Luke McLaughlin 

Football quiz: career paths of the past decade – can you guess the player?

Study the journey that these well-travelled footballers have taken in the past 10 years and see if you can name them
  
  

Decades football quix
Where has your career taken you in the past decade? Photograph: Javier García/BPI/Rex/Shutterstock

  1. Portsmouth > Burnley (loan) > Leicester City > Middlesbrough > Derby County > Preston North End.

    1. Jimmy Bullard

    2. David Nugent

    3. Dean Windass

    4. Kevin Phillips

  2. Barcelona > Roma > Milan (loan) > Barcelona > Ajax (loan) > Stoke City > Mainz 05 (loan) > Alavés (loan) > Montreal Impact.

    1. Tuncay Sanli

    2. Jordi Alba

    3. Bojan Krkic

    4. Stefano Okaka

  3. Tottenham Hotspur > Toronto FC > Tottenham (loan) > Sunderland > Bournemouth > Rangers (loan).

    1. Peter Crouch

    2. Luka Modric

    3. Rafael van der Vaart

    4. Jermain Defoe

  4. Blackburn > QPR > Doncaster Rovers > Market Drayton > Carlisle > Arles-Avignon > Washington > Ashton Town.

    1. Morten Gamst Pedersen

    2. Chris Samba

    3. Pascal Chimbonda

    4. Steven Nzonzi

  5. Liverpool > Galatasaray (loan) > Sporting CP > Atlético Madrid > Rayo Vallecano (loan) > Stuttgart.

    1. Jay Spearing

    2. Fabio Aurelio

    3. Daniel Ayala

    4. Emiliano Insua

  6. Portsmouth > Milan > Schalke 04 > Milan > Las Palmas > Eintracht Frankfurt > Sassuolo > Barcelona (loan) > Fiorentina.

    1. Kevin-Prince Boateng

    2. Niko Kranjcar

    3. John Utaka

    4. Nwankwo Kanu

  7. Chelsea > QPR (loan) > Wolves (loan) > Hamburg > Nottingham Forest > New England Revolution.

    1. Adel Taraabt

    2. Michael Mancienne

    3. Paulinho

    4. José Bosingwa

  8. Arsenal > Barcelona > Roma (loan) > Vissel Kobe.

    1. Vito Mannone

    2. Thomas Vermaelen

    3. Alexander Hleb

    4. Marouane Chamakh

  9. Birmingham City > Stoke City > Crystal Palace (loan) > Norwich City > Derby County > Goztepe.

    1. Jordon Mutch

    2. Gary McSheffrey

    3. Cameron Jerome

    4. Marcus Bent

  10. Fenerbahce > Toulouse (loan) > Galatasaray > Olympiacos (loan) > Blackburn Rovers (loan) > Bursaspor > Feyenoord (loan) > Feyenoord > Celtic > Coritiba > Corinthians > Lobos BUAP (loan) > Veracruz.

    1. Tugay

    2. Colin Kazim-Richards

    3. Amine Linganzi

    4. Jamie O'Hara

Solutions

1:B - The experienced goal-poacher has banged them in for several clubs around the country for the past 10 years., 2:C - Stoke City gave that away, didn't it? Formerly touted as the next Lionel Messi while coming through the ranks at Barça, Bojan currently resides in the 'Where are they now?' file. (Montreal Impact, since you ask.), 3:D - Are these too easy? So far, it’s mainly been journeymen strikers with one dead giveaway club. All right, let's make this interesting ..., 4:C - Following a mid-decade break in the south of France at Arles-Avignon, the full-back now finds himself back amongst it in the domestic lower leagues., 5:D - The Argentinian full-back has now amassed an impressive 125 appearances for German side Stuttgart since 2015, following a five-year jaunt around Europe in the first half of the decade., 6:A - Footballing royalty with a career path to match., 7:B - Extra geek points if, unlike us, you differentiated between Hamburg and Hamburg reserves., 8:B - Hleb left Arsenal for Barcelona way back in 2008, as any fule kno., 9:C - You knew he'd ended up at Turkish top-flight outfit Goztepe, didn't you? Of course you did., 10:B - How many times did you change job this decade? We bet it was fewer times than Colin Kazim-Richards - one of football’s top, top journeymen who, presumably, updates his own Wikipedia page.

Scores

  1. 10 and above.

    You're the best! Lionel Messi-level quizzing. Congratulations!

  2. 9 and above.

    Very, very good. If this quiz was a stadium, there would be a statue of you outside.

  3. 8 and above.

    Congratulations on an exceptional performance. You've earned yourself a testimonial at the very least.

  4. 7 and above.

    Well done! You missed out on the title but you're in the Champions League, at worst.

  5. 6 and above.

    A very respectable effort. You are the James Milner of quizzes.

  6. 5 and above.

    Not bad, not great. A mid-table season in the Championship.

  7. 4 and above.

    Definite room for improvement. The board have issued a public vote of confidence.

  8. 3 and above.

    Disappointing. Knocked out in the qualifying rounds.

  9. 2 and above.

    Two better than zero, you are still destined to end up on loan at Trabzonspor.

  10. 0 and above.

    Your career never even began. But you probably still lie about having a trial with Stoke City.

  11. 1 and above.

    A one-hit wonder. You are being sent on loan to a non-league club in Siberia.
 

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