As a football fan, there are few more frustrating things than a player who tear it up one week then go missing the next; who – at the more extreme end of the scale – score an absolute worldie then get themselves a brainless red card.
Here, we take a look at the most mercurial and inconsistent footballers of the 21st century.
Let's get straight down to business, shall we?
Marcus Rashford is a great player who had more than 100 goals to his name for Manchester United and England by his mid-20s, but it can’t be denied that the forward’s career has been streaky.
Case in point: Rashford got on the scoresheet 21 times for United during the 2020/21 season – then just five the following term; he registered a new personal best of 30 goals in 56 appearances in 2022/23, only to regress to eight in 43 across a thoroughly disappointing 2023/34 campaign.
Once tipped by World Cup-winning captain Iker Casillas to become Spain’s key man, Isco started out promisingly at Real Madrid – indeed, he looked like the next big thing.
The attacking midfielder’s prime was all too short, though, and his career took a turn for the inconsistent. After an underwhelming 12-month spell at Sevilla, he joined Real Betis in the summer of 2023.
At his best, Gerard Deulofeu could be one of the most mesmerisingly skilful players in the Premier League.
But Everton and Watford fans would probably tell you that they didn’t see that nearly often enough from the former Barcelona youngster, who cited Ronaldinho as an inspiration but never got close to that kind of greatness.
One of the foremost stars of Senegal’s surprise run to the World Cup quarter-finals on their tournament debut in 2002, El Hadji Diouf joined Liverpool that summer.
Ultimately, however, his two-season stint at Anfield was a big let-down – and, while he fared better at Bolton, his time in England was marred by on- and off-field problems, including multiple instances of spitting at opposition players and fans alike.
David Seaman’s seemingly impossible save for Arsenal against Sheffield United in the 2003 FA Cup semi-final serves as the standout example of the kind of brilliance he could produce.
The former England number one – who played more than 1,000 career games for club and country – was prone to errors, though, and notably struggled with long-range shots – Nayim and Ronaldinho, anyone…?
Aiden McGeady has a move named after him – his trademark McGeady Spin – but the Irish winger’s flashes of such class were frustratingly infrequent at a time when he might have been his country’s main man.
A multiple trophy winner with Celtic, McGeady got to represent the Republic of Ireland at two major tournaments – Euros 2012 and 2016 – but, in the grand scheme of things, he was not the talismanic player his nation ought to have had.
Timo Werner rattled in 95 goals in four seasons for RB Leipzig – but that might have been as good as it got for the German striker.
Werner’s goals-per-game average halved following his £47.5m move to Chelsea in the summer of 2020, and his time at Stamford Bridge was frustrating to say the least. Nor did he exactly set the Premier League on fire after returning in January 2024, on loan at Tottenham from Leipzig.
Nicolas Anelka won the 2008/09 Premier League Golden Boot at Chelsea, but the French striker spent his career dipping in and out of form.
A Champions League winner with Real Madrid and a league champion in three countries, Anelka unquestionably enjoyed great success. Was he quite the success he probably should have been, though?
Despite racking up well over 500 appearances for Real Madrid and helping them to three Champions League crowns, Guti was justifiably criticised for his inconsistency.
Accused by some in the media of being lazy, the 13-cap Spain international was an undoubtedly gifted playmaker whose tendency to fall out with coaches hindered him.
Roberto Soldado’s prolific scoring form for Getafe and particularly Valencia pointed to great things – but the goals dramatically dried up once he left his native Spain.
After a thoroughly underwhelming stint with Spurs, Soldado – who had been the leading Spanish marksman in the 2011/12 LaLiga campaign – rarely hit the same goalscoring heights again.
A bit of a cult hero at Newcastle – where he notched 13 goals in his first 14 outings after arriving from Freiburg in January 2012, including one of the great Premier League goals against Chelsea – Papiss Cisse rather alternated between prolific and barren in his prime.
The Senegalese frontman took 47 games to score his next 13 goals for the Magpies, and by 2016 he was plying his trade in the Chinese Super League.
When Marko Arnautovic joined Inter as an 18-year-old, he claimed that he was better than all of the club’s existing strikers – who included Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Hernan Crespo and Adriano…
Manager Jose Mourinho couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing, but it was a sign of the cockiness which – while not always necessarily a bad thing – would rear its head frequently throughout the Austrian frontman’s career.
Mercurial midfielder Kevin-Prince Boateng turned out for some of the biggest clubs in Europe, most notably Milan – where he won the 2010/11 Serie A title.
The 15-time Ghana international was a force to be reckoned with on his day – combining great skill, flair and aggression – but such days didn’t come around often enough, really.
One of the best midfielders of his era, Dutch great Wesley Sneijder could also be quite infuriating at times.
The ex-Real Madrid and Inter man just wasn’t as consistent as you’d have liked him to be, and his lack of contribution off the ball attracted criticism during his time in Italy.
There’s no getting away from the fact that his career has been blighted by injuries, but when Neymar comes to retire there will be a sense that he didn’t fully live up to his potential.
Brazil’s all-time record goalscorer has to go down as one of the finest players of his generation; it’s impossible not to ponder how great he might have been, though.
For much of the 2010s, David de Gea was up there with the very best goalkeepers in the game, making the PFA Premier League Team of the Year five times at Manchester United.
But there was always an undercurrent of uncertainty about the gangly Spaniard, whose latter seasons at Old Trafford were dotted with mistakes – yet, as if to underline his inconsistency, he won United’s Players’ Player of the Year award in 2021/22, his penultimate campaign at the club.
Even after leaving top-level European club football for MLS, Xherdan Shaqiri still came out to play at major tournaments, turning on the style for Switzerland.
