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Whilst for some Premier League footballers 2016-17 has been a fruitful season, for others their only contribution has been to sit looking pretty from the dugout.
There have several examples where those starting on the sidelines have had a major impact after crossing the white line, with Liverpool substitutes Roberto Firmino and Philippe Coutinho both scoring against Stoke, who themselves benefited from Peter Crouch’s arrival in the win over Hull a week later.
Following Alberto Moreno’s brief appearance from the bench in Liverpool’s win over West Bromwich last weekend, bookmaker bwin has analysed every outfield player in the Premier League match day squads this season to reveal who are the biggest benchwarmers and the total time they’ve actually spent on the sidelines.
In the Premier League, Michy Batshuayi and Alberto Moreno have spent a combined three days, 23 hours and 50 minutes on the bench this season.
The Chelsea man has spent over two days next to Antonio Conte and Batshuayi’s contributions this season have lasted a meagre 13 minutes on average.
However, no player has spent more time looking out on to the pitch than Burnley’s James Tarkowski, who isn’t favoured by manager Shaun Dyche, spending two days, one hour and 32 minutes on the sidelines.
In fact, Tarkowski has spent more time on the bench than any player in Europe’s top five leagues.
Arsenal full-back Kieran Gibbs and Chelsea midfielder Nathaniel Chalobah also find themselves in the top 10 Premier League players, spending one day 12 hours 25 minutes and one day, 12 hours and 48 minutes respectively.
Meanwhile, Everton have averaged a Premier League goal every 10 minutes with Enner Valencia on the pitch at Goodison Park in 2017 (10 in 102 minutes), but the Ecuadorian would appear to be a victim of such success.
With his impact so noticeable coming off the bench, Valencia has spent one day, 12 hours and 55 minutes alongside Ronald Koeman in the dugout despite having sought more first-team opportunities on loan from West Ham.
Another player on loan this season who has struggled to find regular appearances any easier than at his parent club is Liverpool defender Jon Flanagan, whose loan spell at Burnley has amounted to just three starts.
The 24-year-old full-back has spent the ninth longest time on the bench of any outfield player in the English top flight, a total of one day, 12 hours and 13 minutes.
Barcelona’s big money signing Paco Alcacer hasn’t enjoying as much time as he expected since arriving from Valencia, spending a whopping 35 hours on the bench this season - that’s over 23 matches.
Former Manchester United striker Bebe was tipped for stardom when he was signed by Sir Alex Ferguson for £7.4million from Vitoria in August 2010, but the Portuguese is now barely featuring for Eibar.
In the Bundesliga, Bayern Munich’s big name signing Renato Sanches is probably wishing he was elsewhere too, spending 23 hours on the bench, while Scotland international Oliver Burke hasn’t fared much better either.
Burke has spent one day, six hours, 47 minutes warming the bench at Leipzig, as the club cemented their place in next season’s Champions League.
Italian clubs are second only to those of the Premier League when it comes to parking players themselves next to he coaching staff, despite playing one fewer round of fixtures.
Roma’s attacking midfielder Gerson hasn’t been doing much attacking, having already spent virtually two days of his life on the bench while Udinese’s Ryder Matos is the only player in the top 10 who has featured more than 10 times this campaign.
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