It may be hard to imagine that a professional footballer can end up horribly out of shape when their career literally depends on high levels of fitnesses, but sometimes footballers do fall horribly out of shape after a bad injury or a lack of motivation to keep themselves in tip top condition, and some even just don’t need to be amazing shape anyway. We count down 5 of the biggest footballers!
- Ronaldo
No, not that one. Before that hulking specimen arose to become one of the greatest players of all time, there was another Ronaldo, a Brazilian striker who was a superstar in his own right. This Ronaldo was never the slimmest, but he was powerful and quick. He played for clubs such as Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Barcelona and AC Milan as well as winning the World Cup in 2002, scoring goals at an alarming rate no matter where he played or what shape he was in. A series of injuries throughout his career eventually slowed him down, and a knee injury sustained at AC Milan kept him out for some time. When he came back he was terribly out of shape, earning the moniker of “fat Ronaldo” in order to distinguish him from his namesake, Cristiano.
- Adriano
We promise not all of these are going to be Brazilian strikers. Once seen as the ideal replacement to the aforementioned Ronaldo, there was a time when Adriano looked set to be one of the best players of his generation. He scored 27 goals in 48 games for Brazil, as well as boasting a very good strike rate for Inter Milan in his second spell. Instead, he currently finds himself playing for Miami United, in the 4th division in American football. Yikes. How did he end up there? Significant problems with his weight were a huge factor, once reaching the point where one of his former clubs put him under house arrest in his hotel so that he would stop eating!
- Jan Molby
Denmark International Jan Molby was a key player for Liverpool during the 1980s and early 1990s. He had a superb array of passing skills and vision, as well as being a great penalty taker. He was able to run a game in midfield despite clearly not being the most athletic or fittest player around. His genuine talent more than made up for his size!
- Adel Taarabt
What could have been. A player so full of talent and a fantastic dribbler, combined with a good shot, he could have been one of the most entertaining players in the Premier League right now. Instead, he fell out with Harry Redknapp when the two were at QPR together and Harry claimed he was at least three stone overweight. Harry also stated that he could of ran more than Taarabt managed in a reserve team game. He was shipped out to Benfica, where he has struggled for game time and has played in their B team this season.
- Benni McCarthy
The South African hitman had a period of time where he was genuinely a fantastic striker, including scoring two goals against Manchester United during a Jose Mourinho inspired Porto’s march to Champions League glory in 2004. But, after a spell at Blackburn that started brightly, he was moved on to West Ham where he received multiple fines for being overweight. Bizarrely, McCarthy was set a target of weight to lose, which he achieved, but was then dropped from the squad as him losing weight had made him too slow. He just can’t win can he?
