The English Premier League has become the favorite league of football fans all over the world and is probably the most-watched league presently – attracting the best talents from all over the globe. The opening of the transfer window is an event that many fans and clubs look forward to, which gives them the opportunity to bring in new players.
Every club and it’s fans rejoice when they sign the right and best players, who come into a good side and make it an even better one, but sometimes new signings don’t go according to plan and their signing seems like money not well spent.
We will look at 10 signings considered to be worst ever made in the English Premier League, and we will examine what went wrong for both player and club.
Worst Contracts In EPL History
1. Fernando Torres: Liverpool FC to Chelsea FC. (2011 to 2015)
Buying Fee- £50 million
Selling Fee- $13.20m (Loan)
Fernando Torres was a highly rated striker who banged in goals for the fun of it right from his breakthrough days as a 17-year-old striker at Athletico Madrid in Spain. When he joined Liverpool in England, he scored goals that made defenses and goalkeepers cringe at the sight of him. He scored 65 goals for Liverpool in 102 appearances and had a life-changing match against Chelsea FC, scoring 2 beautiful goals almost all by himself. Many to this day still believe that Chelsea bought Torres from Liverpool in 2011, based on his performance in that match. He was signed for a British record fee of £50 million.
His time at Chelsea FC was, however, a very unpleasant one for him and the club. Just before joining Chelsea he was already on a performance decline and was goal-shy; little wonder he only scored 20 goals in 110 appearances for the club – meaning he scored 3 times more goals in fewer appearances for Liverpool than Chelsea. He was shipped off on loan to AC Milan in the 2014/2015 season, after frustrating both club and fans.
That said, he played an important role in helping the English team to its first Champions League glory in 2012 as well as the UEFA Europa League in 2013.
2.) Angel Di Maria: Real Madrid to Manchester United (2014-2015)
Fee: £59.7 Million
Fee: $55.00 Million
Di Maria played in both the Portuguese and Spanish La Liga Leagues, helping Real Madrid win the UEFA Champions League for the 2013/2014 season, scoring some wonderful goals and providing lots of assists in the season, even though he wasn’t starting all the games.
In 2014, Manchester United needed to make a marquee signing to show the world they could still attract the best talents, and they signed Di Maria from Real for £59.7 million – a record fee then, handing him the # 7 jersey worn by former player and legend, Christiano Ronaldo.
During his very short stay at the club, there were insinuations that he never liked the system the club was playing nor did he really like his role in the team. He only managed 3 goals in 27 games. The fast and tough nature of the EPL also did not suit him and some also speculated that he never liked the weather or living in England at all. He lasted only 1 season in United, moving to PSG the next year.
3. Andy Carroll: Newcastle United to Liverpool (2011–2013)
Buying Fee: $45.10m
Selling Fee: $19.25m
Carroll made his name playing for Newcastle United in the Premier League, the tall and powerful forward scored 31 goals for the club in 80 appearances, and his direct approach to goal scoring made him one of the most feared strikers in the Premier League then.
In 2011 he made a deadline day transfer to Liverpool for £35 million – the record deal for a British born striker, to replace the departing Fernando Torres.
His time at Liverpool was plagued with injuries and he just couldn’t hit the goal scoring form that he was hitherto known for. He made 44 appearances for Liverpool, scoring just 6 goals, and due to the poor returns he was shipped off on loan to West Ham United just a season after his arrival; the deal was made permanent a year later.
4.) Andriy Shevchenko: AC Milan to Chelsea FC (2006–2009)
Buying Fee- £30.8 million
Shevchenko, also known as Sheva by his fans, was a famed and much-feared striker in Europe during his playing days. A 2004 Ballon d’Or winner, who scored more than 200 goals playing for both Dynamo Kyiv and AC Milan in Europe, also winning a UEFA Champions League title in 2003. These qualities and achievements made many clubs and their owners covert him – one of which was Chelsea FC owner, Roman Abramovich.
He was signed by Chelsea for £30.8 million in 2006, a British record at the time, with the hope that he would help take the club to the next level of winning the much-coveted UEFA Champions League trophy, but his time at the club was not what he wanted or expected. He only scored 9 goals in 44 appearances for the Blues.
He lost the main striker role to Didier Drogba, and was pushed to the wings; his goal returns wasn’t up to his previous standards set, and coupled with being played out of position and having a coach who didn’t really fancy him, made his time at Chelsea a personal failure for him and probably the club and its owner. Deemed surplus to requirement in Chelsea, he was loaned to AC Milan for the 2008/2009 season.
5.) Christian Benteke: Aston Villa FC to Liverpool (2015–2016)
Buying Fee: £32.5 million
Selling Fee: £27 Million
Benteke, one can say, reached his peak as a footballer and striker playing for Aston Villa, having moved permanently from Standard Liege in the Belgian League. He scored 19 goals in his first season at Aston Villa – some notable ones being against the big clubs in England.
