The 15 Most Resilient Players in World Football

A resilient person is defined as someone who is able to withstand or recover quickly from different conditions.

In the world of football, players are forced to be resilient because of many things, whether it be injuries, a down season for their club or they have fallen out of favor with a manager.

For all 15 players on this list, they have all faced their fair share of adversity and have had to be resilient throughout their career.

Mario Gomez

Mario Gomez had a hard time in his first season at Bayern Munich in 2009, as his goal scoring form dropped after he moved from Stuttgart.

Instead of dwelling on his poor form, the German international came back in the 2010-11 season and scored a career-high 28 goals in the Bundesliga as well as scoring seven international goals in 2011, helping Germany qualify for the Euro 2012 tournament.

Gomez is a prime example for players who are resilient after big money transfers who do not work out in the first season.

Robin Van Persie

Not many people will make the immediate connection with Robin van Persie being resilient but think about the situation he has been in this season at Arsenal.

He has been the most consistent player on a team that has had its fair share of inconsistency.

The Dutchman has been scoring goals at will for the Gunners while the club is still outside of the Champions League places in the Premier League standings.

The latest incident facing van Persie is allegations that he was unhappy with manager Arsene Wenger's choice to substitute off Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain for Andrei Arshavin on Sunday against Manchester United.

The resiliency that van Persie has shown other players is to play their heart out regardless of how rough the situation may be at a club.

Steven Gerrard

Talk about someone who has seen rough times as of late, Steven Gerrard as been fighting injury while playing for a club trying to get back to prominence.

Gerrard has been hampered by a groin injury since the start of the 2010-11 season and has only played in 31 total games for the Reds in the past two seasons, the number that is usually his total for one season worth of games played.

It must be tough for Gerrard seeing the club he loves, Liverpool, struggle to reach the success that they saw at the beginning of the 2000s and being on the bench with injury must hurt Gerrard as Liverpool look to challenge for the top four again.

Michael Essien

Michael Essien is a prime example of a player that has been resilient through injury.

Essien has been a steady force in Chelsea's midfield since 2005 but over the past year, he has been unable to fill that role due to a knee injury.

Injuries have prevented Essien from completing a full season with Chelsea in three of the past four seasons and he has also missed the 2010 FIFA World Cup with Ghana.

Essien is a resilient veteran who is still trying to make his mark at Chelsea and with the Ghanaian being close to a full recovery, 2012 is already looking positive for Essien.

Giovani Dos Santos

Giovani dos Santos is a case like no other in resiliency.

After being signed by Tottenham from Barcelona in 2008, dos Santos has failed to break into the first team at White Hart Lane and has been sent out on loan three times already, with Ipswich Town, Galatasaray and Racing Santander all hosting the player on loan.

What is ironic is that the 22-year-old has not been able to break into the first team at club level but is an easy selection into the starting 11 for the Mexican national team.

I personally admire the resiliency that Giovani dos Santos has shown because he is still able to succeed internationally but can not get time at a top European club.

Djibril Cisse

If there is one player who has been resilient in finding new clubs after being unhappy at old clubs it is the one, the only Djibril CIsse.

Many fans know the French international for his time at Liverpool from 2004 to 2006 and the revolving door of clubs that Cisse has appeared at since.

Over the past few seasons, Cisse has worn the jerseys of Marseille, Sunderland, Panathinaikos and now Lazio.

Cisse has been resilient throughout his career against all the supposed adversity he claims he has faced like terrible Greek referring or allegedly being forced out of Liverpool by Rafa Benitez.

Either way, it takes a good amount of resilience to keep moving from club to club and also being able to succeed the way that Cisse has.

Eduardo

Eduardo suffered one of the most terrifying injuries we have seen in a while in February 2008 against Birmingham when he was tackled by Martin Taylor and the Croatian broke his fibula.

The Croatian international did make a successful comeback but he fell out of Arsenal's plans and transferred to Shakhtar Donetsk in 2010 and in his return to the Emirates Stadium he scored in the Champions League match between his current and former clubs.

Eduardo has also shown resilience at regaining his spot at the international level with four goals for Croatia in 2011.

