With the vast sums of money that exchange hands in Premier League transfers these days it is no surprise that there are some moves that in hindsight do not look that great. Here we take a look at some of those transfers that didn’t work out and where the clubs involved would have been better off keeping their money in their pockets.
Andy Carroll to Liverpool
Replacing star striker Fernando Torres is always going to be a difficult feat, meaning that Carroll had his work cut out for him from the start. The English target man was only coming off half a season of success with Newcastle United and the then 22-year-old couldn’t live up to his £37m price tag, scoring just six goals in 44 appearances.
Mario Balotelli to Liverpool
The reigning Premier League champions feature again, showing how tough it is to find a goalscorer and why so much value is placed on them. This time the Reds were looking to replace the prolific Luis Suarez, with Balotelli arriving in 2014 for £18m. Just one Premier League goal and a free transfer to Nice later, it was clear that the mercurial frontman was not the right choice.
Alexis Sanchez to Manchester United
Man United thought they were signing a proven Premier League attacker when they picked up Sanchez from Arsenal in a swap deal involving Henrikh Mkhitaryan. However, shelling out close to £400k a week for the Chilean didn’t prove to be a wise move, as Sanchez scored just three goals across an 18-month period and are still paying half of the attacker’s wages to play in Italy for Serie A title contenders Inter Milan.
Danny Drinkwater to Chelsea
A couple of Leicester City’s shock Premier League winning squad have gone on to prove themselves elsewhere. N’Golo Kanté has shown himself to be one of the world’s leading defensive midfielders with Chelsea, while Riyad Mahrez is still an attacking threat for Manchester City. However, the same can’t be said for Danny Drinkwater, whose £34m transfer to Chelsea has resulted in off-the-field issues and the English midfielder doesn’t look like making the pitch any time soon.
Andriy Shevchenko to Chelsea
Chelsea feature again in what some would describe as the first mega-money flop and one of a number of transfers that will go down as failures in the Roman Abramovich era. Costing close to £40m back in 2006, Shevchenko had built a pedigree at AC Milan but that quickly evaporated as the Russian striker only managed to find the back of the net nine times in 48 appearances in his time at Stamford Bridge.
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