After another summer of big money moves, with the likes of Eden Hazard to Chelsea, Robin van Persie to Man Utd and Santi Cazorla to Arsenal; TIBS news takes a look at the biggest transfer flops over the last few years in the Premier League.
10. Albert Luque – £9.5m to Newcastle
Deportivo La Coruna sold their star asset to the Toon army in 2005 on a five year contract. Big things were expected of the Spaniard but he failed to deliver on the big stage in the Premier League. He only managed one goal against Sunderland in the Premier League, and one goal against Lillestrom in the Intertoto Cup. Apart from that his career up north was plagued by injury, totalling in only 21 starts, and he was eventually sold to Ajax in 2007.
9. Diego Forlan – £6.9m to Man Utd
The Uruguayan was brought in by Sir Alex Ferguson in 2002 as he was seen by the Scotsman as a great young talent. He had scored 37 goals in 80 appearances for Independiente and looked like another brilliant young player for the Red Devils. Yet Forlan only managed to score 10 goals in 63 appearances. You could argue he should be lower, but Forlan fortunately used his time in England as a learning curve and has become a world class striker since leaving.
8. Juan Sebastian Veron – £15m to Chelsea
Juan Sebastian Veron swapped Old Trafford for Stamford Bridge in 2003 and managed to score on his debut at Anfield in a 2-1 against Liverpool. Yet the Argentinian couldn’t budge Frank Lampard and Claude Makelele out from the midfield and fell out of favour with Ranieri, making only seven starts. Then Jose Mourinho came in and told Veron he wasn’t needed and that he could leave. After loan spells at Inter Milan, he signed for Estudiantes in 2007.
7. Jo – £19m to Man City
Jo was Mark Hughes’ first signing for Manchester City in his reign at Eastlands. The young Brazilian looked a great buy as he had managed to bag 44 goals in 77 games for the Russian outfit, CSKA Moscow, yet when it came down to it, he just couldn’t cut it in the Premier League, scoring a poor six goals in 44 appearances. He had spells on loan at Everton but was sold in 2011 back to Brazilian side Internacional.
6. Shaun Wright-Phillips – £21m to Chelsea
Shaun Wright-Phillips was bought by Jose Mourinho in 2005 to bolster his team’s chances of retaining the Premier League title. The England international had pace, power and great crossing ability, something that the Portuguese manager had seen him possess at Eastlands. Yet he found it hard to break into the team ahead of players like Arjen Robben, Damien Duff and Joe Cole. He ended up scoring four goals in 81 starts for Chelsea. He then returned to Manchester City in 2008 for a fee around £8.5 million.
5. Alberto Aquilani – £17m to Liverpool
In August 2009 Liverpool signed Roma’s talismanic midfielder for a hefty price tag of £17 million. It’s only natural the Anfield faithful expected some sort of return on it. Unfortunately Aquilani could only stretch to one goal in 18 starts during his career at Liverpool. He was plagued by injury and made no difference to the midfield, so he was loaned out twice and eventually sold in 2012 to Fiorentina.
4. Robinho – £32.5m to Man City
Robinho to Manchester City from Real Madrid was the Abu Dhabi’s first major signing to stamp their money spending power on the Premier League. They managed to snatch him out of the clutches of Chelsea who seemed to be signing him up until deadline day. Robinho scored on his debut against The Blues and then went on to score another 13 goals for the Citizens. Yet he wasn’t able to keep it up the following season and didn’t net at all. He was sold in 2010 to AC Milan.
3. Fernando Torres -£50m to Chelsea
Well as expected I think the top three can be predicted, with the Spaniard kicking things off with a ridiculously overpriced transfer fee of £50 million pounds. Yes when signed by Carlo Ancelotti hopes were high from one of the world’s best strikers (at the time). But since he joined in the winter window of 2011, the Torres we all knew at Liverpool has failed to impress at Chelsea as he has only scored 18 goals in 83 appearances. A poor showing from a supposed world class striker although he has shown progression at the start of this season, especially with no Didier Drogba to contend with.
2. Andy Carroll – £35m to Liverpool
In the same window that saw Fernando Torres join Chelsea for £50 million, Andy Carroll joined Kenny Dalglish on Merseyside to become their new number 9. With Luis Suarez by his side, it was a strike force to make defenders shake in their boots, right? Wrong! Suarez has taken the brunt of the responsibility of the goalscoring with Steven Gerrard chipping in when needed. Carroll has just not delivered when needed and with a price tag like that on his shoulders it is going to be highlighted by the fans and the media alike. With 11 goals in 58 appearances, the only thing Carroll has going for him is his young age, and that he just wasn’t given enough chances. Carroll is currently on loan at West Ham for a season as he doesn’t fit in with Liverpool manager Brendan Rogers’ style of play.
1. Andriy Shevchenko £30.8m to Chelsea
Number one in the countdown is perhaps one of the greatest strikers to have ever played the game, and then he moved to Chelsea. Andriy Shevchenko was at AC Milan for seven years playing in 296 games, and amazingly scoring 173 goals, the second highest goal scorer of all time at the Italian club. Then in 2006, close friend and owner of Chelsea, Roman Abramovich convinced the Ukranian to join Chelsea after his wife wanted to leave Milan. So the former world player of the year landed in London, but clearly must have left his shooting boots in Italy because he only managed 22 goals in 77 games for The Blues. With a goal return like that he was barely worth £3 million, so Chelsea decided to cut their losses and sell him three years later.
So there we have it my top ten transfer flops. Feel free to leave your views on who think could have made it instead.
By Jack Griffiths
@JGriffiths89
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