10 Laziest Players in World Football Right Now
Professional football is one of the world's most demanding team sports, requiring 90 minutes of concentration, commitment and physical exertion. As well as elite players, the best of the best should also be top-notch athletes in order to succeed.
Happily, though, there are plenty of stars who have managed to overcome their aversion to hard work in order to make it big. These idle idols are more often than not the players who can turn a game with just a moment of magic.
Putting in just enough effort to compile such a list, here are 10 of the game's most recognisable, laid-back superstars.
10. Lukas Podolski
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With 46 international goals, Lukas Podolski is one of the all-time high scorers for Germany. But the current Arsenal player has continually struggled to repeat the same kind of form at club level.
Could a certain lack of motivation to perform week-in, week-out be the problem for the striker?
Former Germany goalkeeper Uli Stein certainly thought so, claiming that in a straw poll he had carried out of all Podolski's former coaches he came out as "the laziest player they have ever worked with" (Goal). Stein's methodology might not be the soundest, but it is damning evidence for a player who is rather fond of staying in and around the penalty area.
9. Arjen Robben
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Arjen Robben's problem has never been an unwillingness to get up the pitch. In full flight, the Dutch winger can outstrip most football players with his electric sprint.
But when things go against the Bayern Munich star, an apathy and lack of interest seems to seep into his game from all corners, making Robben little more than an extremely well-paid spectator while the action continues around him.
Since moving to Bavaria the Netherlands international has worked admirably on this part of the game, learning to play as part of a team and as a result finding top form. Just do not expect to see him running back to cover the defence at any regular interval.
8. Lionel Messi
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It almost feels like sacrilege to call the diminutive Argentine lazy, as if putting in a few more hard yards per game could yield an improvement for the best player in the world. But it is perhaps fair to say that Lionel Messi is at the very least economical with his movements.
This year in the Champions League, Messi has been outworked (based on metres covered/minute) by such dynamos as Atletico centre-back Diego Godin and Juventus' bohemian playmaker Andrea Pirlo.
According to UEFA's official stats, of all the players who have completed more than 210 minutes in the competition only Olimpiacos midfielder Vladimir Weiss, with 40 minutes less playing time than Messi, covered less total ground than the Argentine.
And yet, La Pulga is the second-highest scorer with six goals in three games. Maybe working smarter, not harder is the key to this game.
7. Zlatan Ibrahimovic
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As is the case with Paris Saint-Germain's temperamental genius Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
The former Barcelona and Milan star appears to meander through the game, rarely tracking back, happy to watch the ball ping over his head as he stays rooted with his eyes on goal.
When he has a sniff of the goal, however, Ibra comes alive.
A host of brilliant strikes throughout his career mark the Sweden international out as one of the finest players of his generation, although his few attempts at tackling tend to be somewhat x-rated in their brutality.
6. Rafael Van Der Vaart
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The phrase "Luxury Player" could have been coined especially for Hamburg enigma Rafael van der Vaart. The Dutch midfielder can look like one of the best in the world on a good day; but at his worst, he looks like he is simply not interested in taking part.
Van der Vaart was a teen sensation for Ajax, but a less than dazzling spell at Real Madrid stalled his career and left the Netherlands international on the way to Tottenham.
His time at White Hart Lane was far from a flop, but signs of his inner inertia were clear.
"If I have to chase after an attacking full-back every time, I can't play my own game to my best ability," he fired in one interview (Telegraph), incensed that Harry Redknapp removed him from the sedate atmosphere of the middle of the pitch.
5. Charlie Adam
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The former Anfield midfield Juggernaut is the exception to the rule that Premier League footballers should be highly conditioned, fully tuned machines.
Charlie Adam is a throwback to 'larger-than-life' midfield stars of another era such as Jan Molby, although Liverpool fans are unlikely to remember him in such a fond light.
Sabotage Times columnist Daniel Sandison sums up an abortive year at the Reds by describing how Adam "moves like the Costa Concordia", and this lack of mobility and dynamism without a doubt contributed to his time at Anfield coming to a premature end.
4. Juan Roman Riquelme
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Boca Juniors talisman Juan Roman Riquelme is one of the last of a dying breed. That is, the footballer who relies on technique and nous rather than any discernable physical attributes in order to get the best of their opponent.
The Argentine was always most effective when required to make the minimum exertion on the field, instead installing himself in the opposition half and using his brilliant passing ability to create chances.
That approach may have stifled his career in Europe, but it has also left us with a lifetime of great memories watching one of football's pure playmakers do his thing.
3. Antonio Cassano
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Antonio Cassano is one of those rare flowers, a footballer who can make it look all so easy out on the pitch. Probably just as well, because the Italian forward has never showed much inclination to break a sweat when it comes to playing.
From being harried out of Real Madrid for being overweight and disrespecting Fabio Capello, to being fined for a homophobic comment during Euro 2012 (BBC), Cassano's career has been marked more by controversy and fights than great moments on the pitch.
Scattered instances of brilliance only leave us wondering what the Parma man could have achieved with a cooler head and a little more application to his craft.
2. Dimitar Berbatov
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One of the moodiest, seemingly apathetic players to pull on the Manchester United shirt in recent years, Dimitar Berbatov was the antithesis of Sir Alex Ferguson's hustle and bustle during his marathon tenure at Old Trafford.
When a professional footballer is happily snapped smoking in public, and comes out with lines like "when someone has great qualities sometimes they don't have to put much effort into things" (Independent), you know you are in the presence of a lazy great.
1. Alvaro Recoba
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The Uruguayan maestro is one of the greatest, and at the same time most infuriating, talents to play the game in the last 20 years.
Recoba, best known in Europe for a long, fruitful spell with Inter, was blessed with a sublime left foot, laser vision and a deft touch which left defenders looking silly.
Work ethic, however, was never El Chino's speciality; he often admitted that he found training a drag.
At 37 the playmaker continues in high-level football, starring for local giants Nacional whom he helped to a national title in 2011/12.
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