pardew’s side so far.

The left-back has been loaned out to Rotherham United and Ipswich Town since switching White Hart Lane for Selhurst Park and did not play any competitive games at all in the 2015/16 campaign.

Frazier Campbell

Campbell played for both Manchester United and Sunderland before starting to perform at his best for Championship side Cardiff City.

The problem for the one-time England striker is that he has always found regular football hard to come by due to a persistent hamstring problem, which most recently hampered a move to Championship side Bristol City.

The forgotten Crystal Palace man is yet to feature this season and made only 10 appearances last term due to competition from both Dwight Gayle and Emmanuel Adebayor.

With the recent acquisitions of Christian Benteke and Loic Remy, it looks doubtful that this season will be any better for the striker.

Michael Kightly

After initially arriving at Turf Moor on a season-long loan from Stoke City back in 2013, Michael Kightly put pen to paper and completed his permanent move in 2014.

The ex-Wolverhampton Wanderers player is actually still knocking around at the club and despite an impressive first few seasons with Burnley, is seriously struggling for game time.

Although Kightly featured in Burnley’s recent 1-0 EFL Cup defeat to Accrington Stanley, the left winger has only managed 15 minutes of league football since January and made 35 league appearances since switching permanently from the Potters.

The 30-year-old had been linked with a transfer to Mick McCarthy’s Ipswich in the last transfer window, but no move ever came about.

Paul Robinson

Robinson is a player that you probably didn’t even realise was still playing football – let alone bench warming in the Premier League for newly promoted Burnley.

The 36-year-old was snapped up on a free transfer by Clarets boss Sean Dyche following his release from Blackburn Rovers last year and has recently signed a one-year contract extension.

The ex-Tottenham ‘keeper made 41 appearances between 2003 and 2007 for England, but has not featured in any form of competitive match for just over two years.

His first appearance for Burnley doesn’t appear to be in the pipeline any time soon either, as he is behind both Tom Heaton and Nick Pope in the pecking order.