Juan Cuadrado only made nine appearances for Chelsea across all competitions this season. Tony O'Brien / Action Images / Reuters
Juan Cuadrado only made nine appearances for Chelsea across all competitions this season. Tony O'Brien / Action Images / Reuters

Juan Cuadrado irrelevant for Chelsea; Mario Balotelli an unmitigated failure for Liverpool: PL season’s worst



With the 2014/15 Premier League season come and gone, Richard Jolly names his worst performer from every team this year.

Arsenal

Mikel Arteta: Francis Coquelin showed just how much Arsenal benefited from having a proper defensive midfielder. The ageing Arteta struggled on his appearances.

Aston Villa

Andreas Weimann: Started well, with early goals, but the Austrian lost his way and his place.

Burnley

Lukas Jutkiewicz: No lack of effort but the goalless striker just lacked the class for the Premier League.

Chelsea

Juan Cuadrado: The January signing wasn't the final piece in the title-winning jigsaw, but an irrelevant, expensive replacement. Much more will be expected of Colombia's World Cup star next season.

Crystal Palace

Adrian Mariappa: It says a lot that Palace didn't win a league game the versatile defender started.

Everton

Antolin Alcaraz: An increasingly hapless figure whose mistakes were a major cause of Everton's Europa League exit.

Hull City

Tom Huddlestone: A focal point of the team last season, but error-prone this year, when he was sent off twice.

Leicester City

Paul Konchesky: Leicester's best form came without him. The left-back looks past his best.

Liverpool

Mario Balotelli: Scored a solitary league goal in the worst season of his career. A £16 million failure.

Manchester City

Edin Dzeko: Only scored twice since September as the Bosnian, who struck 26 times last season, ranked as the greatest underachiever in the City ranks.

Manchester United

Radamel Falcao: Arrived with the reputation as one of the world's great strikers. Looked slow and utterly impotent in a dreadful loan spell that only yielded four goals.

Newcastle United

Emmanuel Riviere: A regular scorer in Ligue 1, he waited nine months and more than 1,000 minutes for a goal in the Premier League.

Queens Park Rangers

Mauricio Isla: The Chilean World Cup star lost his place in what proved the worst defence in the division.

Southampton

Shane Long: Hard worker but, played out of position, failed to justify his £12 million fee.

Stoke City

Phillip Wollscheid: One of the more forgettable January signings. Mark Hughes's search for a centre-back may go on.

Sunderland

Ricky Alvarez: The Argentine was anonymous, ineffective and injured. Now Sunderland are forced to pay £11 million for him.

Swansea City

Angel Rangel: Showed his age and lost his place when Kyle Naughton was signed in January.

Tottenha Hotspur

Roberto Soldado: It seemed his second season couldn't be any worse than his first. It was. Soldado scored a solitary Premier League goal. He is a waste of £26 million.

West Bromwich Albion

Cristian Gamboa: The Costa Rican was one of several summer signings who made a negligible contribution.

West Ham United

Kevin Nolan: Looked slow and old in comparison with West Ham's more dynamic midfielders.

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