His sterling performances earned him consideration from Liverpool who made a £32.5 million move for him in 2015, something he would later regret. He was the club’s second most expensive transfer ever.
Benteke could not replicate his scoring performances in Aston Villa for Liverpool or come anywhere close to the feat of Luis Suarez whom he was brought to replace. He scored only 9 times in the league from 29 appearances. He lasted only one season in Liverpool before he was sold to Crystal Palace FC in 2016. Sadly he has not really gotten back his confidence and scoring prowess since then.
6.) Robinho: Real Marid to Manchester City FC (2008–2010)
Buying Fee: £32.5 million
Selling Fee: £15 million
Robson de Souza, popularly known as Robinho in the world of football, is a very skillful forward, who made his breakthrough playing for the Brazilian football club, Santos – after coming through their youth system. He moved to Real Madrid in 2005 till the end of the 2007/2008.
When Sheik Mansour took over Manchester City in 2008, he decided to assemble the best names in football at the club, and Robinho was his first-star player that he bought then for a club-record £32.5 million. Like all others who have come to be recorded among the worst contracts in EPL, he seemed worth every penny.
He enjoyed a very good first season dazzling fans in the Premier League and scored more than 10 goals in his debut season, but the goals seemed to dry up the next season. It was not long before he was loaned back to Santos FC in 2010, which ended his EPL career. He scored 14 goals in 41 appearances.
7.) Juan Sebastian Veron: Lazio to Manchester United (2001–2003)
Buying Fee: £38 million
Selling Fee: £19 million
Veron was already a title winner with both Parma and Lazio, and so it wasn’t a surprise that Sir Alex Ferguson of Manchester United wanted to add him to his midfield options then. In 2001, a deal of £38 million ( a League record then) was enough to prize him away from Lazio to bolster the ranks at United.
He probably was a better player than each of the midfielders at United then, and despite starting his contract by winning Player of The Month in his first month, he just didn’t seem to find his rhythm or fit in the team at all, and his performance went downhill from then on. He was eventually sold to Chelsea in 2003 for about £19 million,
8.) Michael Owen: Real Madrid to Newcastle United FC (2009–2012)
Buying Fee- £16.8 million
Selling Fee- Free Transfer
Michael Owen had built a reputation as a very prolific striker having scored more than 130 goals from about 230 appearances for both Liverpool and Real Madrid; so when he joined Newcastle United FC from Real Madrid in 2005 for a fee of £16.8 million (about $21.4 million), they expected that the goals would keep on flowing and he would help take them to the next level. he was a club-record signing.
Sadly, after a very impressive spell after joining Newcastle, he got injured and was unable to play for a season and a half, and when he returned back to action, he wasn’t the same player again. Though he emerged his team’s top scorer for the 2008/2009 season, it couldn’t save his club from being relegated to the championship the next season. He only managed to score 26 goals from 71 appearances for Newcastle during his time there. To date, Newcastle is still reeling from this signing.
See Also: 10 Most Expensive Divorce in Sports History
9.) Eliaquim Mangala: FC Porto to Manchester City (2014–2019)
Buying Fee- £32 million
Selling Fee- Free Transfer
Mangala was a very exciting young defensive player while he played for Standard Liege and FC Porto; a very strong, hard-tackling defender who could also score goals at the other end of the field; and a lot of football clubs wanted him in their team.
In 2014, Manchester City – a rising and now well-established club in the EPL came for his services and he obliged for a fee in the region of £32 million. He was brought in to replace some aging defenders at the club but somehow didn’t really live up to expectations at the club. He just couldn’t nail down a regular starting position, and was shipped off on loan to Valencia in Spain for the 2016/2017 season. He couldn’t still command a starting position in the team and was finally sold to Valencia in 2019.
10.) Alexis Sanchez: Arsenal to Manchester United (2018-)
Buying Fee- Swap deal for Henrikh Mkhitaryan
Sanchez was one of the best attacking forwards in Europe and his performance at Barcelona and Arsenal testify to this. He could single-handedly win a difficult game by himself and was already an established player in the Premier League, having spent 4 seasons with Arsenal – scoring 60 league goals from 122 appearances,.
In 2018, in what seemed like the best football coup, Jose Mourinho and Manchester United decided to make a straight player swap between the club and Arsenal, with Sachez going to United and Henrikh Mkhitaryan moving to Arsenal; every Unite fan must have been overjoyed thinking they had found a worthy replacement for Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who will lead them to win more EPL titles.
Unfortunately, he only scored 3 goals in almost 2 seasons playing for United while Henrikh Mkhitaryan pulled in 8 goals in 39 for Arsenal. He is presently on loan at Inter Milan FC, with United currently paying more than half his salary while not playing for the club. He is somewhat regarded as United’s worst signing in the Premier League.
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