The resiliency to come back from such a brutal injury has to earn Eduardo respect, even if he does not fully return to the form he was in before the injury.

Stuart Holden

Stuart Holden is a player who saw his first chance in England fail because of injury and after much hard work back in America, the midfielder got his second chance at Bolton.

After suffering an injury while at Sunderland in 2005, Holden went back to America and played for Houston Dynamo in Major League Soccer until his talents were recognized by Bolton Wanderers and the Scottish-born American international signed with Bolton in 2010.

Holden started off his career at Bolton with impressive form but thanks to Jonny Evans and Nigel de Jong, Holden has suffered his fair share of injuries to his leg and has not been in the Bolton lineup this season because of the injury.

Holden is currently out until around March or April and will look to be back for Bolton's final games of the Premier League this season and prevent a drop to the Championship.

Robinho

Robinho was the first star that was signed by Manchester City in 2008, but two years later the Brazilian was out of favor with management and ended up back in Brazil on loan with Santos.

Instead of staying with Santos permanently, Robinho jumped back into European play with AC Milan in Serie A.

Robinho has been able to get into the AC Milan squad and impress and he has know recovered from his tough time in England with success in Italy.

Jack Wilshere

Jack Wilshere faced adversity trying to get into the Arsenal team at such a young age.

In his first full season in the first team at Arsenal, Wilshere made 35 appearances and made his England international debut with five total appearances for the Three Lions.

The resilience shown by the Englishman to get into both squads at the age of 19 showed that Wilshere is more than willing to take the throne of the top young English player, even if he is injured at the moment.

Arjen Robben

If there is one player who knows about transfer madness and facing resilience as a player at a top club for years, it's Robben.

While at Chelsea, Robben faced his fare share of injuries and moved to Real Madrid in 2007 before the second Galacticos Era was established and the Dutchman was forced out of the squad under president Florentino Perez.

After Real Madrid, Robben made a move to Bayern Munich and while he has settled in with the squad well until his injury while playing for the Netherlands caused the midfielder to miss the beginning of last season and for the Bayern hierarchy to get in a disagreement with the Dutch Federation because the injury was not fully healed.

Robben's injury and club adversity has proved his resilience to still remain a top player in the game.

Rafael Van Der Vaart

There is one player who has fought some resilience through transfers and that is Rafael van der Vaart.

Instead of choosing a big club in 2005 while leaving Ajax, the Dutchman joined Hamburg instead and then he moved to Real Madrid three years later.

Van der Vaart then had to show some resiliency again in the summer of 2010, when just like Robben he was forced out of Real Madrid during the second Galacticos era and moved to Tottenham.

Van der Vaart is yet another player who has had to been resilient in leaving a top club like Madrid to go and make a bigger impact at a smaller club like Tottenham .

Jamie Carragher

Jamie Carragher has been a one-club player for his whole career and he has put his heart and soul into Liverpool.

Carragher has been resilient throughout the rough times at Liverpool, just like his teammate since 1998 Steven Gerrard.

The last championship that the defender won with the club was the 2005-06 FA Cup.

Anyone who shows that much dedication to a storied club like Liverpool without winning too many trophies, it shows the resilience and loyalty that Jamie Carragher has to Liverpool.

Wayne Rooney

Wayne Rooney has been at Manchester United since 2004 but has had many chances where he could have left the club due to disputes with Sir Alex Ferguson.

Rooney's biggest controversy with Ferguson in October 2010 over his contract in which Ferguson thought the English forward would leave the club.

The resiliency shown by Rooney is to stay with the club despite the uncertainty and conflict with the manager and club.

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar is a classic case of someone who has traveled around from club to club and has finally made his impact on his newest club.

Huntelaar has been resilient in finding that club that will help him succeed since his time at Ajax during the 2007-08 season.

The Dutchman tried to make his mark at Real Madrid and AC Milan but was unable to and after his 2010 move to Germany to play for Schalke, he has been on fire.

Huntelaar has shown the resilience to get back in form and go back into contention for the Dutch national team just in time for Euro 2012.