A great many Premier League footballers irritate but only a select few have the ability to burrow beneath our skin, making themselves truly loathed in the process. The question is, who are these elite band of supreme botherers.
We asked social media to oblige, naming players who reduce our collective spleens to fiery balls of pure hostility. Unsurprisingly, social media didn’t disappoint.
10) Jordan Pickford
The Everton keeper’s perpetual indignation at having to do his job puts him firmly in the frame, his default setting after making a save always the same pathetic spectacle.
First he shouts at the nearest defender, pointing out where a block could have been made. Then he shakes his head, so demonstrably that even those sitting in row Z can see his displeasure.
Demanding perfection from others when you’re more than capable of a blunder or three is never a good look.
9) Conor Gallagher
Propelled by baseless self-confidence, Gallagher charges about the pitch as if the laws and practices of association football do not apply to him.
To the 24-year-old, all energy and limited talent, fairly tackling an opponent seems like an awful fuss, especially when he can simply lunge a leg and shoulder in the general vicinity of the ball, taking out everything in his path.
He then has the temerity to be utterly aghast when he receives yet another yellow card.
8) Anthony Gordon
With the face of that bloke who loiters by the one-armed bandit down your local, telling those using the machine what they’re doing wrong, Gordon’s stock has risen since moving to the North-East. It’s gained him England recognition and increased his chances of winning silverware.
Let’s not forget though his actions that forced through his move to Newcastle.
First citing Everton as his ‘second family’, the winger then went on strike, a decision that didn’t exactly smack of familial harmony.
Furthermore, deserting a sinking ship is one thing. To claim it was so the Toffees could reinvest just insults the intelligence of every one of us.
7) Harry Kane
Harry Kane, or Saint Harry of Walthamstow if you believe the press, may be pretty handy at hitting a football into the onion bag but what he gets away with on the pitch is frankly nauseating.
Star-struck by the presence of an England captain, referees typically turn a blind eye to his dangerous habit of backing into defenders, then neglecting to jump so they topple over him. Indeed, they’ll often award him a free-kick for his troubles.
Proof of his unpopularity can be found in the schadenfreude we’re all delighting in presently as Bayern look set to miss out on a Bundesliga title.
You can take Harry out of Spurs, but not the Spurs out of Harry.
6) Antony
When being distinctly average on the wing, the Brazilian has all the tricks and cockiness of a superstar only without any of the productivity to back it up.
To Finish In Top 4 - Manchester United
When deployed down the middle, he has the brooding demeanour of one of the best premier League strikers of all time, only with a conversion rate that puts Neal Maupay’s time at Everton to shame.
When Manchester United paid the whopping sum of £82m for this prima donna flop, £81 million, nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand went on flash. The remaining grand was for substance.
5) Rodri
The last time Manchester City lost a competitive game with Rodri stationed in their midfield was so long ago Pep had a full head of hair.
Indeed, the Spanish international is on his way to breaking a record in this regard and what’s the betting he doesn’t succeed, given how fabulous City’s football is on a weekly basis.
All of which is a good job because the 27-year-old really is an atrocious loser.
When Leicester won 5-2 at the Etihad in 2020 they were ‘lucky’, When Scotland bested Spain at Hampden Park it was ‘not football’.
Rodri is unquestionably a classy midfielder. He should probably save a bit of that back for himself.
4) Richarlison
Like chips with gravy, moody goes best with magnificence. It’s why even non-Manchester United fans find themselves endeared still to Eric Cantona.
When a surly attitude emanates from a player who only turns it on three or four times a season it just leaves us stone-cold. And nobody likes cold chips and gravy.
3) Virgil Van Dijk
Someone in Van Dijk’s palatial Cheshire home there surely resides a commissioned portrait of the defender bestriding a big horse, dressed as a general.
Perhaps the praise went to his head, or maybe the responsibility of leading an emotionally-charged football club brought on delusions of grandeur, but someone really needs to remind the 32-year-old that he kicks a football around for a living.
2) Bruno Fernandes
After asking Twitter to nominate their most hated player it very quickly became apparent that a caveat should have been added, that being ‘Aside from Bruno Fernandes….’
The Portuguese ref-botherer received a whopping 67% of the votes, with a sizable percentage comparing him to a rodent. We would never.
1) Jordan Henderson
Alright, technically he is an ex-Premier League footballer but we simply cannot afford him a pass here. ‘Hendo’ tops the list by virtue of his astounding hypocrisy in moving to Saudi Arabia last year after long being a vocal champion of LGBTQI+ rights.
If that move rankled, the subsequent mealy-mouthed excuses he trotted out when pressed on his hypocrisy only made matters worse.
Apparently he wanted to help change the climate and thinking in the country in which he was now employed.
What, by playing a simple five yard pass and pointing a lot?
*Credit for all of the photos in this article belongs to Alamy*
