With Paul Pogba leaving Manchester United on a free transfer six years after signing for £89 million, a Report picks the worst big-money deals in the league….....READ THE FULL ARTICLE>>>
The football industry revolves around money, yet lavish expenditure does not always guarantee success.
Indeed, as a Report explains below, dozens of new the world’s most famous moves have proven to be colossal blunders.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic: Inter – Barcelona (2009)
Zlatan Ibrahimovic is an incredible legend of the game, as he will be the first to tell you. His move to Barcelona, on the other hand, ranks as one of the worst transfers in history.
Remember that the Blaugrana not only paid Inter €69.5 million (£59 million/$75 million) for Ibrahimovic but also gave over 2009 Champions League winner Samuel Eto’o, who then went on to assist the Nerazzurri win the treble after defeating Barca in the semis.
By that point, Ibrahimovic’s relationship with then-Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola had completely disintegrated, with the Swede accusing Guardiola of having “no guts” and “sh*tting himself” in front of his old manager Jose Mourinho.
Guardiola was also dubbed a “coward” by the forward’s agent, the late Mino Raiola, who went after the coach before the 2012 Champions League final.
It’s worth noting that Ibrahimovic netted 21 goals across all competitions, but this is probably the finest character clash in the history of football.
Romelu Lukaku: Everton – Man Utd (2017)
Now, let’s face it, his move to Chelsea is going much worse than his transfer to Manchester United, ‘Big Rom may shortly secure two slots on our list.
Of course, he does have a chance to turn the situation around at Chelsea, but the fact that he is already trying to return to the Inter Milan on loan, as GOAL reported, is highly significant.
Given the financial stakes, his future is uncertain, but one thing is certain: his stint at Manchester Utd was a fiasco.
Many United fans, notably Gary Neville, believe Lukaku was not fit or talented enough to spearhead the Red Devils’ frontline. Lukaku believes he was mistreated.
One aspect we can all concur on was that the £75 million ($94 million) price was a terrible deal.
Kepa: Athletic Club – Chelsea (2018)
How awful has Kepa’s career-high £72 million transfer to Chelsea gone?
Following Edouard Mendy’s signing for less than a third of the fee in 2020, the world’s most expensive shot-stopper has become a reserve.
According to GOAL, Kepa is slated to leave Chelsea this summer, and his tenure at the club will be indelibly linked with the League Cup.
First, for stubbornly refusing to be withdrawn in 2019 final, and then for struggling to make one save and then missing the key spot-kick in the 2022 League cup championship versus Liverpool despite being brought on purely for the shoot-out.
Alvaro Morata: Real Madrid – Chelsea (2017)
Alvaro Morata’s agent is widely considered the greatest in the business.
How else to illustrate how a forward who has continually failed to score goals manages to earn lucrative transfers to Europe’s top clubs?
Morata scored 15 goals in the Primera Division in 2016-17, which led Chelsea to pay £60 million ($75 million) to purchase him from Real Madrid, but it was still his best season in the top level.
Indeed, during a terrible 18-month tenure at Stamford Bridge, the Spain international scored just 16 Prem League goals before being permitted to rejoin Atletico Madrid on lease with an eye to a permanent transfer in January 2019.
Morata believed the press was too quick to criticize him throughout his time in England, but given the enormity of the outlay, it’s tough not to consider his goal return a disappointment.
Nicolas Pepe: Lille – Arsenal (2019)
There was a period when Nicolas Pepe seemed like the guy who had blown it up in Ligue 1 with Lille was playing great for Gunners; a purple patch at the conclusion of the 2020-21 season when he looked like the man who had torn it up in Ligue 1.
Pepe, on the other hand, only scored a single goal last season, and his starting spot had long since been stolen by fresher, better players.
As a result, Arsenal must aim to recoup a reasonable portion of the club-record £72 million ($90 million) they invested for his talents in 2019.
It will not be simple. There is quality there, but the Gunners have been painfully aware for some time that they overvalued for a talent coming off the best season of his career in 2018-19.
James Rodriguez: Monaco – Real Madrid (2014)
During Colombia’s journey to the 2014 World Cup quarter-finals, Real Madrid boss Florentino Perez, like the rest of the football world, fell in love with the raw, silky-skilled James Rodriguez.
Because the offensive midfielder with a penchant for sensational goals had long wished to play for Real Madrid , a move seemed unavoidable, and James became Perez’s newest Galactico.
He looked like one at moments during his first campaign in Spain, scoring 17 goals across all competitions in 2014-15.
While Zinedine Zidane’s arrival as coach in 2016 marked a watershed moment in Real Madrid’s recent history, it also signaled the demise of James’ Blancos tenure.
James was rarely used by the Frenchman, who claimed at one point that James had requested to be taken out of a match against Athletic Club.
