15 Most Overrated Players in the Premier League Right Now

It's inevitable in this overblown, hyperbolic, media circus that surrounds today's sporting world that some of the stars of the show may just be slightly overrated.

Obviously this is purely a subjective opinion that each of us have, and you'll immediately jump to the defence of your team's players like they're your own flesh and blood.

But allegiances aside, here are 15 of the most overrated players in the Premier League.

Johan Djourou

Johan Djourou plays for Arsenal. Johan Djourou is not good enough to play for most teams in the Premier League, let alone Arsenal.

Not only is Djourou a bad defender, he's fairly horrific. In fact, whenever I see Djourou play a full game for Arsenal, something comically catastrophic will happen. Take Note:

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/6301084/bolton_vs_arsenal/

Note 1: Djourou gets turned like he's playing blindfolded by Daniel Sturridge to concede penalty.

Note 2: Djourou gets beaten to the near post on a corner to concede a sloppy late winner.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ki9TZQ42d50

Note: Djourou dives in for a ball he has no chance of winning and concedes a penalty (to his own teammate no less OUCH).

http://11x2.com/news/846914/highlights-blackburn-4-3-arsenal-english-premier-league-17-09-11

Note 6th video down: Djourou waywardly dives in dives in for another ball when he should stay on his feet leaving Martin Olsson free to break away and create the winning goal.

Keep up the good work Johan.

Darren Fletcher

Darren Fletcher is one of Sir Alex Ferguson's "big game" players—the problem is that I can't understand why.

He isn't great on the ball, isn't great in defence and seemingly only gets picked for hard work and effort. Don't get me wrong that is very important, but how did it work out against Man City at the weekend?

Give me Tom Cleverley any day.

John Obi Mikel

Another guy who doesn't do that much is John Obi Mikel.

Manchester United and Chelsea fought tooth and nail for Mikel's services in 2006. However, he's never really imposed himself on anyone for Chelsea and is just a bit part player for the club. 

Jack Rodwell

Once upon a time Jack Rodwell was the next Wayne Rooney. An up-and-coming teenager with great all-around skills, Rodwell was chased by top teams, including Manchester United.

Where is he now?

Rodwell's progression has seemingly stalled and now he's "just another guy."

Peter Crouch

Clubs sign Peter Crouch for his freakish size and "different" look as a footballer.

People defend Peter Crouch because of his England record (22 goals in 42 caps).

Let's analyse that prolific record:

A hat-trick, WOW ... no wait that was against Jamaica.

Throw in two against Andorra, and further strikes against Trinidad and Tobago, Estonia and Macedonia among others and suddenly that record begins to look less and less impressive, doesn't it?

There's a reason Peter Crouch has played for 12 clubs, which is incidentally the number of goals he scored in the past two seasons combined.  

Owen Hargreaves

When someone says the name Owen Hargreaves, it unilaterally makes you think of his injury problems and a reveals sympathetic soft spot in your heart wondering what could have been.

However, the truth is Owen Hargreaves hasn't been that good since the 2006 World Cup.

Obviously the health issues have obscured our ability to see what the midfielder still has, but even at his best he was just a reasonable defensive midfielder.

Nowadays he's no better than that. 

Rio Ferdinand

Age has caught up with the former England captain, and it's caught up on him extremely quickly.

As hard as it may be to believe, in my opinion Ferdinand is Manchester United's fourth-best centre back behind Vidic, Smalling and Jones.

In fact, Rio might have to start looking over his shoulder with Johnny Evans chasing down his spot in the pecking order.

Rio Ferdinand should no longer be in the England squad.

Gareth Barry

Gareth Barry was the in-vogue English footballer when Manchester City fought off competition from Liverpool to sign him in 2009.

In the past couple of years we've seen that he was a big fish in a small pond at Aston Villa. Now he's just another fish in the ocean.

Barry has no distinguishable attribute that separates himself from most other Premier League midfielders, and is now just an older, less talented Jack Wilshere. 

Dimitar Berbatov

There's a reason that the only game time Dimitar Berbatov can get at the moment is against Aldershot Town.

Many are drawn to Berbatov's suave persona and maverick style of play.

These are simply euphemisms for being lazy and not working well as part of a team.

Many look at Berbatov's 20 league goals last year as proof he's still a premier scorer in the Premier League. But let's put those numbers under the microscope.

Berbatov scored five times against Bolton and three times against Birmingham, and both were at home and both were blow-out wins.

In the seven league games Berbatov played in against the four teams best teams in the league (Chelsea, Arsenal, Man City, Tottenham), the Bulgarian scored, yes you guessed it, zero goals.  

Samir Nasri

To be frank, let me put it this way: One good half-season playing alongside Cesc Fabregas does not make you as good as Cesc Fabregas.

Get used to that spot on the end of the Manchester City bench and just remember to warm up when Roberto Mancini asks you to. 

Jordan Henderson

A £20m shot in the dark, Jordan Henderson could go on to be brilliant or could make Kenny Dalgleish look very silly in about five years' time.

No one knows if Henderson is worth that kind of money because he was only good for about half of last year before disappearing into mediocrity.

The combination of uncertainty and £20m makes Henderson overrated. They got a better footballer for half the price in Charlie Adam.

Theo Walcott

Scoring a hat trick for England against Croatia was the worst thing that could have happened to Theo Walcott's career.

Since that point everybody has expected Walcott to blossom into the Englsih Lionel Messi: Unsurprisingly, it's yet to happen, and never will.

Walcott has expressed a desire to play in the middle rather than out wide, just like Messi, and maybe he'll get his opportunity when Robin Van Persie makes a sprint for freedom as his contract expires.

Andy Carroll

Liverpool spent £35m for Andy Carroll in January thinking they were getting a perfect strike partner for Luis Suarez.

The problem is that no one told Kenny Dalgleish that Carroll wasn't worth £35m and that he'd become the world's most expensive substitute this season.

Come the end of the season, Carroll will have more breaches of club discipline than league goals. 

Fernando Torres

Since his £50m move to Chelsea, Fernando Torres has played for the past year like he's on a 12-month sabbatical from football.

The funniest part is that Chelsea fans have become so desperate for Torres to find something resembling form that they've deluded themselves into thinking a half-decent performance against the eighth-best team in Belgium is a sure-fire sign that all is well.   

Gareth Bale

Yes, Gareth, you scored a hat trick at the San Siro, but let me ask you something: What have you done for me lately?

The answer is very little. Bale has pace, size and all the athleticism you could ask for in a winger but lacks the intricate technical skill required to be elite.

His final ball is unimpressive, and his only means of getting by defenders is to knock it 10 feet past them and run as fast legs will carry him.

Bale took the Premier League and Champions League by storm last year but now the opposition has caught up and Bale has regressed.