SUMMARY
- Being a soccer player isn't easy, while some become stars, others don't play for years.
- While most of the athletes in soccer are considered the best in the world they end up getting benched.
The sport of soccer is one of the most watched sports in the globe. Every kid dreams of being a professional soccer player in the world. However, the life of a soccer player is not as easy as it seems, as some turn out to play every game and become stars in their clubs whereas some players do not get to play for years.
In this article, we will be looking at players who were benched for most of the time at a single club despite being fit and raring to play. So, let us look at the 5 soccer players who spent the longest time being on the bench for their respective clubs:
1. Loris Karius:
German soccer professional player Loris Sven Karius is a goalkeeper for Newcastle United in the Premier League. At the youth level, Karius represented Germany. Karius, a Biberach native, started his professional career with Stuttgart before joining Manchester City in 2009.
He spent two years in the Manchester City junior system before joining Mainz 05 in Germany. Loris is one of the players who has not played a competitive game for almost a year has been 2 years without a league appearance for Union Berlin and has been on the bench for all this time.
2. Tomasso Berni:
Former Italian professional soccer player Tommaso Berni last served as Inter Milan’s goalkeeper. Berni’s professional career began at Fiorentina. He joined Inter Milan in 1998. In the 2001 Torneo di Viareggio, he served as the backup goalie for their Primavera young squad, with Marco Varaldi starting in the net.
Tomasso Berni signed for Inter Milan in 2014, and has yet to play a game. He did however pick up his first red card at the weekend, for running on the pitch at full-time to sarcastically congratulate the referee for sending off Inter striker Lautaro Martinez. Some boy. pic.twitter.com/S2fsthuJfQ
— MUNDIAL (@MundialMag) January 31, 2020
One of the astonishing facts regarding Berni is that he did not play a single game for Inter Milan when he returned to the club in 2014. He was at Inter for 6 years from 2014 to 2020 but made 0 appearances and also surprisingly received 2 red cards.
3. Alejandro Saccone:
Alejandro Saccone was a Goal Keeper at Argentinian team, River Plate FC in the 90s. He played only 3 matches at the club despite being there from 1993 to 2005, although he went on loan 2 times for a year (didn’t get to play) and had one transfer to Serie C from Italy.
Alejandro Saccone, director de @ArquerosEnRed, nos muestra cómo debemos pararnos y cómo actuar en el 1 vs 1 ante el delantero rival. pic.twitter.com/FMkCGPT9X6
— HoySeJuega (@hoysejuega) October 3, 2017
He arrived in 1993 and had his debut in the 1997/98 season. Then he didn’t play at all until he went to Italy in the 2002/03 season. He did not make an appearance for 5 years, however, River Plate had goalkeepers who were in the starting XI for Argentina most of the time so there was no chance for him to start.
4. Conrad Logan:
Anstey Nomads goalkeeper Conrad Joseph Logan is an Irish professional soccer player. In 2001, Logan enrolled in the Leicester City Academy, and in 2005, he made his professional debut. He mostly played on loan for numerous other clubs, primarily supporting Leicester as a backup goalkeeper.
First game in 16 months 🙌
Debut for Hibs 😬
Immediate legend status 🔥Ahead of another Hibernian v Dundee United Scottish Cup semi-final, re-live @conradlogan‘s classic goalkeeping performance ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/GVt4t0surF
— BBC Sport Scotland (@BBCSportScot) May 4, 2021
However, Conrad left Leicester for various loan moves after not making it big for them in his first stint at the club but did not give up on them. He returned to Leicester in 2012 once again and made his debut in 2013 but after that, he remained on the bench for 2 long years and did not make a single appearance for them, and he was eventually released in 2015.
5. Scott Carson:
Scott Paul Carson is an experienced soccer player from England who is a goalkeeper for Manchester City, a team in the Premier League. Carson became a member of the Leeds United academy in 2002, and in February 2004, he made his debut for the Leeds first team against Manchester United and later went on to play for numerous clubs in his career.
On August 8, 2019, Carson secured a loan deal with the defending Premier League winners, Manchester City, for the 2019–20 campaign. Carson served as the backup goalie behind Ederson and Claudio Bravo. This saw Carson being on the bench for the whole of the 2019-20 season and was an unused substitute that season.