My point is that its not a very good example. Won Pichichi in his first season and didn't cost them alot. Also scored 20 goals the next season. Real bought him for the short term and got exactly what they wanted.
Big moves for big players that turned out badly?
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I remember loads of people going mad over how much cheaper Kaka was than Ronaldo at the time because he was apparently so much better than him
If there is a Premier League title in there, you’re not a flop. Costa, at his marvelous worst as a player on the pitch in terms of messing with everyone, was the reason for that title. That ability to not get red carded every game... impressive. Kind of miss him in the PL weirdly enough, it needs characters.... just look how incredibly boring teams at the «top» are right now... Arsenal, City, Liverpool, Spurs and Chelsea, so incredibly few players you want to punch through the TV compared to former editions. There’s always Alli of course
I'd mention Neymar in the context of the fee and what they've got from it.
You mustn’t follow football very often or closely then.
Harald Nielsen to Internazionale for the world record fee in what were supposed to be prime performance years. Olympic top scorer in 1960 (had a goal-per-game record with Denmark before he was banned for signing with a foreign club), twice Central European Cup top scorer and twice Capocannoniere at Bologna (whom he led to the Serie A title in 1964), so he arrived at San Siro with an impressive goalscoring pedigree and was expected to propel the attack after they conceded the Serie A title to Juventus and lost the European Cup final to Stein's Celtic in 1967.
Lasted only a year in Milan, and retired 2 years later with fitness concerns after short spells at Napoli and Sampdoria — quite the fall from grace!
P.S. Inter signed Boninsegna (third highest scorer in club history and their top scorer for 7 consecutive seasons) after selling Nielsen so things kinda worked out for them in the striker department.
Lasted only a year in Milan, and retired 2 years later with fitness concerns after short spells at Napoli and Sampdoria — quite the fall from grace!
P.S. Inter signed Boninsegna (third highest scorer in club history and their top scorer for 7 consecutive seasons) after selling Nielsen so things kinda worked out for them in the striker department.
Juan Sebastian Veron should be on their twice! for both United and Chelsea. Such a shame, loved him in Italian football
agreed. We were lucky to get the £15m for him, that was the summer I think that Chelsea suddenly had money. Makes his failure a bit more palatable when he did the same at Chelsea. Shame, such a good player in Italy.
Thanks for clarifying what was an already obvious point. My question mark should have given away that it was a suggestion and open to being corrected and my reply stated I couldn't really remember how he had done and it was obvious that it wasn't a good suggestion.
You really are a fantastic poster. Always great when I notice you have typed a fairly detailed breakdown of a player I'd never even heard of! Thanks.
I would also say Neymar for the fact that transfer caused an explosion in players' values since across Europe. Was it worth it for PSG?
Barcelona have a history of this.
Maradona, Riquelme, Saviola,
Overmars, Quaresma, Andre Gomes,
Im very glad we didn’t get Greizmann from Madrid. He would have been another player leaving his best football behind and coming here with a huge ego and record wages to boot. Signings like this are the reason we’ve been in the wilderness for the past few years. The time to get him was when he was leaving real sociedad. You can then spend a season or 2 building a team around a younger greizmann, Sanchez or basti before they peak instead of throwing in a marquee name clearly on the decline into a totally new system that doesn’t get the best of out of them. For every RVP there’s a Sanchez which leaves you with no upside if it doesn’t work out. Bellingham Sancho and Haaland (awb, james, Fred, Maguire) are clearly the bracket of player we should be going for. Hungry players with top potential and strong mental attributes with it all to play for. If it doesn’t work out here other clubs are far more likely to take a punt on a younger player who isn’t on obscene money (depay zaha Adnan) than someone that’s over the hill on mega cash.
Jovic surely a better example although could be he wasn't that great and more Haller standard.
Would also add Diego.
Was brilliant in Bundesliga and then moved to Juventus and that ruined his career for a few years.
Probably should've moved to Spain at that point like Ozil as he did well for Atletico Madrid under Simeone.
Veron is obvious example for premier league I think. Brilliant in Serie A but it simply didn't work out in premier league. If he'd moved from Lazio to Juve or Inter (where he ended up eventually) he might've become Balon D'Or winner like Nedved became.
Was brilliant in Bundesliga and then moved to Juventus and that ruined his career for a few years.
Probably should've moved to Spain at that point like Ozil as he did well for Atletico Madrid under Simeone.
Veron is obvious example for premier league I think. Brilliant in Serie A but it simply didn't work out in premier league. If he'd moved from Lazio to Juve or Inter (where he ended up eventually) he might've become Balon D'Or winner like Nedved became.
Hazard to real. His 1 goal all season aside he turned up overweight in preseason.
Rui Costa to AC Milan.
A load of these in the 1990s. The commonality being how difficult it was for attackers to shine in Serie A.
- Papin to Milan in 1992 - the most lethal centre-forward in the game at the time, reigning Ballon D'Or winner and most expensive transfer of all time
- Pancev to Inter in 1992 - probably second in finishing to the man above
- Bergkamp to Inter in 1993 - one of the foremost strikers in Europe
- Hagi to Barcelona in 1996 - still had a lot in the tank as he went on to show at Galatasaray
- Davids and Kluivert to Milan in 1996 and 1997. Throw in Vieira too, although he didn't have their stature in the game.
