Didn't he used to be rubbish? Mark González of Chile

Signed by Liverpool in 2005 and promptly loaned to Real Sociedad, Mark Dennis González (sadly not named after the notorious Eighties Southampton and Birmingham wild man) leapt to prominence when he retired (temporarily) from international football shortly after his 21st birthday in protest against being expelled from the Chile squad over an incident in which three girls were found in his hotel room following a match with Republic of Ireland. Free to concentrate on his club career, he finally made his debut for Liverpool in 2006. "He is a player supporters will like to see," claimed a typically bubbly Rafa Benítez. Sadly, Reds fans saw altogether less of González than they might have hoped as he suffered a run of injuries that were not so much a catalogue as an encyclopaedia. When a player comes off worse in a tackle with Theo Walcott it is fair to wonder whether he is suited to the hurly-burly of British football. Despite considering it worth waiting nearly a year to secure the Chilean's work permit, the rotation-fixated Liverpool boss Benítez off‑loaded him to Real Betis after only 11 months. Some will claim the swift winger – inevitably nicknamed "Speedy" – wasn't actually all that bad during his time at Anfield, but the fact Rafa chose to replace him with the abysmal Albert Riera tells a different story.