Three Potential Premier League Surprises of 2015/16

By grvadmin

Who doesn’t love it when a player blossoms overnight and becomes one of the fastest emerging superstars in the biggest football league in the world? As Winter approached us in the 2014/15 season we found potentially the next gem of the Premier League in Harry Kane, he’s young, English, has a good physical presence and completely mocked defences last season. Kane obliterated teams in both the Europa League and Premiership netting 31 times, it’s something we all love to see a player who comes out of the blue and brings a new spark when it’s needed. In search for the potential that the Premiership possesses, we asses which dark horses have the potential to steal the show.

Rudy Gestede – Aston Villa

‘’The Benin Benteke’’ so the Villa fans hope, they could’ve sealed one of the bargains of the summer should the former Blackburn Rovers striker become Villa’s next big thing. It wasn’t the replacement Villa were expecting when Christian Benteke departed to Merseyside for a staggering £32.5 million, however he holds all the same assests Benteke did when he arrived at Villa Park back in 2012, but has only set Villa back £6 million-pounds.

At 6’4 the Benin international holds a remarkable physical threat holding off defenders and completely destroying them in aerial battles, last season he netted 20 league goals for Rovers and has a total tally of 33 goals in 66 appearances for them, one-in-two, not bad at all.

The only problem for Gestede will be can he prove his potential is a league with such high-class? Villa are in a re-building process and are faithful he can be the key element to guide them to safety and emulate the heroics Benteke produced for three consecutive seasons. The step-up now for Gestede will be that he will no longer be scoring a hat-trick of headers against Birmingham City he will be up against a much more physical and aware defences week in week out.
The big, strong, physical physiques don’t come along to often in the Premier League, but it seems beyond reasonable that Gestede could follow the fortunes that Didier Drogba did and follow the success which Benteke and fellow Belgian Romelu Lukaku have produced at such young ages.

But these are the type of players that do thrive, they are literally a defenders worst nightmare, they are uncontrollable on the pitch and their diverse range of goals just means anything can be expected from them, long-range goals, penalties, latching on to loose balls and then the classic bullying of defenders in the air, it’s such a rare type of player, but a special one which means Rudy hosts the potential to be a massive force this coming season.

It wouldn’t be a surprise to see Gestede leading the Villa line and creep towards the 20 goal mark in all competitions, he has the natural ability that fits in with Tim Sherwood’s dynamics, Gestede’s first Premier League season could be one in which he excels and earns an immediate reputation.

Ki Sung-Yueng

The Swansea centre midfielder receives such little credit for what he actually does for the club, he is ultimately overshadowed by fellow team-mate Gylfi Sigurdsson, but this could be the season for Sung-Yueng to step up and reach the class that his Icelandic colleague shows.

He was reportedly linked with a move to Arsenal, but the playmaker chose to continue his career at the Liberty stating first-team football is a necessity, knowing a step-up to Arsenal’s starting team is unrealistic he has shown his full commitment to the Swans and will hopefully continue to reward them. Last season saw the South Korean captain make 33 league appearances in which he scored in eight and found one assist, he will be hopeful of those figures to climb this season with manager Gary Monk reinforcing the squad with the likes of Andre Ayew.

Ki is now 26 years-old and he’s shown great potential all the way through his career at the likes of Sunderland and Celtic but as he grows ever older he needs to find his prime form in which his defensive game improves and he helps Swansea out more at the other end of the pitch, this is the only way Ki will feel safe about moving on to a larger club. Although they lost Wilfred Bony last year, Swansea didn’t lose their goalscoring momentum and still finished a highly respectable eight place.

Ki’s performances on the pitch see him control the midfield from deep and he also likes to press high into the opposition’s final third, hence why the defensive-minded midfielder managed to bag himself eight goals last campaign. His work-rate is second to none and with the likeliness of him upping his game this season, his impact on the team alone could help Swansea drive further towards a European spot.
With Swansea looking to push on, he could be the key player in the middle of the park and should his personal performances enhance, he could be in with a real chance of becoming a break-through player and earning a move to one of the Premier Leagues ‘Big boys’ by next summer should he make the headlines enough for the right reasons.

Troy Deeney

From life in a prison cell to now representing his club in the Premier League, Troy Deeney is one player whose love and desire for the game gives him an added drive, he wants to succeed. He’s scored for fun in all levels of competition, but identical to Gestede, the Premier League is something in which the Birmingham-born player has never experienced, however Deeney will be raring to prove that he is a worthy striker in this league who can still score for fun.

Deeney formed an immense strike partnership with Nigerian Odion Ighalo as the pair bagged 41 league goals between them, which helped Watford secure second in the Championship. Their last stint in the Premier League was an unsuccessful one last just one season between 2006-07, but things will drastically different this time should Deeney find his scoring boots straight away.

With previous clubs including Halesowen and Walsall, Deeney has shown how far he has come proving each year he is even more clinical, after excelling in Non-League, League Two, League One and also the Championship, at 27 years-old Deeney can be a true commander for the Hornets and after his long wait, he finally has his chance to prevail and emerge as a Premier League great. For Deeney to emerge as a star this season he won’t have to worry about the stress of matching Sergio Aguero for goal ratio, as long as he can keep Watford safe, he will do justice.

Jamie Vardy similar to Deeney, proved absolutely immense in the lower Leagues and his Premier League preview was a complete gamble as he was criticised as to whether he would be able to compete at that level, he did, he even earned an England first-team call-up. Now should Deeney follow suit, one promising season for him could see the later stages of his career earn him a valued reputation within the footballing world. With a total of 115 career goals Deeney will be hungry to add to that tally as he ultimately faces the most challenging but what could be most memorable season of his career.

Deeney will provide the ambition and determination to succeed, he has spent his life building up to this moment where he plays Premier League football, having huge set backs on the way including a prison sentence, should Deeney deliver the goods, it would be a great football fairytale for the striker.

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