- Henry to Juventus in 1998 - up and coming talent, but still rated as one of the best prospects around
Overmars+Petit from Arsenal to Barca.
Lentini to AC milan
Hughes to Barca
Sutton to Chelsea
Hughes to Barca
Sutton to Chelsea
Pretty sure it was 13m, which was of course huge in 92
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gianluigi_Lentini
That was a superb double header for us at United! Then they came in for Henry down the line too!
It'd be along the lines of someone coming in for Salah, Mane and (add another key midfielder even though they don't really have any quality centre mids here)
According to Wiki, Felix only played about 20 games for Benfica before signing for Atletico. After barely half a season, I think you could follow football closely and still not know him.
I bet 99% of football fans would never have heard of Felix.
Dembele only played 32 games himself before Barcelona. A bit more time, but still nothing substantial.
Admittedly, you may have heard of them if you play a lot of Fifa.
Still, they are currently the worst signings in the history of football. Expectations were very high considering the price tags.
Ronaldo to Milan. When he played, he was usually very good, but more often than not, he wasn't available for selection.
There was alot of hype when Madrid sold him.
There was alot of hype when Madrid sold him.
Mendieta is the first that came to mind for me. Was absolutely world class for Valencia even when playing out of position on the right wing. Completely lost his mojo in Italy and even back in Spain at Barca he was just a shell of himself. He was the heartbeat and best player in a great Valencia side. I remember when he left thinking that may be it for them but they actually won two leagues in the three years after he left.
Harry Kewell was a massive disappointment for Liverpool I thought. Was hugely influential at Leeds but never reached the same heights at Liverpool. Kept on getting injured in their big finals aswell.
Maybe they aren't duds.
Maybe Barca's dressing room is cliquey and there are some toxic personalities there that don't like outsiders or newcomers.
Maybe there really are more than a club.
He's never been a BIG player but Soldado at Tottenham for 30 million after the Bale money came in was quite a disaster. Hopeless in England.
Chygrynskiy to Barcelona.
*Coughs in Messi...?*
A quick look at Wikipedia will tell you Felix played 43 times for Benfica last season. For the record I don’t own Fifa, haven’t since 2009.
Dembele played 29 games for Rennes in 2015-16 then 49 games in his one full season at Dortmund. He was in the Bundesliga team of the year.
it’s fine if you didn’t hear of a player before a big move. My dad had no idea who either of these guys are but he would admit he’s not exactly current with up and coming players outside of United. Not a character flaw, just is what it is. If you are going to act like such a smart ass on an Internet forum though you might as well do yourself the service of being accurate, otherwise you’ll look kind of silly.
Barcelona's last signings have to be there, they have make mostly bad signins in the last years, although some good ones and Messi specially are keeping them afloat. But just to mention some of their last years failures:
Griezmann 120M
Malcom 41M
Coutinho 145M
Dembele 125M
Semedo 36M
Deulofeu 12M
Mina 12M
Andre Gomes 37M
Alcacer 30M
Digne 16.5M
Arda Turan 34M
Aleix Vidal 17M
Thats 625M in failures in the last 5 years...nothing short of impressive.
Griezmann 120M
Malcom 41M
Coutinho 145M
Dembele 125M
Semedo 36M
Deulofeu 12M
Mina 12M
Andre Gomes 37M
Alcacer 30M
Digne 16.5M
Arda Turan 34M
Aleix Vidal 17M
Thats 625M in failures in the last 5 years...nothing short of impressive.
Nope. Suarez and Ter Stegen are the last good signings we made, everyone since then has been a failure for a variety of reasons (injuries, confidence, team chemistry, general lack of talent).
The post right above mine (@SAFMUTD) has summarized our transfer business in these last few years nicely. Flop after flop after flop.
Frenkie De Jong to Barca & Matthijs de Ligt to Juve haven’t exactly worked out as we all expected.
Christ that's an awful record, actually makes our signings under Van Vaal and Jose look half decent in comparison. Wonder where Barca would be now without Messi
Hleb to Barcelona. They loved signing former Arsenal players to play their brand of football but they don’t really work out
Mendieta to madrid
In the PL;
Liverpool - Keita at £60m, Carroll, Keane, Kewell, Benteke,
City - Stones £50m, Mangala, Mendy,
United - Sanchez (although he was free), Di Maria, Falcao, Veron
Chelsea - Kepa, Higuain, Falcao.. Drinkwater? Sutton
Arsenal - Pepe (early days but looks a flop at the price), Xhaka, any centre half they've bought in recent times
Everton - The Koeman era
Liverpool - Keita at £60m, Carroll, Keane, Kewell, Benteke,
City - Stones £50m, Mangala, Mendy,
United - Sanchez (although he was free), Di Maria, Falcao, Veron
Chelsea - Kepa, Higuain, Falcao.. Drinkwater? Sutton
Arsenal - Pepe (early days but looks a flop at the price), Xhaka, any centre half they've bought in recent times
Everton - The Koeman era
He was so past it even at Madrid in his last seaons not to mention all the fat he gained
On the other hand everyone laughed at Paulinho when he signed for Barca but if I recall correctly he actually did pretty well. Is there any specific reason he went back after just a year?