After Tadic and Haller, who else has succeeded after leaving England?
Dusan Tadic has surpassed Lionel Messi for the most assists in a calendar year while Sebastien Haller is only the second player to score in all six Champions League group games… but who else hasn’t looked back since flopping in the Premier League?
- Dusan Tadic has broken Lionel Messi’s record for assists in a calendar year
- Ajax team-mate Sebastien Haller has also created history in Europe this term
- They are the latest to shine having left Premier League clubs in recent years
- Sportsmail looks at players who have excelled after leaving English football
Dusan Tadic very rarely gets mentioned in the same breath as Lionel Messi but the Ajax star surpassed one of the Argentine’s many records in the game at the weekend.
But the Serbia international has got 37 assists this year, surpassing Messi’s record of 36 assists in 2011 when he was playing for Barcelona.
It represents the pinnacle of an extraordinary calendar year for the former Southampton man, who huffed and puffed during his time in the Premier League but was named Eredivisie Player of the Year earlier in 2021.
Dusan Tadic (R) and Sebastien Haller (centre) have excelled since leaving the Premier League
Meanwhile, his Ajax team-mate Sebastien Haller has also taken his game to another level since leaving West Ham.
He became only the second player in history to score in all six group games in a Champions League campaign following his penalty in Ajax’s 4-2 win over Sporting Lisbon earlier this month.
So which other stars have left the Premier League seemingly with their tail between their legs, only to dazzle elsewhere? Sportsmail looks at some of those who fit the criteria…
Tadic spent four seasons at Southampton while Haller endured a nightmare spell at West Ham
Dusan Tadic
Tadic by no means disgraced himself in the Premier League, scoring 23 goals in 162 appearances across all competitions in four seasons for Southampton, who he joined from FC Twente in 2014.
But his assertion that he was ‘a little bit tired of everything’ in England after four years at St Mary’s, as well as his claims that the Premier League ‘isn’t so good’ for playmakers ‘because you aren’t protected’ by referees, saw him leave.
While the latter point will always remain a point of debate, his form at Ajax ever since sealing a £10million move in 2018 appears to suggest his indifferent attitude to English football was indeed an issue.
In just nine more matches for the Eredivisie outfit than his 162 appearances for Southampton, he has scored 61 more goals than he did at St Mary’s, including 38 in his first season in Holland.
He has also won the Dutch league and Dutch Cup twice, and despite being 33 years old he is not showing any sign of slowing down, contributing seven goals and 11 assists in the Eredivisie so far this campaign.
Tadic has scored 61 more goals than he did at Southampton for Ajax in just nine more games
Sebastien Haller
It almost beggars belief that no player has scored more goals than the Ivorian in the Champions League this season.
The 27-year-old is the only player to have hit double figures in Europe’s premier club competition this season, with his 10 coming in fewer games than any player in history (six), two fewer than previous record holder Erling Haaland.
All this however would have been almost inconceivable given his struggles at West Ham 12 months ago. The former Eintracht Frankfurt star managed just 14 goals in 54 appearances for the Hammers after joining in a club-record £45m deal.
Ajax also shelled out a club record £20m fee for Haller in January this year, and fortunately their investment appears to be money very well spent.
Haller scored 13 goals during the second half of last season and is just three goals short of matching that tally in the Eredivisie this season with 10 in 16 appearances.
Haller’s 10 Champions League goals this term have come in fewer games than any player ever
Jerome Boateng
The centre-back and Bayern Munich were a perfect match for a decade and Boateng played a crucial role in their Bundesliga dominance and European pedigree in the last 10 years.
It is however easy to forget therefore that his departure from Hamburg and his arrival at the Allianz Arena came either side of a season at Manchester City.
But the fact he was back in Germany after 24 appearances for City – where he did claim an FA Cup winners’ medal – shows just how that spell prior to his £11m move to Bayern went.
Jerome Boateng spent a nightmare year at Manchester City before joining Bayern Munich
The former Germany international failed to break Vincent Kompany and Joleon Lescott’s centre-back partnership, and Roberto Mancini’s plan to use him as a right-back also failed.
‘In England, you have to operate immediately,’ said Boateng in an interview with Sport Bild in 2016.
‘You actually need a period of settling in. But the English press does not give you any time for it. This is not easy for a player.
‘Some can handle criticism a bit better, but others say “What am I doing here?” Everything is terrible, even the weather.’
While the climate may not be much better in Munich, he did win nine Bundesliga titles, five DFB Pokals and two Champions League crowns before moving to Lyon this year.
Boateng’s decade at Bayern was incredibly fruitful with nine Bundesliga crowns to his name
Memphis Depay
Perhaps the most high-profile case in this list of a player who struggled to live up to expectations after the hype surrounding his move to the Premier League.
Many believed Depay would succeed at Manchester United given the promise shown in a 22-goal season for PSV Eindhoven prior to his move in the summer of 2015.
But being handed the legendary No 7 shirt was a burden the Dutchman struggled to shoulder in his one-and-a-half seasons at United.
Memphis Depay struggled to deal with the pressure at Man United before leaving for Lyon
Despite Louis van Gaal’s warnings that he would need time to adapt, Depay scored just seven goals in 53 appearances before being sold to Lyon for £16m.
