Rotoworld Rewind: Rotoworld's Top 50: BPL
With 2015 in the books, here’s a look at the Premier League players who were most searched on Rotoworld.com over the course of the calendar year. As you’ll see from the list, there are lots of reasons that a player might have been searched. Here’s a look at who made the list and one man’s attempt to make some sense out of why they were so interesting.
1. Diego Costa – Given the combative nature of the Brazilian-Spaniard’s style of play, checking in frequently to see if he might be suspended or if his hamstrings might prevent him from playing in the upcoming week makes him a logical fit as the most-searched player of 2015. Throw in his declining performances in 2015 after a blistering start in the back half of 2014 and the search for an explanation for that decline as well as the decline of Chelsea overall and it’s a wonder he wasn’t the run-away winner.
2. Eden Hazard – Only a unique character like Diego Costa could prevent a guy who won a title, won the 2014-15 Player of the Year award, led a team that suffered a catastrophic slump to start the new season, got their legendary manager fired, potentially faked an injury to undermine that manager, and went goalless for the first half of the new season from the top spot on this list. If he had a bad attitude or persistent injuries he could have challenged Costa for the first spot.
3. Sergio Arguero – Let me know if you see a pattern here in our top three. Great 2014-15 season that included the Premier League’s Golden Boot. Lots of minor injuries to start the 2015-16 season making a weekly check-in on his status critical. Throw in those following his exploits in the Copa America over the summer and the formula for lots of searches seems pretty obvious.
4. Mesut Ozil – As we get to the four spot we finally see a break in the trend. Fantasy managers and supporters alike are always wise to check in on all Arsenal players to see if the club’s injury curse has struck but one suspects that Ozil’s popularity in 2015 is more tied to his 16 Premier League assists in the first half of the current season. And, man, were there some pretty ones. If we had video archives of his assists here I suspect that the number would be higher.
5. Raheem Sterling – Perhaps the first player on the list who saw the vast majority of his traffic come over the summer when the “will he or won’t he” transfer saga that ended with Sterling leaving Anfield for Manchester City played out over multiple months.
6. Wayne Rooney – It’s sad when a long-time great fades from glory but apparently it generates a lot of searches as people look for answers as to whether there’s rebound that could be forthcoming. It isn’t. 2016 clicks will surround speculation that he might leave for an insane payday in China and Manchester United look to retool.
7. Christian Benteke – The story of Benteke’s place on this list comes in three acts. Act 1 – The return from injury last season that saw him take his sweet time to round back into form. Act 2 – The speculation about his destination in the summer transfer market. Act 3 – His status in the pecking order at Anfield from week to week as other forwards are and aren’t available and the manager changed out. Those are three acts that drive searches.
8. David De Gea – Will he leave for Real Madrid? Will he stay at Old Trafford? It was the summer saga that refused to die and apparently that was enough to keep people tuning in to find out about the next tidbit of leaked rumor.
9. Robin Van Persie – Take everything I said about Wayne Rooney and apply it to van Persie, add in a summer transfer saga that saw him leave but subtract the traffic that Rooney has seen since the season started where everyone wonders if he’ll ever be decent again. (Just to reiterate, he won’t) That’s how a player who left the league over the summer ends up in the Top 10 on this list.
10. Riyad Mahrez – Breakout star on a team that has been THE best positive story of the 2015-16 season. Throw in the excitement and fantasy performances associated with their great escape to avoid relegation at the end of last season and you’ve got a surprising #10 on our list.
11. Samuel Eto’o – Hard to explain this one since he was only in the Premier League for the first 27 days of 2015. Maybe we have a bigger Serie A following that we know and Sampdoria supporters were checking in in numbers we didn’t expect starting on January 27.
12. Louis Van Gaal – The Manchester United manager is certainly a controversial figure and United’s dire attacking performances must be leading to searchers coming to the site looking for answers. I wish we knew what to tell you. This looks like a marriage going in the wrong direction.
13. Morgan Schneiderlin – A high profile transfer saga that likely had Manchester United supporters checking in to find out when the France international’s name made it to the dotted line as well as Arsenal supporters (myself included) naively hoping that Arsene Wenger would come to his senses and steal a march on United. Throw in a tail of fantasy managers wondering why such a good signing hasn’t been a guaranteed starter every time he’s healthy and it gets you pretty close to the Top 10 for the year. A heady spot for a holding midfielder.
14. Oscar – Was he in Jose Mourinho’s doghouse? Would he be sold in January? Over the summer? How likely might he be to start from week-to-week all season? All moderately interesting questions that drove traffic and searches for the Brazilian playmaker steadily throughout 2015.
