THEY came, they saw, they conquered with goals galore. Then they literally disappeared...
Like Chelsea’s Diego Costa, a host of Premier League hitmen hit the heights with their gold-laden scoring sprees.
But not for long. For as Costa has discovered to Chelsea’s cost, the goals can suddenly dry up.
Diego Costa’s hits and misses
Here SunSport gives the guide to the Prem’s greatest one-season wonders.
1 Roque Santa Cruz 2007/08
NINETEEN goals in 37 Premier League games for Blackburn in 2007/08 meant the Parquayan ace drawing breath with the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Fernando Torres and Emmanuel Adebayor.
But Santa Cruz followed up with an injury-plagued 2008/09 and he scored only four times in the league before leaving for Manchester City. The striker later re-signed for Blackburn - and failed to score.
2 Michu 2012/13
MICHU exploded into Premier League life with 18 league goals - behind only Robin van Persie, Luis Suarez, Gareth Bale and Christian Benteke.
Injuries crippled his following campaign, though, and he managed just two league goals plus another four in the Europa League, for which he had done so much to earn Swansea’s place. Things didn’t work out and he was loaned to Napoli.
3 Nikica Jelavic 2011/12
PROLIFIC with Rangers, a star turn with Everton...Jelavic wowed Goodison Park with nine goals in his first 13 games in the Premier League, as well as a couple of strikes in the FA Cup. The glory days ended there, though, as next time up Jelavic managed only seven league goals in 37 games.
4: Michael Ricketts 2001/02
SO good was the striker that he won an England call-up after grabbing 12 goals for Bolton following promotion to the Premier League.
But after Ricketts played his first and only 45 minutes for England in a friendly against the Netherlands in February 2002, he failed to net for Bolton again for the remainder of the season!
He still earned a big move to Middlesbrough the following year but flopped spectacularly with just four goals in 37 appearances.
5 Benjani Mwaruwari 2007/08
HIT 12 goals in the first half of the season at Portsmouth and earned an £8 million switch to Manchester City. He scored on his debut in a Manchester derby, but did little else and scored four times in 23 outings before eventually finding himself back at Pompey on a free.
6 Jon Stead 2003-04
THE ‘Poster Boy’ joined Blackburn for £1 million from Huddersfield and 20-year-old Stead breezed into top-flight life with six crucial goals in 13 games as Rovers avoided relegation.
However, Stead would score just twice for Rovers the following campaign and then only once in the 2005/06 season following a move to Sunderland. Mind you, he did for Chelsea in Bradford City’s wonder FA Cup win at Stamford Bridge last season!
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