Eight players you may have forgotten sneaked a Premier League medal - Buttner, De Laet, Rodwell…

Cameron Loftus
4 April 2022

Thirty-eight appearances without missing a minute or five time-wasting cameos from the bench, it doesn’t matter when it comes to being awarded a Premier League winner’s medal.

The destination of the 2021/22 Premier League trophy could be a lot clearer on Sunday when Manchester City and Liverpool go head to head at the Etihad.

The trophy is not the only thing handed out to the title-winning team, however.

Since the 2012/13 season, players have needed to make a minimum of five appearances, from the bench or starting, to be eligible to win a Premier League winner's medal.

With that in mind, Planet Sport has picked out eight players who may have felt just that little bit sheepish when they were presented with their title memento.

Daniel Amartey - Leicester City 2015/16

Amartey joined Leicester from Copenhagen in January 2016 for £6million and within six months he had won a Premier League winners medal, scraping in with five appearances.

He accumulated only 101 minutes on the pitch, but the 21-year old joined an exclusive club.

The Ghanaian defender remains with the Foxes and has clocked up over 100 appearances in his six years in the Midlands.

Nathaniel Chalobah - Chelsea 2016/17

Currently playing for Fulham in the Championship, Nathaniel looked destined for big things at Chelsea, but now it seems brother Trevoh is the Chalobah who will make a name for himself at Stamford Bridge.

Nevertheless, despite six loan spells away from the Bridge, Nathaniel will always have a Premier League winners medal to cherish. The Sierra Leone-born midfielder made 10 appearances for Chelsea under Antonio Conte in the 2016/17 title-winning campaign.

Ritchie De Laet - Leicester City 2015/16

Another member of the Leicester City squad that shocked the world under Claudio Ranieri, De Laet was not even at Leicester when they won the title, spending the second half of the season on loan at Middlesbrough.

However, his 12 appearances before his departure meant he along, with Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez, picked up a medal.

De Laet has since played for Aston Villa, Melbourne City and Royal Antwerp.

Jack Rodwell - Man City 2013/14

Tipped for greatness, Englishman Rodwell signed for Man City for £12million in 2012. However a string of injuries stifled his progress and he was never able to reach anywhere near his potential.

The youngster appeared 11 times for Man City during their 2013/14 title-winning season, featuring in five of their first seven matches and three of the last four, but very little in between.

Nowadays, Rodwell, who played three times for his country, features for Australian outfit Western Sydney Wanderers.

Alexander Buttner - Man United 2012/13

The first player to win a Premier League medal on the back of just five league appearances was Dutch left-back Buttner.

Understudy to Patrice Evra, but still managed two league goals in his five appearances.

Bizarrely, Buttner also played five times the previous season but missed out on a Premier League medal as the rules that season stated that a player had to feature in ten matches.

Since leaving Old Trafford, Buttner's career has taken him to Russia, the Netherlands and America and he is currently playing for Eredivisie side RKC Waalwijk.

Brahim Diaz - Man City 2017/18

Still only 22 years of age, Brahim Diaz has already played for Man City, Real Madrid and AC Milan and scored on his only appearance to date for Spain.

In addition, he has won the Premier League, Community Shield, Supercopa de Espana and La Liga, while the Coppa Italia and Serie A are distinct possibilities with AC Milan this season.

Diaz was still a teenager when he won his Premier League medal at Man City, breaking into the first team in the same season as Phil Foden and going on to clock up just 49 minutes of action for his five appearances.

Eric Garcia - Man City 2020/21

Even though it was only last season, we feel that this one may have gone under the radar.

Garcia swiftly left Man City for Barcelona in his homeland in the summer, but his six appearances in a squad that included John Stones, Ruben Dias and Nathan Ake in his position, means that Garcia certainly deserves a mention.

In his three years at the Etihad, Garcia managed just 19 top-flight appearances for City, a number he already matched at Camp Nou.

Neco Williams - Liverpool 2019/20

The final name on our list is Trent Alexander-Arnold understudy Neco Williams.

The Welsh international, who is spending the second half of this season at Championship promotion hopefuls Fulham, made three starts and three substitute appearances as Liverpool won their first league title in 30 years.