In terms of players with failed potential in the modern game, Chelsea striker Michy Batshuayi has to be pretty far up the list.
Big things were expected on the Belgian striker when he joined Chelsea in a £35m deal in 2016, but the striker has never established himself at Stamford Bridge.
Indeed, he’s enjoyed more success in his time away from the club, with loan spells at Borussia Dortmund and Crystal Palace, who he rejoined this summer, standing out.
The same can be said on the international stage, where the striker has enjoyed far more success than in his club career, scoring 21 goals in 32 games so far.
Two of those came this week in Belgium’s 2-1 win over Switzerland, with the forward bagging both goals in the game and earning himself plenty of positive reviews.
That’s led De Standaard to look at the player and his image today, comparing it to fellow striker Romelu Lukaku.
Labelling Batshuayi as the ‘striker who wants to be a superhero’, they explain that while Lukaku has a ‘love-hate relationship’ with the Belgian public, the ‘whole country loves’ Batshuayi.
This is down to image, as while the ‘extremely focused’ Lukaku carries the world on his shoulders, Batshuayi ‘walks through life whistling’, and that appeals more to fans.
Similarly, the Crystal Palace striker likes to profile himself as a man whose ‘life reads like a comic strip’ who ‘loves nothing more’ than people using his nickname Batsman.
He is a ‘street rascal who grew into a disarming hero who brings pleasure to others’. He plays a well thought out character that people simply love. Basically, he’s ‘eccentric’, and that’s seen on the pitch, where he ‘radiates a joie de vivre’.
This only happens on the international stage, though, with it yet to work out at Chelsea and his current spell at Crystal Palace yet to get going. Although, if Mircea Rednic, the coach who helped launch him at Standard Liege is to be believed, that’s not his fault.
“Michy must be able to fly,” he tells the newspaper.
“At the time at Chelsea, Antonio Conte put him in a straightjacket with many running lines and assignments. That does not work.
“Just like he now gets too many long balls at Crystal Palace that he has to keep up with. Give him freedom.”
Whether that happens remains to be seen. At 27-years-old, Batshuayi is running out of time to hit the heights that were expected of him.
So far his ‘playfulness and unpredictability’ have not worked in his favour, despite them being his ‘strengths’ according to De Standaard, who hope they will ‘soon be effective at all levels’.
