7 Footballers Getting BETTER With Age

From 32-year-old Manchester City treble-winning captain Ilkay Gundogan, who has just joined Barcelona, to 33-year-old former Stoke City and Newcastle United flop but recent Real Madrid signing, HITC Sevens takes a look at a number of footballers defying the odds and *still* improving with age.

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[juanpabloperezgomez]

For the record, Joselu was not signed as a Benzema's replacement, but as his theoretical backup.

[presidentmphuthi]

We have to appreciate how this generation of players have elongated their top-level careers into their mid-30s. Messi, Suarez, Benzema, Modric, CR7, Zlatan, Giroud, etc - have forever changed views on football professionalism.

[ruangould]

Pascal Gross had he's best season at Brighton 32 years old 9 goals, despite changing position regularly.

[antslb]

Nice concept, here in Portugal, José Fonte and Pepe, are examples, Pepe is now at forty showing some signs of regression, but at 38 he was still flirting with peak performances at Porto

[krotos]

I don´t if Emiliano Martinez really fits the idea of te video, but in the last three years he went from an unknown sub keeper at Arsenal to a World Cup winner and national hero of Argentina.

[seandelap]

Jamie Vardy only turned professional when he was 25 and had been playing non league and lower league football prior to winning promotion with Leicester City in 2014 and it was only in his 2nd season of EPL football that he rose to prominence when he was among the main contributers to Leicester's surprise title win at which point he was almost 30 years old before that few would have recognised his name

[Alfie_]

Jonas Hofmann is worth a shout, before turning 28, his goal tallies were 0, 0, 0, 5, 5, 6, but then the last two seasons, he has scored 12 goals.

[maruv]

4:58 absolutely love stones being here. he is absolutely one of the reasons we've won the treble. Calmness, the ability to dribble through, the progressive runs and the defending when we most needed it was just unreal! Pep has ignited a monster in stones and I'm buzzing to see what happens in the coming years

[jackmanley]

As a Barca fan, signing Ilkay Gundogan on a free is basically the only thing I'm excited about for the future, considering it looks like the hammer is about to fall hard for the officiating scandal.

[bigstan]

Do a video on the story of Joeseph Ndo going from playing in world cups for Cameron to the ultimate Cult hero of league of Ireland football

[mikeoxlong]

Good shout-outs for this list would be both Werder Bremen strikers Niklas Füllkrug and Marvin Ducksch whom both have hit double figures this season and Füllkrug even winning the golden boot

EDIT: I see you have included Füllkrug

[kzargamng]

Alfie you should really consider doing a video on the Bosnian men's national team, from being ranked 13 in the world in 2014 and qualifying for the World Cup in Brazil, to not qualifying for a single tournament since, yet managing to win their uefa nation leagues group, but genuinely hitting our lowest point with a 2-0 defeat to Luxembourg. Aging players, players who represent other national teams that are eligible to play for Bosnia but aren't seeming interested, just the genuine geopolitical mess that Bosnia is with how the Dayton agreement was meant to simply end the Bosnian war yet became the country's de facto constitution. I think it would make for a very interesting video, and could even span additional videos like how Velez Mostar are forced to play away from their original stadium in Mostar as it is on the Croatian side of the river, with their old stadium being taken over by Zrinjski Mostar. A club that was actually banned in Yugoslavia because of their nationalistic origin

[lennard]

I might be slightly biased because I consider that his contributions to both country and, especially during the last two years, for club football has actually increased, but Giroud's game hasn't stayed flat, but actually improved since 2016, when he turned 30.
France wouldn't have won the 2018 world cup or reached the 2022 world cup final without his selfless contribution to the team's attacking play, and Milan wouldn't have won the 2022 scudetto without his brilliant linkups with Leao. The 2022-2023 season was actually his most prolific since 2016. Sure, his physical prowess has decreased somewhat as he's aged, but his overall game has kept on improving as he's perfected his off-the ball game, both during buildup play and as a poacher.

[noahwold]

Damn i didn’t except an Amahl Pellegrino shoutout, but i am happy it happened. He’s been comfortably the best player in the Norwegian top flight for the past two years without earning A single Norway cap without a significant reason from our manager. He’S got flair, can produce some of the best goals you will see. He, probably should’ve made some better career moves or gotten a better agent, but is consistently class, wish he would have tried himself in France or the netherlands like most up and coming norwegians, perhaps he peaked too late.

[dronesclubhighjinks]

Thank you so much for making this heartwarming video! These men are very inspirational, and I am delighted to see them get the credit they deserve!

[BALHAM]

a documentary of Borussia Dortmund and how they were extremely close to bankruptcy in 2002 time and how Bayern had to save them. The extreme difficulties the club has had to manage within to get back to where they are #thepeopleschannel

[basiljoy]

Thank you for your spot given to a center back (because I always love center backs)❤

[Ed-hqze]

I did not expect the Pellegrino mention. Lets go glimt!

[SamButler]

Ream was solid for Bolton pretty the entire time he was here, can't believe how long ago it was. Even won our player of the year twice

[mikesays]

Absolutely criminal that once again you’ve overlooked Steve Freeze