5 Premier League players who flattered to deceive this season

#4 Xherdan Shaqiri- Stoke City

Shaqiri failed to inspire the Potters

Shaqiri's career has spiralled out of control now. From winning the treble with Bayern Munich not less than half a decade ago to getting relegated with Stoke City, I guess it's safe to say that Shaqiri's journey has been a rare one.

It's the quality of players like Shaqiri that kept Stoke a feature in the Premier League for a decade and with that gravely lacking, there was only one way the Potters were going.

But more than his performances on the pitch, it was his behaviour off of it that leaves a bitter taste in the mouth. Back in March when Stoke City were heavily involved in the relegation battle and still had a chance, Shaqiri spoke to Swiss magazine Schweizer Illustrierte and said that there was a 'lack of quality' in the side.

Shaqiri has all of 8 goals and 7 assists in the season and while it's not a bad return, that's simply not the kind of level a player of Shaqiri's quality should be operating at. He couldn't inspire Stoke to stay in the Premier League.

Shaqiri scored just once in the last 10 games of the season when Stoke were going through their worse phase in the season which eventually culminated in them getting relegated.