Harry Kane next? 11 players who had unbelievable individual seasons but went trophyless

Former Liverpool, Barcelona and Real Madrid stars are among the 11 players who produced unbelievable individual seasons but ended the campaign trophyless.

With Bayern Munich looking increasingly likely to end the season without a trophy, Harry Kane could be the next player to join this unfortunate list. Despite producing 50 goal contributions for the German giants, it could all count for nothing come the end of the campaign.

Thomas Tuchel’s side have been off the pace in the Bundesliga, lost the DFL-Supercup final, are already out of the DFB-Pokal and a Champions League triumph seems fairly unlikely at this stage.

However, Kane certainly isn’t the only player to have produced a marvellous individual season and end it trophyless. We’ve gathered 11 other examples of this phenomenon throughout football history.

Harry Kane (2017-18)

Alright, this isn’t the first time that Kane has had a marvellous season, only to end it trophyless. In fact, you could probably argue that Kane qualifies for this list several times over.

The England skipper enjoyed his best-ever goalscoring season in 2017-18, but it all amounted to a trophyless season. Despite scoring 41 goals, Tottenham finished third in the Premier League and didn’t have any joy in the cup competitions.

Luis Suarez (2013-14)

John Ruddy is still having nightmares about Suarez to this day.

There’s a valid argument to be made that Suarez’s campaign in 2013-14 was the best individual season of any Premier League player of all time.

Despite being banned for the first five games of the season, the Uruguayan forward still won the Golden Boot with ease, scoring a whopping 31 goals in just 33 appearances.

Suarez was head and shoulders above every other player in the league that season and watching him on a weekly basis was a joy to behold.

However, despite being a cut above the competition, he still ended the season without a trophy. Liverpool lost out on the title by two points and they didn’t do much in the League Cup or FA Cup either.

READ: Celebrating peak 2013-14 Liverpool & Luis Suarez’s unreal 18-yard header

Cristiano Ronaldo (2009-10)

Having just spent a world record fee to bring Ronaldo to the Santiago Bernabeu, Real Madrid probably didn’t expect to end the 2009-10 season without a single trophy.

In fairness to Ronaldo, he couldn’t have done much more in his debut season. He scored 33 goals and produced eight assists, averaging a goal contribution every 71 minutes.

It just so happened that he was competing against Pep Guardiola’s treble-winning Barcelona side, who swept up all of the major titles in 2009-10.

“I really enjoyed the season that I’ve done, but what’s missing is winning a title,” Ronaldo said in May 2010.

“I’m very happy here in Madrid and my team-mates have helped me a lot, but the team has not won anything. We have to keep fighting and I am confident we will win many titles (in the future).”

Thankfully for CR7, it wasn’t long before the silverware started to flood in.

Lionel Messi (2019–20)

Even the footballing gods can go trophyless from time to time. Barcelona were a mess for large portions of 2019-20, but Messi still produced the goods on a regular basis.

He ended the 2019-20 campaign with a whopping 56 goal contributions, but it all amounted to nothing in the end. Quique Setien’s side were humiliated in the Champions League by Bayern Munich and they lost the league title to Real Madrid.

Then to add insult to injury, they lost the Copa del Rey quarter-finals to Athletic Bilbao and lost the Supercopa de Espana semi-final to Atletico Madrid. A year to forget for Messi and company.

Thierry Henry (2005-06)

Despite enjoying the second-best scoring season of his career, Henry ended 2005-06 without a single trophy to his name. The Frenchman bagged 33 goals across all competitions but missed out on all the major silverware.

Arsenal lost the Community Shield and Champions League final and didn’t have any joy in the Premier League, League Cup or FA Cup either.

READ NEXT: 9 of the current longest trophy droughts in Europe: Spurs & Newcastle lead the way…

TRY A QUIZ: Can you name every current Premier League club’s top scorer in the competition?

Gareth Bale (2012-13)

The rapid Welsh winger was arguably at his best during his final season with Tottenham. He scored several thunderbolts and ended the season with 40 goal contributions across all competitions.

He did earn a blockbuster move to Real Madrid on the back of his form in 2012-13, but it’s a shame he never had any silverware to show for it.

Antoine Griezmann (2015-16)

The Frenchman put Atletico Madrid on his back in 2015-16, but despite going agonisingly close, he ended the year without a trophy to his name.

Diego Simeone’s side missed out on the La Liga title by three points and they lost the Champions League final to arch-rivals Real Madrid on penalties.

Griezmann scored 32 goals and managed seven assists during that season, but even that wasn’t enough to get Atletico Madrid over the line in any of the competitions.

Steven Gerrard (2008-09)

The Liverpool legend scored 24 goals across all competitions in 2008-09, which was his best-ever scoring campaign. To go along with that he also produced 13 assists and formed a formidable partnership with Fernando Torres.

Although despite his best efforts, Liverpool ended the season without a single trophy to their name. They missed out on the league title by four points and didn’t make it past the quarter-finals in any of the cup competitions.

Ranked: The 10 best players of the modern era to never win a league title

Ronaldo (2004-05)

The Brazilian forward enjoyed a relatively injury-free campaign in 2004-05 as he bagged 24 goals and produced 11 assists in 45 appearances for Real Madrid.

However, despite having a spine of Iker Casillas, Roberto Carlos, Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo and Ronaldo, Real Madrid somehow ended the year without any silverware.

The club struggled to nail down an identity during this era as they had three separate managers throughout the season. In the end, they finished as runners-up in La Liga and only made it to the round of 16 in the Champions League and Copa del Rey.

Alan Shearer (1995–96)

Scoring 37 goals only to finish seventh in the league and not win any cup competitions? Shearer must have been livid with his teammates.

Matt Le Tissier (1994–95)

You’ve got to hand it to Le Tissier for sticking with Southampton, even when the going got tough. His best season arguably came in 1994-95 as he scored 30 goals across all competitions which was his best-ever scoring campaign.

Although despite his best efforts, Southampton only went on to finish 10th in the Premier League and they didn’t have much luck in the cups either.

“I played the game the way I wanted to play it, and had I gone on to a bigger club, I probably wouldn’t have been able to do that,” Le Tissier says.

“I knew I probably wouldn’t win any honours, but when you’re at a club that size, staying in the Premier League for 16 years gave me as much pleasure as winning a medal if I’d gone somewhere else.”