With the transfer window coming to a close soon, clubs will inevitably panic buy. They will spend way too much on a player in a hope that the risk will pay off and that he will help keep his club in the league, help them win it, or qualify for Europe. As we all know, the risk is high and many times it hasn’t paid off. Here are the Top 10 Biggest Transfer Flops in no particular order.
Football’s Biggest Transfer Flops
Juan Sebastián Verón—Manchester United
Even though there were times where Verón showed his true ability, usually in European competition, even the most passionate United supporters will admit that the Argentine was a very expensive flop.
Signed from Lazio for a then English transfer record of £28.1 million, he found the pace of the Premier League too much and was not allowed the time and space on the ball that he would have liked. Two years later, he was offloaded to Chelsea at a £13 million pound loss. He tried, but ultimately failed there, too. An excellent player in his day, but the Premier League was just not the place for him.
Fernando Torres—Chelsea
After very successful spells at Atlético Madrid and Liverpool, Torres moved to Chelsea in 2011 for a British record fee reported to be £50 million. His goal-scoring exploits at his previous clubs implied he would be nothing but a success at Stamford Bridge.
During his time at Chelsea, though, he chiefly failed to reproduce the form seen at his previous clubs and, in August 2014, he signed for Milan on loan after scoring 20 goals in 110 league appearances. In January 2015, he joined Milan permanently but almost immediately went out on loan to his first club Atlético Madrid. He is still looking to rediscover his past form and whether he will or not after several years of trying remains to be seen. An excellent goal-scorer earlier in his career, but also an expensive mistake on Chelsea’s part.
Denílson—Real Betis
The world record transfer fee was broken when Denílson de Oliveira Araújo signed for Real Betis from São Paulo in 1998 for £21.5 million. Big things were expected of the Brazilian but both the price tag and the pressure got to him, and he never became the player that everyone thought he should have. Spells in France, Brazil, America and a failed trial at Bolton Wanderers followed for a player who once had the world at his feet; the pressure that came with it was just too much.
Mario Balotelli—Liverpool
Signed by Brendan Rodgers for £16 million as a replacement for Luis Suárez, Balotelli came nowhere near to replicating the goal threat that the Uruguayan had given Liverpool in previous seasons. After a string of poor performances and just four goals in 28 appearances, Mario was on his back to his homeland, Italy, on a season-long loan deal with Milan. Manchester City fans may remember him with some fondness, but how many on Merseyside would want him back in hurry?
Michael Owen—Newcastle
Michael Owen cost Newcastle £16 million when he signed from Real Madrid in 2005 in a blaze of publicity and fan excitement. In total, it is reported that Owen cost the club over £30 million in fees and wages during his four-year injury-plagued stay. It is a stay that is not too kindly remembered in Newcastle, even though he scored 30 goals in 70 appearances and was captain for a time.
However, Geordies were not happy with his performances and the lack of heart that he apparently displayed during their failed bid to stay in the Premier League in 2009. With Newcastle relegated and Owen out of contract, he moved on to Manchester United.
Afonso Alves—Middlesbrough
In January 2008, Middlesbrough spent £12 million on a player with a proven goal-scoring record, especially in Dutch football, in Brazilian Afonso Alves. Four goals in his first and only full season in the division saw Middlesbrough relegated and Alves move on to pastures new, namely the Middle East to top up his bank balance. As Alves proved, being prolific in the Netherlands doesn’t mean you naturally will be elsewhere; just ask the next player on the list.
Jozy Altidore—Sunderland
After another relegation scrap, Sunderland were at the time hoping to take a step forward and improve upon the previous season where they just avoided relegation. Sunderland started spending but, unfortunately for them, it was Paolo Di Canio and Director of Football at the time, Roberto De Fanti, that were spending it. Many poor buys were made including the man with a good scoring record in the Dutch League, Jozy Altidore.
He signed for Sunderland in the summer of 2013 for a fee of around £6.5 million. 18 months later, and with just one goal to his name in a Sunderland shirt, Altidore left Wearside for Canada. Maybe Sunderland should have taken more notice of his first spell in England, where he played at Hull City for a season and left there with just a single goal, too. It all ended well for Sunderland as they somehow managed to persuade Toronto to swap proven Premier League goal-scorer, Jermain Defoe for him, though.
Andy Carroll—Liverpool
After netting over 31 league goals for Newcastle (17 in the Championship), Liverpool, with £50 million pounds burning a hole in their pocket following the sale of Fernando Torres, parted with £35 million to sign Carroll in January 2011.
A year and a half later, and after just six league goals, he was sent out on loan to West Ham United, who eventually signed him on a permanent basis for around £20 million less than Liverpool paid for his services. Even though Anfield legend Jamie Carragher once said the goal that beat Everton in the FA Cup semi-final was worth £35 million alone, he will still be remembered as an expensive error on the part of Liverpool.
Steve Marlet—Fulham
After scoring 13 times in 36 games for Lyon, the then Fulham manager, Jean Tigana, thought that £11.5 million was a fair price to pay back in 2001. 54 appearances, 11 goals and some very average performances later proved that the judgment of Tigana was wrong. On the back of the failure of this transfer and others, Fulham owner at the time, Mohamed Al-Fayed, sacked Tigana and took him to court claiming that he had overpaid for several players. Al-Fayed lost the case, however, there is no denying that Marlet was a poor piece of business.
Jean-Alain Boumsong—Newcastle
Many an eyebrow in the footballing world was raised when Newcastle’s manager at the time, Graeme Souness, signed Boumsong for £8 million. It was just six months after Rangers had signed him for free. He signed a five-and-a-half-year deal, but after 18 error-filled months that made even the zero fee Rangers got him for look expensive, he was sold on for less than half the fee that Newcastle had paid. Newcastle did well to get a fee but the club he went to may be a surprise. He signed for, wait for it… Juventus.
There are many who did not quite make this list but were very, very close to it. The likes of Francis Jeffers, Andriy Shevchenko, Roberto Soldado, Jonathan Woodgate and Gary Birtles, who all ended up costing a fortune and, to put it mildly, failed miserably, were very close to making the final ten.
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