With the conclusion of the 2017/18 La Liga season, we’re handing out of end-of-season awards and this time we look at the flop of the season.
FLOP OF THE SEASON
Ousmane Dembele (Barcelona)
To rewind back to last summer, the forecast for Barcelona was one of gloom after the shocking departure of Neymar to Paris Saint-Germain.
That they went on to be so dominant domestically this season is a credit to boss Ernesto Valverde, especially given the man brought in to replace Neymar has been a huge disappointment.
Dembele’s season was of course disrupted by a troublesome hamstring, but when fit, he’s well, not looked the right fit for the Blaugrana.
For a player costing €147 million (Dh635.3m), his passing is well short of the standards expected at Barca while his talent, of which there can be no doubt, has been well short of the sort of consistency needed at this level.
WORTHY MENTIONS
Dani Ceballos (Real Madrid)
Why Ceballos left Real Betis to join a talent-rich Real Madrid midfield is baffling, but despite his obvious quality he’s managed only 397 minutes in La Liga this term. His lack of playing time has been well documented and the Spaniard has been one of head coach Zinedine Zidane’s least-used players.
Vitolo (Atletico Madrid)
His transfer to Atletico Madrid from Sevilla was a massive soap opera, but his performances have lacked quite the same entertainment. Because of the club’s transfer ban, he spent the first-half of the season at Las Palmas and plundered just once in the league. Another solitary strike followed when he did switch to Atleti, to end a disappointing campaign.
Athletic Bilbao
Jose Ziganda was given the unenviable task of replacing Ernesto Valverde at Athletic Bilbao and his side slumped to a degrading 16th-placed finish. The team have struggled to find any sort of consistency and it’s not to no surprise that the club confirmed they’ll be searching for a new boss this summer. Eduardo Berizzo is hotly tipped to take over.
