The five most valuable players not playing in the Champions League this season.
In all honesty, this list could have just been full of Manchester United players. Their absence from the competition, coupled with their heavy spending this summer has seen them become the most expensive squad to not have any European football at all. However, for diversity’s sake, we’ve decided to cast the net a little further and include several stars that could well be on the move in the new year in search of European football from all over the continent as well as those that have already made the move to accept their fate.
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Erik Lamela – Tottenham Hotspur – £21m
The Argentine may not have had the best start to his career in the Premier League, but he has begun the new campaign already looking a lot better than he did during his cameo appearances last term. He already has a two assists for his club side, as well as one goal for his country as he begins to look like repaying that massive transfer fee that Spurs handed over to Roma.
Ricardo Rodriguez – Wolfsburg – £25.3m
A number of clubs were preparing to make their move for the Swiss international this summer, only to be put off by his massive asking price. However, it likely won’t be long before somebody does. Already on his way to becoming a household name last term, his exploits at the World Cup proved that he is a player of enormous potential.
Romelu Lukaku – Everton – £28m
The Belgian hit man turned down a bit part role in this season’s tournament in order to get more regular football on Merseyside instead. The Toffees paid out a huge fee to secure his services in the hope that he’ll be able to fire them into the competition, though they will have to navigate a tricky campaign in the Europa League if they are to get their act together.
Juan Cuadrado – Fiorentina – £28m
The Colombian is another player that was set to move on to new pastures over the summer as he suddenly found himself as one of Europe’s most in demand stars following an impressive World Cup. His dribbling and assists make him a real commodity and there will still be a few sides aiming to take him to the Champions League in the near future should La Viola miss out.
Angel Di Maria – Manchester United – £59m
Well, there had to be at least one Man United player on board, so why not their most expensive. Afraid that he wasn’t going to get a game in Madrid so he prepared for life somewhere new. However, very few figured that he would end up at Old Trafford, and following his good start to the campaign the Red Devils could very well find themselves back in the mix for Champions League places again in the very near future.
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