It is in France where he rebuilt his reputation, helping them reach the Champions League semi-finals in 2020 and scoring 76 goals in 178 appearances for the Ligue 1 outfit.
Eight goals in 21 appearances have since followed at a struggling Barcelona, but the 27-year-old Holland international is now very much a player whose talents everyone in Europe is aware of.
Iago Aspas
Aspas’ reputation in Spain as a man who has almost single-handedly saved Celta Vigo from relegation in recent seasons contrasts hugely to the legacy he left in the Premier League.
The striker joined Liverpool in a £6m deal in 2013 after hitting double figures in 2011-12 and 2012-13 in LaLiga, but failed to score in his 14 Premier League appearances for the Merseyside club.
Remembered mostly for playing a corner straight to Willian in Liverpool’s 2-0 home defeat by Chelsea in 2013-14, which dealt a severe blow to their title hopes, the Spaniard never settled with Raheem Sterling, Luis Suarez and Daniel Sturridge all firing.
Forward Iago Aspas failed to score in his 14 Premier League appearances for Liverpool
Moreover, the solitary goal he scored before he was loaned out to Sevilla after just one season was in his only other Reds appearance against Oldham Athletic in the FA Cup.
Sevilla exercised the purchase option at the end of his loan deal but then sold him to Celta Vigo on the same day, where he has been ever since 2015.
Since his return he has hit double figures for goals every season – with a peak of 26 in 2016-17 – to take his Celta tally to 171 goals in 393 appearances, while he has also won 18 Spain caps in that time.
Juan Cuadrado
The Colombian’s arrival at Chelsea was a head-scratcher for many, who questioned whether then boss Jose Mourinho was the man to help him flourish.
He had impressed for his country at the 2014 World Cup and for Fiorentina, but a £26m move to Stamford Bridge – which saw a certain Mohamed Salah move in the opposite direction on loan – in 2015 was still viewed as a risk.
Those doubts were justified when Cuadrado was shipped out on loan after just 15 games for the Blues, having failed to impress new boss Antonio Conte too.
It was at the Italian’s former club Juventus where Cuadrado would make a name for himself again in Serie A, spending two years on loan there as a regular before a permanent move in 2017.
One of the most versatile players in Juventus’ squad to this day, Cuadrado has won five Serie A titles and four Coppa Italia’s as well as passing the 100-cap mark for his country since his return to Italy.
Juan Cuadrado (L) was shipped out on loan back to Serie A after just 15 Chelsea appearances
Diego Forlan
Think of the Uruguayan and perhaps an image of him striking the jabulani ball into the net at the 2010 World Cup comes to mind.
He did that on five occasions to win the Golden Ball in South Africa, but had Sir Alex Ferguson managed to extract consistent performances out of him he might be equally remembered for his time at Man United.
He moved to Old Trafford from Independiente in 2002 but failed to score in any of his 18 appearances in his first season in Manchester.
He did rediscover some sort of form in front of goal in his second and third season but never hit double figures for a season at Old Trafford, failing to fully convince with just 17 goals in 98 games before moving to Villarreal.
While at El Madrigal he shared the European Golden Boot with Thierry Henry in 2005, and then won the Europa League and UEFA Super Cup at Atletico Madrid, where he developed into a phenomenal forward with 96 goals in 196 appearances.
Diego Forlan failed to hit double figures for goals in all of his three seasons at Man United
Stefan Savic
Another centre-back who spent just a season at Manchester City before moving on, Savic endured an error-strewn time at the Etihad Stadium in 2011-12.
Hailed as a future City star upon his arrival from Partizan Belgrade in 2011, the Montenegro international failed to live up to expectations and showed his inexperience as he made just 20 appearances before leaving for Fiorentina.
City fans will perhaps remember the penalty he conceded in their Carling Cup semi-final home tie with Liverpool, or the misplaced pass that led to Swansea’s only goal in a 1-0 defeat at the Liberty Stadiumy, or the time he gifted a goal to Tottenham’s Jermain Defoe in a Premier League clash at the Etihad.
Stefan Savic was another defender who spent just a year at City before leaving the club
But a run of consistent displays in Serie A saw Diego Simeone – the manager known worldwide as someone who champions quality defence – come calling in 2015.
Savic has taken on the mantle from the likes of Diego Godin and Miranda as the leader in Atletico Madrid’s defence, having been at the heart of their LaLiga title success last season.
The Spanish capital side have failed to live up to expectations in both boxes this season but it is evident they are a worse side whenever Savic is not playing.
Suso
‘I have grown, but I have not noticed a lot of trust in me,’ the Spaniard said after his departure from Liverpool had been confirmed in 2015.
He was clearly frustrated at being given just 21 matches to try and prove himself at Anfield, having been brought to the club’s youth setup from Cadiz in 2010.
A loan to Almeria also took place before the Reds decided not to renew his contract, which subsequently saw AC Milan take a punt on him.
Again he struggled to make any sort of impact in the first-team, making just six appearances in his first season in Serie A. But his career at San Siro took off after a loan spell at Genoa.
He scored 24 goals in his next three-and-a-half seasons with Milan before a return to Sevilla, initially on loan, came about.
Suso made just 21 appearances for Liverpool after being part of the club’s youth setup
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