Man Utd midfielders, Arsenal strikers feature in worst title winners XI
These lads might be among the worst title winners, but they all have at least one more Premier League medal than us. And Steven Gerrard.
To be eligible, all that’s required is possession a Premier League title winner’s medal. Which gives us a field of 320 players to pick from.
These days it is now five appearances for a medal. Unless you’re Kalvin Phillips and your manager feels guilty for ruining your career…
Goalkeeper: Costel Pantilimon (Manchester City)
The giant Romanian, as Joe Hart’s understudy, qualified for a medal with seven appearances in Manchester City’s title triumph in 2013/14 under Manuel Pellegrini. Pantilimon served his purpose for City, but never looked capable of being a top-class No.1, despite 27 Romania caps. After leaving City, he made 45 Premier League appearances for Sunderland before being demoted once more to a back-up role, dropping down to the Championship with Nottingham Forest before slipping from view entirely.
Right-back: Ritchie De Laet (Leicester City)
The Belgian full-back played in the title-winning Manchester United team on the final day of the 2008/09 season but his title winner’s medal came amid Leicester’s stunning triumph in 2015/16 – not that De Laet was around to collect it. After starting the first seven games of the season under Claudio Ranieri, the defender was packed off on loan to Middlesbrough halfway through the campaign, while the Foxes powered to glory with Danny Simpson at right-back instead.
Centre-half: Eliaquim Mangala (Manchester City)
Mangala flopped hard at City after signing from Valencia for £42million. Indeed, he wound up back at Valencia on loan when Pep Guardiola arrived, but the France centre-back was given a chance by Pep when he returned for the start of the 2017/18 season. Evidently, he failed to impress in the nine appearances he made after he was sent to Everton for the second half of the season, but there was a barely-earned medal waiting for him when he went back to the Etihad to clear his locker.
Centre-back: Igor Stepanovs (Arsenal)
Stepanovs was signed from Skonto Riga to be back-up for Tony Adams and though he may have been unknown to most in 2000, the then-24-year-old had 37 Latvia caps and was his country’s Footballer of the Year. But the Latvian league was presumably his level because the step up to Arsene Wenger’s first-team was far too great. Still, he left after 17 appearances in four years with a medal after playing six times in the 2001/02 title triumph, but the list of clubs he played for after Arsenal tells its own story: Grasshoppers, FK JÅ«rmala, Esbjerg, FC Shinnik Yaroslavl, JFK Olimps.
Left-back: Alex Buttner (Manchester United)
“Alexander is one of the best young left-backs in Europe,” said Sir Alex Ferguson when United signed Buttner in 2012, proving once more that even the greats get it wrong occasionally. Buttner played five games in Fergie’s final campaign, scoring two goals, but never looked likely to be a viable first-team option. Still, Buttner made a very fair point in 2017, three years after leaving United for Dynamo Moscow: “Who can say that he has been a champion in England? I can. Even Steven Gerrard did not succeed.”
Central midfield: Darron Gibson (Manchester United)
Given space within 30 yards of goal, Gibson could hurt you. But, aside from being able to kick a ball very hard, it was difficult to see what else the Republic of Ireland international might bring. Somehow, he made a dozen appearances for United in 2010/11 and 31 in total before leaving the club for Everton. Gibson strung 51 Premier League appearances out over six seasons at Goodison before his career really hit the skids at Sunderland.
Central midfield: Kalvin Phillips (Manchester City)
Guardiola has repeatedly stated how sorry he was for the situation Phillips found himself in when the Manchester City manager took around 10 minutes to decide he didn’t fancy his £40million new signing from Leeds in 2022. Which perhaps explains why City made an exception to give Phillips a medal after their title triumph in 2023/24 despite him playing only four games. Phillips, very obviously, isn’t a bad player – he was England Player of the Year a season before Pep made his misguided purchase – but, at City, he was rank. And he’s still struggling to pick up the pieces of a career that promised so much.
Central midfield: Jack Rodwell (Manchester City)
The Kalvin Phillips for the Barclays generation, Rodwell made 108 minutes last over five games in 2013/14 to bag himself the title winner’s medal that Micah Richards (161 minutes) was denied. City may have thought signing the midfield prospect was an error, but to Sunderland, it was ‘the worst mistake the club has ever made’, according to Marco Gabbiadini.
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Attacking midfield: Shinji Kagawa (Manchester United)
Kagawa’s plight under David Moyers, by which time the attacker was a title winner having being carried along by Fergie’s last hurrah, prompted the #freeShinji campaign – but even that would have been too expensive. Despite the fury of his ex-manager Jurgen Klopp at his predicament, the truth was that he just wasn’t very good. Not in the Premier League anyway. Like a good many players at Old Trafford down the years, Kagawa’s reputation seemed to grow the less he played.
Striker: Christopher Wreh (Arsenal)
Wenger knew Wreh from Monaco and the Arsenal boss swooped on his old club to buy the Liberian for £300,000 in 1997. In fairness, competing with Ian Wright, Dennis Bergkamp and Nicolas Anelka was up there with the toughest of striker gigs, and the contrast in quality when he got the odd game did him no favours. Wreh scored three times in 28 games but he still left Highbury a double winner, even if his post-Arsenal career offered a more accurate reflection of his ability than the three years he spent being piggybacked by some Gunners legends.
Striker: Jeremie Aliadiere (Arsenal)
The Frenchman later said he regretted leaving Arsenal in 2007, suggesting he might have replaced Thierry Henry had he not pushed to move for more game time. One Premier League goal in six years prior to joining Middlesbrough, where he scored 11 across three seasons, suggests he was not the man to fill Henry’s boots. Or even clean them. Still, with 10 appearances (no goals) in 2003/04, no one can take away his Invincible tag. Believe me, we’ve tried.