After a few year on loan at Bayern Munich and a disastrous final campaign in which he registered just 8 appearances, the €80 million (£68 million/$86 million) signing left for nothing, demonstrating how much his value had dropped since claiming the Golden Boot in Brazil
Harry Maguire: Leicester – Man Utd (2019)
Harry Maguire has the potential to be an excellent Premier League defender. At Leicester, he demonstrated this. Even Pep Guardiola was interested in signing him in 2019.
Maguire claims he selected United over Manchester City because of the price, however the reality is that Man City balked at the price. They just did not believe Maguire was value a world-record signing fee for a defender, and they were proven accurate.
Some of the vitriol directed at Maguire by Manchester United fans over the last three years has crossed “the line,” as the centre-back described it.
But there’s no disputing that his trophy-less time at Manchester Utd has been a shambles, and the choice to declare him club captain has well since been rendered laughable.
United paid £80 million ($100 million) for Maguire, and they wouldn’t even receive half that now.
Although he may not be “sh*t,” as Rafael van der Vaar famously quipped, the England international is unquestionably a huge waste of money.
Eden Hazard: Chelsea – Real Madrid (2019)
Hazard’s transfer to Real Madrid, which had been in the works for ten years, seemed doomed from the minute the winger showed up for pre-season training overweight.
To be fair to Hazard, he had a string of bad luck with injuries despite having a near-perfect health record during his stint at Chelsea.
Yet when he has attempted to string together a few games in Spain, he has appeared like a cheap replica of the player who had lit up the English league for the previous seven years.
Hazard has won a number of prestigious awards, including that of the Champions League, nevertheless he contributed about as much of a role in Real Madrid’s 2021-22 success as Bale – and that wasn’t through a lack of trying on Hazard’s part, which only adds to the sadness of the situation.
Paul Pogba: Juventus – Man Utd (2016)
Paul Pogba left Manchester United for nothing in 2012. It’s happened again ten years later.
Make no mistake: most fans are relieved to be free of a player who had basically given up on consistently producing his undeniable world-class quality.
During a Premier League match against Norwich in April, some enraged Stretford End fans not only whistled the France player, but also yelled ‘F*ck off, Pogba!’
However, losing such a precious resource for nothing still hurts. After all, in 2016, United spent a world-record £89.5 million to re-sign Paul Pogba from Juventus.
Pogba is returning to Juventus after 6 seasons, 1 Europa League, 1 Carabao Cup, and a run of poor performances and disgusting come-and-get-me requests to rival teams.
Much to the delight of most fans.
Ousmane Dembele: Dortmund – Barcelona (2017)
Barcelona was in a hard place after Neymar’s surprising transfer to Paris St Germain in August, 2017.
Yes, they paid a world-record amount for the Brazilian, but every team in the world knew they had cash to burn and needed a replacement.
Indeed, Dortmund anticipated Barca’s arrival and played hardball on Ousmane Dembele till the Catalans succumbed, making a great panic-buy by paying an initial €105 million (£90 million/$112 million) for a player who had only one excellent Bundesliga year under his belt.
The France international’s talent is undeniable, but his full potential has yet to be realized, and he is now ready to go on a free transfer after five years marred by injury and misbehavior.
Antoine Griezmann: Atletico Madrid – Barcelona (2019)
In 2018, Antoine Griezmann embarrassed Barcelona by openly dabbling with a €100 million (£86 million/$107 million) deal before publicly rejecting it at the end of a film documentary created by Blaugrana defender Pique.
The fans were incensed. They didn’t want anything with the Atl Madrid star.
But, as if desperate to prove a point, Bartomeu went back in for French star the next year, promising to pay the €120 million (£100 million/$130 million) buy-out clause in the French Internationals’s contract.
The agile forward had his spells at Camp Nou, however they were far from, and he retreated back to Metropolitano Stadium in 2021, rejoining Atletico on temporarily with the possibility of a permanent move.
Philippe Coutinho
One of Liverpool’s most important transfers, but also one of Barcelona’s worst.
Barcelona agreed to spend €120 million (£100 million/$130 million) for a player they didn’t need, plus €40 million (£34 million/$43 million) in possible bonuses.
Was he a striker, a midfielder, or somewhere in the middle? Despite the fact that Josep Maria Bartomeu had no information, he went out of his way to acquire the Brazilian.
During his four years at Barca, his most noteworthy contribution was netting 2 goals against the Catalonians while on lease to Bavarian in 2020.
After years of trying to sell Coutinho, they agreed to let him move to Aston Villa for only €20 million (£17 million/$21.5 million) in 2022 as they frantically tried to get their financial house in order at Camp Nou almost after declaring bankruptcy under Bartomeu.
Which player do you think is missing in the list of the worst possible transfer?
