Reaching the pinnacle of the game is the dream of every aspiring footballer and those fortunate enough to make it to the very top are the most likely to win silverware. At least, that is generally what happens.

Sometimes no matter how hard a player tries, though, the quest to land a major domestic title is ultimately a fruitless one; perhaps due to the lack of quality teammates around them, a unique sense of loyalty to their employers or in some cases, just rotten bad luck.

All three of the above factors can be applied to Steven Gerrard who, despite going close on a couple of occasions, was unable to captain his treasured Liverpool to a Premier League title.

However, it seems his retirement came a few years too early as the Reds under Jurgen Klopp are closing in on ending their 30-year championship wait, but a COVID-19 outbreak — which the World Health Organization (WHO) has since declared a pandemic — has brought everything to a temporary halt.

With everything in limbo it remains to be seen if the 2019/20 Premier League season resumes. Following this unprecedented announcement it was being reported a few clubs were seeking outright cancellation. A number of their star players, like Gerrard, have never lifted a league title.

They include: Alisson, Roberto Firmino, Joe Gomez, Adrián, Jordan Henderson, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Adam Lallana, Andrew Robertson, Divock Origi, Joël Matip, Trent Alexander-Arnold.

But among them are winners from their previous clubs; Fabinho (Monaco), Virgil van Dijk (Celtic), Georginio Wijnaldum (PSV), Dejan Lovren (Dinamo Zagreb), James Milner (Man City), Naby Keïta, Sadio Mané plus Takumi Minamino (all Red Bull Salzburg), Mohamed Salah (FC Basel) and Xherdan Shaqiri (FC Basel and Bayern Munich).

But there are plenty of others who have fallen just short of adding that particular honour to their CV. Below are nine world class players who, despite their best efforts, are yet to be part of a title-winning side.

1. Antoine Griezmann

Age: 28

Clubs represented: Real Sociedad, Atletico Madrid, Barcelona

League apps: 386

In his first full season, Antoine Griezmann scored six goals in 39 games as Real Sociedad won the Segunda Division and over the next four seasons he played a key role in establishing the club as a top-half side in Spain’s top-flight.

So good were the Frenchman’s performances, Atletico Madrid saw fit to sign him as Chelsea-bound Diego Costa’s replacement following their improbable La Liga triumph in 2013/14, but in the years to follow Griezmann has finished third on three occasions for Los Colchoneros, while the past two seasons they have finished second.

The Frenchman will be hoping he can change his major league title fortunes at his next club, Barcelona, who are locked horns with arch-rivals Real Madrid for this season’s La Liga crown.

2. Marco Reus

Age: 30

Clubs represented: Rot Weiss Ahlen, Borussia Monchengladbach, Borussia Dortmund

League apps: 328

After failing to make the grade as a youth team player at Borussia Dortmund, Marco Reus returned home in 2012 having shot to prominence while playing for an overachieving Monchengladbach side.

BVB had just won back-to-back Bundesliga titles when Reus joined, but as Bayern Munich began flexing their financial muscle, winning another title has proven to be an impossible task.

Dortmund came closest in the 2018/19 season, missing out on the Bundesliga title by two points despite having led the table for a large part of the seasons. But Reus will be looking to go again next season, even more desperate to land a first major title as captain of his beloved Dortmund.

3. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

Age: 30

Clubs represented: Saint-Etienne, Borussia Dortmund, Arsenal

League apps: 373

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang spent his first four seasons in professional football with AC Milan back when the Italian giants were still competitive. However, he failed to make a single first-team appearance before leaving for Saint-Etienne in 2011.

While with Les Verts, Aubameyang exploded into life becoming one of the most feared strikers in Europe which led to a switch to Borussia Dortmund in 2013, with whom he failed to win the Bundesliga. Now at Arsenal, the Gabonese international will be hoping that Mikel Arteta can guide the north London club to domestic dominance next season, that is if he remains at the club.

4. Hugo Lloris

Age: 33

Clubs represented: Nice, Lyon, Tottenham Hotspur

League apps: 470

France’s captain Hugo Lloris has only a solitary French Cup success on his club CV as he joined Lyon from Nice just as their iron grip on Ligue 1 began to disintegrate. Of course, he is a World Cup-winning captain now, which is a pretty big silver lining.

No honours have yet been forthcoming since he moved to Tottenham in 2012 but having penned a new deal at White Hart Lane until 2022, Lloris must be hopeful of ending that drought in north London.

5. Juan Mata

Age: 31

Clubs represented: Real Madrid Castilla, Valencia, Chelsea, Manchester United

League apps: 391

A product of Real Madrid’s esteemed academy, Mata was not quite able to break into the first-team and eventually found himself at Valencia where he won the Copa del Rey in his first season.

After four productive years at the Mestalla, Mata moved to Chelsea in 2011 and quickly established himself as an integral part of the team, before heading up north to sign with Manchester United. And despite playing for two of England’s most decorated sides, a Premier League trophy has so far escaped Mata.

6. Marek Hamsik

Age: 32

Clubs represented: Slovan Bratislava, Brescia, Napoli, Dalian Yifang

League apps: 501

The Slovakian playmaker has had to watch stars such as Ezequiel Lavezzi, Edinson Cavani and Gonzalo Higuain leave Napoli to win titles elsewhere but he stayed extremely loyal to the cause with 2018/19 representing his twelfth season at the club. And that’s where it finished as he joined Chinese club Dalian Yifang in February 2019.

During over a decade’s service, Napoli have flirted with winning a first Serie A title since the Diego Maradona glory days in the 1980s but second place is the closest they have come.

7. Dimitri Payet

Age: 32

Clubs represented: AS Excelsior, Nantes, Saint-Etienne, Lille, Marseille, West Ham

League apps: 452

Perhaps unsurprisingly given he has only truly blossomed into an elite performer in the last few years, Dimitri Payet is yet to win a league championship.

Payet joined Lille in 2011 just after Eden Hazard, Gervinho et al had inspired them to a surprise league victory but the arrival of the Qatari millions at PSG made it infinitely harder for clubs like Lille and Marseille – who he joined in 2013 before returning three years later after a brief spell at West Ham – to win the top flight.

8. Laurent Koscielny

Age: 33

Clubs represented: Guingamp, Tours, Lorient, Arsenal, Bordeaux

League apps: 391

After spending his first few years in Ligue 2, Laurent Koscielny stepped up into Ligue 1 to sign Lorient in 2009 and after one outstanding season with them, he earned a dream move to Arsenal.

After making the Emirates home, Koscielny won two FA Cups but the Gunners’ never came close to Premier League glory and he’d leave in the summer of 2019 opting for a return to France with Bordeaux.

And the chances of them winning a first league title since 2009 are remote with The Girondins sitting 31 points behind runaway leaders PSG.

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