They laughed when Brendan Rodgers called him the “Welsh Xavi” but no-one’s laughing now.
Joe Allen was once a figure of fun for many football fans, thanks largely to his manager’s description of him when he joined the club from Swansea City in 2012.
During the fly-on-the-wall documentary series Being Liverpool, Rodgers beamed, wrapped his arm around Allen and compared him to one of the greatest midfielders of his generation, Xaxi.
Everyone had a laugh, the moment became a popular vine and the tag stuck on Allen.
However, Allen has experienced a Renaissance of sorts.
His form for Liverpool in big games last season was impressive, and he was brilliant for Wales at Euro 2016. First-team opportunities were going to be hard to come-by this season for Jurgen Klopp’s side, so Allen joined Stoke City for £13m.
That price now looks like a bargain for Mark Hughes side. Allen has been tremendous for his new team, scoring four goals in 10 appearances – as many as he scored in 91 games for Liverpool – and endeared himself to fans of both his former and current club by scoring an equaliser against Manchester United at Old Trafford.
From being laughed at because he was compared to Xavi to being likened to Jesus Christ, Allen has really had a change in perception over the past year.
Stoke fans, I feel you. #Jesus #JoeAllen #NoAllenNoParty pic.twitter.com/kVA82OVYP9
— 𝕽𝖚𝖑𝖊𝖗 𝕮𝖍𝖊𝖊𝖗𝖋𝖚𝖑🇵🇸 (@jwwwc) October 2, 2016
He continued his impressive form during Monday night’s game between Stoke and Swansea City.
The home side won the Premier League game 3-1, with Wilfried Bony scoring twice against his old team. Allen set-up two of the goals, and recorded a pretty impressive statistic in the process, further embellished his close to legendary status.
The 26-year-old has been involved in more goals this season than Manchester United duo Paul Pogba, the most expensive player of all time, and Zlatan Ibrahimovic.
Joe Allen has been directly involved in more Premier League goals this season (6) than Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba combined (5). pic.twitter.com/VE6LsZlmuE
— Squawka (@Squawka) October 31, 2016
Allen also earned praise from Thierry Henry on Sky Sports.
“I didn’t think he had that in his locker!” @ThierryHenry praises Joe Allen on #MNF https://t.co/6M4IWbGAdr
— Sky Sports Retro (@SkySportsRetro) October 31, 2016
Maybe Rodgers was right all along.
Colm Parkinson is joined by Paul Rouse for a heated debate about Sky Sports’ five-year GAA deal and an exclusive chat with AFL star Zach Tuohy on the new GAA Hour. Subscribe here on iTunes