And brief bursts of brilliance – featuring some absolutely stunning strikes along the way – have rather been the story of the diminutive former Liverpool and Bayern Munich winger’s career.
While he could be one of the best playmakers around in his prime, Samir Nasri was also inconsistent that Manchester Mancini manager Roberto Mancini once remarked that he would like to “give him a punch”.
Included in the 2010/11 PFA Premier League Team of the Year, the silky Frenchman drew comparisons with Robert Pires during his time at Arsenal – but they were something of an exaggeration.
Nani’s Manchester United teammate Rio Ferdinand once said that the Portuguese had “the potential to do what he wants” and become “a top, top player”.
Frustratingly for United fans, Nani only really showed that in flashes. He won numerous major trophies with Sir Alex Ferguson’s side, but he departed Old Trafford leaving a sense that he could have had a markedly greater individual influence.
A technically gifted attacking midfielder who won two Serie A titles with Inter, Alvaro Recoba is yet another big name accused of not living up to his potential.
And it’s hard to disagree with those who level that criticism at the Uruguayan – a flawed pass-master who never really exerted his influence over a sustained period.
Paul Pogba did not, in the words of arch-critic Graeme Souness, ‘waste his career’, but the French playmaker certainly could have achieved greater consistency.
As capable of the sublime as he was of going missing during matches, Pogba broke the world transfer record when he re-joined Manchester United from Juventus for £89.3m in 2016 – but he arguably produced his best football in the colours of his country, who he helped to 2018 World Cup glory.
Andrey Arshavin could have been the greatest Russian outfield player of all time (it’s hard to see anyone ever usurping Lev Yashin outright), but he simply didn’t pair the right attitude with his undeniable talent.
After helping his country to the semi-finals of Euro 2008, Arshavin joined Arsenal in a club-record £15m move – but his four-goal display against Liverpool at Anfield was about as good as it got for him in a Gunners shirt, and he gradually faded into obscurity, winding up at Kairat of Kazakhstan within three years of leaving North London.
Juan Roman Riquelme deserves to be recognised among the greatest playmakers of all time – but that doesn’t mean that the Argentine enganche was consistently great.
While he was tactically intelligent enough to make up for his lack of pace, Riquelme gained a reputation for being a difficult character who didn’t see eye to eye with a number of his coaches – including Louis van Gaal during his short time at Barcelona, the only truly elite European club he ever played for.
Dimitar Berbatov that his languid approach was by design, aimed at lulling defenders into a false sense of security; critics of the ex-Manchester United and Bulgaria marksmen would argue that he was just lazy.
The truth probably lies somewhere in between, but it’s hard not to look at his scoring record of 329 goals for club and country and wonder how many more the 2010/11 Premier League Golden Boot winner might have got.
Across his final two campaigns at Arsenal and his debut season with Manchester City, Emannuel Adebayor found the net 60 times in 116 appearances – not a bad return at all.
The towering Togolese centre-forward also bagged 18 goals in 37 games on loan at Tottenham, but his performances could deviate dramatically between the sublime and the sub-par – and he let himself down through a lack of discipline on numerous occasions.
Newcastle fanzine True Faith described Hatem Ben Arfa as “fantastic but frustrating” – and that does aptly sum up the lightning-fast French winger’s career, at St. James’ Park and beyond.
Ben Arfa had ambitions of winning the Ballon d’Or – and his sensational solo goal for the Magpies against Bolton in 2012 showed he had world-class quality; it just didn’t come out nearly frequently enough.
An exceptionally gifted attacking midfielder who tore up English football’s second tier during his time at QPR, Adel Taarabt had the talent to go onto far bigger and better things than he did.
QPR’s talisman in winning the 2010/11 Championship title, the 30-cap Morocco international spectacularly flattered to deceive in the Premier League, and he never re-found his way in subsequent spells at Milan and Benfica.
Javier Saviola looked like he could be the next big thing when he joined Barcelona from River Plate in 2001.
Unfortunately, that never materialised, with the Argentine falling firmly into the bracket of incredible but infuriating, providing great entertainment and scoring plenty of memorable goals but ultimately falling some way short of becoming the top, top player he showed the potential to be.
A notoriously temperamental character, Antonio Cassano was capable of lighting the fuse with some exquisite bits of creativity.
The Italian – who made most of his club appearances for Roma and Sampdoria – also had a prominent petulant streak– he once lobbed his shirt at the referee after being sent off – and admitted in 2016 that laziness had “ruined” his career.
Top scorer and one of the players of the tournament at the 2014 World Cup – where he pulled off that astonishing volley in Colombia’s last 16 win over Uruguay – James Rodriguez had the world at his feet.
And it’s a great shame for everyone invested in the game that it never really happened for him. Rotten luck with injuries played its part, sure, but Rodriguez’s marked inconsistency at club level has always been a bit baffling given his world-class contributions for the national team.
The 80-cap Portugal winger – a member of his country’s Euro 2016-winning side – loved to whip out rabonas and trivelas, but such showmanship wasn’t enough to distract from frequent questions over his effort and mentality. He turned out for Barcelona, Inter and Chelsea but made just 65 appearances for those three European giants combined – a somewhat damning statistic
A mercurial cult hero – if there is such a thing – Ricardo Quaresma won plenty of admirers for his flamboyant style of play.
And the award for football’s ultimate mercurial talent of the 21st century goes to… Mario Balotelli. Who else but him?
Sometimes unplayable, often undisciplined – whether picking up a silly booking or setting off fireworks in the bathroom – the iconic Italian striker – a league champion with Inter and Manchester City – has provided plenty of entertainment over the years, but doesn’t it pain you slightly to ponder just how exceptional a player he could – and perhaps should – have been?