15. Nathaniel Clyne – The eyes of the collective fantasy universe lit up at the prospect of Clyne solving the right back issue at Liverpool and potentially improving on great attacking and defending stats from his Southampton days with better teammates around him. Hasn’t really worked out that way but the excitement over the transfer certainly drove the searches.
16. Alexis Sanchez – Honestly, it’s a bit of a surprise that this is as high as Sanchez landed on this list. He’s an Arsenal player which means injury check-ins are a must. He featured prominently over the summer in winning the Copa America. He had a couple injuries of the type that linger and require multiple updates.
17. Harry Kane – Sort of a shock that Harry-mania from last season combined with the slump to start this season didn’t generate more searches.
18. Loic Remy – With a solid percentage of mid-table teams tied to a summer move for the France international, there was a ton of summer traffic here. Not so much since he’s been rooted to the Chelsea bench after not getting his move away. Look for things to pick up again in January based on his lack of action at Chelsea and the dire need that clubs like Bournemouth, Aston Villa and Crystal Palace have for forwards.
19. Deandre Yedlin – Behold the awesome drawing power of a young US international vying for playing time in a top European League. Yedlin didn’t start playing until a loan to Sunderland and a change of manager at the Stadium of Light late in 2015 but the searches started coming in numbers once that happened with a few wishful searches while he was still at Spurs.
20. Jamie Vardy – 2015-16’s Harry Kane. The Leicester City forward burst on to the scene in late 2014 as he helped inspire the Foxes to a shocking upset of Manchester United. All the drama that has happened since – the great escape, the goal-scoring streak, the fantasy awesomeness, – has him rounding out our 2015 Top 20.
At the risk of boring everyone to tears, we’ll only comment on select players over the balance of the Top 50.
21. Yaya Toure
22. Steven Gerrard
23. Didier Drogba
24. Gedion Zelalem – If Deandre Yedlin can drive search traffic by not playing for Spurs and Sunderland for much of the year then “Next Big Thing” Zelalem can drive nearly as much not starting for a bigger club. Throw in confirming his citizenship and commitment to the USMNT program and you’re going to generate some action.
25. Tim Howard – Presumably checking in to see when Howard would be in the booth for NBCSN calling Premier League matches.
26. Radamel Falcao
27. Kevin De Bruyne
28. Callum Wilson – Oh, what could have been if he hadn’t done his knee in.
29. Javier Hernandez
30. Angel De Maria
31. Arsene Wenger – WENGER MUST GO! What? Arsenal crushed United? They beat City? They’re topping the table at the halfway point of the season? WENGER MUST…stay? Whatever comes next the Arsenal manager will certainly remain a polarizing figure for supporters, neutrals and the media which means clicks baby.
32. Thibaut Courtois
33. Jose Enrique
34. David Silva
35. Saido Berahino – Let’s get psyched for a January repeat of the unbearable Berahino-to-Spurs saga where no one came out looking like they’d ever even encountered a mature adult let alone realized that they should actually be one.
36. Olivier Giroud
37. Luke Shaw
38. Philippe Coutinho
39. Memphis Depay – So much misplaced excitement over the summer.
40. Daniel Sturridge – No truth to the rumor that Nik left the Rotoworld team due to complications resulting from the repetitive motion of typing Sturridge injury updates.
41. Anthony Martial – They paid HOW MUCH for him? He looked like WHO once he actually got on the pitch?
42. Petr Cech – FINALLY! A world class goalkeeper at Arsenal! What? It also pissed off Jose Mourinho? If it had dragged on longer (or if Cech had actually played during the first half of 2015) he’d be in the Top 20 on this list for sure.
43. Ryan Bertrand
45. John Stones – Come on Chelsea supporters, were you that confident in signing him that you weren’t checking in on the long-running transfer saga that ended up going nowhere?
46. Theo Walcott
47. Jay Rodriguez
48. Jozy Altidore – The thirst for news of American players playing in top leagues is such that Altidore made the list despite a) being terrible in two separate spells in the Premier League and b) only being in the Premier League for about 15 minutes in 2015 before being swapped for Jermain Defoe.
49. Clint Dempsey – Willian should be embarrassed that he finished behind a player who had been gone from the Prem since early 2014 and then it was only a two month loan.
50 Willian
So, that’s it, that’s the list. We can only hope that 2016 brings as many interesting storylines and new characters to draw the attention of fantasy managers and fans alike.
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