Big moves for big players that turned out badly?

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Meh, I already prefaced my post with all that Local Hero stuff. What you said there doesn’t change anything - no way did he think Newcastle were gonna be so mediocre over his time there when he joined. In terms of a great player making full use of his abilities, then of course he failed to turn his goals into trophies, so yes, his move to Newcastle was not a great one for him in at least one major sense.
couldn’t care less that you already mentioned that you thought it would be controversial. I think you are wrong - it’s a discussion forum. You have. I idea what his thought process was, likewise I don’t. There are lots of examples of players who move clubs, or stay at clubs because of an affinity with a club - where they could have moved to a different club achieved far greater success, Le Tissier and Gerrard (broken down move to Chelsea) are just two examples.
 

Gio

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Roberto Soldado to Spurs. Goal machine in Spain but just couldn’t cut it at Spurs.
That was a stupid move for the club too. Soldado was clearly a quality no9 at the time, but Spurs needed a back-to-goal target man to act as a foil for their very direct attacking midfielders at the time in Townsend, Lamela and Lennon.
 

ricky-romeo

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Was scrolling and saw somebody mentioning van der saar to juve.

Glad he managed to turn things around. 4 years at fulham before we signed him as well.
 

Devil81

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I'd mention Neymar in the context of the fee and what they've got from it.
They've got exactly what they would have got if he'd not signed, Ligue 1 titles.

Shambles that league, it was already crap but to load a club with world-class players and then let them rip it apart has basically destroyed the league. You will get the odd Monaco style season every 10 years or so but for the foreseeable the only way they don't win is if their owners get bored and pull the plug.
 

GuybrushThreepwood

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Was scrolling and saw somebody mentioning van der saar to juve.

Glad he managed to turn things around. 4 years at fulham before we signed him as well.
When Van Der Sar signed for Fulham in 2001, he must have thought that he would wind down his career there. Of course there are far worse places to wind down a career than at a Premier League club in a nice part of London. Still I doubt he could have imagined at that stage that he would go on to win the Champions League and 4 Premier League titles.

On a side note, Fulham, ourselves and Bolton in 2001 must surely have been the strongest group of promoted teams in the Premier League era (with no relegations for 11 seasons until 2012), and with them all making some good signings to strengthen, i.e. Van Der Saar and Malbranque for Fulham, Tugay and Cole for us, and Djorkaeff and N'Gotty for Bolton.
 

Lay

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I’m not the biggest VDS fan, even if he did well here I don’t think he was outstanding. He made 3 big mistakes in our 3 Champions League finals if I recall correctly. Did save a vital penalty though.
 

Devil81

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I’m not the biggest VDS fan, even if he did well here I don’t think he was outstanding. He made 3 big mistakes in our 3 Champions League finals if I recall correctly. Did save a vital penalty though.
Van Der Sar was fantastic, not many goalkeepers controlled a defence better than big Edwin and he also kept up his consistency up until his 40's.

Not many keepers can boast that, they usually fall away once they reach about 34 years of age.
 

Craig Ward

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James to Real. Bale to Real (even though he started well)
What Gareth Bale has won at R.Madrid from transfermarkt
4x Champions League winner
4x FIFA Club World Cup winner
3x Uefa Supercup winner
1x Spanish champion
1x Spanish cup winner
1x Spanish Super Cup winner

Hardly a flop!

He may not be "in favour" now, but he's been a massive success there
 

Gazza

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couldn’t care less that you already mentioned that you thought it would be controversial. I think you are wrong - it’s a discussion forum. You have. I idea what his thought process was, likewise I don’t. There are lots of examples of players who move clubs, or stay at clubs because of an affinity with a club - where they could have moved to a different club achieved far greater success, Le Tissier and Gerrard (broken down move to Chelsea) are just two examples.
Jeezus, calm down
 

RedDevilRoshi

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Ciro Immobile to Dortmund. He had a very good scoring record in Italy but just couldn’t replicate it in Germany. I believe he only lasted 6 months there.

Juan Cuadrado to Chelsea for €30M with Mo Salah going to Fiorentina on loan as part of the deal. I remember he was a very good player for Fiorentina and had a good World Cup in 2014 with Colombia. Looked well out of his depth in the games that he played for Chelsea and was sent packing back to Italy.
 

Luke1995

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He was 30 and essentially done. He was almost 100kg in his final seasons at Real and found it hard to shed the weight due to a combination of mental and physical issues. When Capello came, he got duly dropped for Ruud. His transfer to Milan wasn't exactly a big thing back then, he went for a meagre sum of 8m and people definitely wasn't expecting him to light up the Serie A again.
At Milan he got leaner for a while though. It's not out of question that if the injury had not happened and he had a run of many games, he could've found some nice form even if not what he was before.
 

matherto

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Ronaldo to Inter Milan. Signed to win Serie A and likely to win the CL too.

First season amazing albeit they missed out on Serie A by a whisker. Won the UEFA Cup with him starring in the final.

Second season injuries came into play and restricted him. Inter nowhere near winning anythng.

Third season knee injury destroyed him. No chance to win anytihing.

Fourth season missed the entirety. No chance to win anything.

Fifth sesaon was a battle to get fit for the World Cup and then left for Real. No chance to win anything.

Always wonder if he'd stayed at Barça would he have done his knees in so badly? Probably. But it's a thought given the nature of Serie A and their defenders in the 90's versus La Liga.
 

FootballHQ

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But at the time, the portuguese press believed he was a bigger talent than Ronaldo
Yes he broke through a season before Ronaldo IIRC (talk of him being called up for 2002 world cup).

From that period Hugo Viana was also being insanely hyped so he could be another for this thread as his move to Newcastle didn't work out. Had a solid career afterwards in Spain and Portugal.
 

Luke1995

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Yes he broke through a season before Ronaldo IIRC (talk of him being called up for 2002 world cup).

From that period Hugo Viana was also being insanely hyped so he could be another for this thread as his move to Newcastle didn't work out. Had a solid career afterwards in Spain and Portugal.
There was a time when he was doing very well for Porto and Ronaldo was starting to reach his peak for United, so in 2007 and 2008 they played together alot for Portugal.

I still remember they trashing Brazil and Belgium. Somehow Quaresma still managed to come back to the side after years out and went to the Euros and World Cup these last few years. A nice career, no doubt about it.

I'd put Quaresma in the same bracket as Diego or Robinho, they should have achieved much more, but it's still wrong to talk about them as if their careers was some sort of a flop.

You mentioned Hugo Viana, there was a dude named Lourenço who was Portugal top scorer in Toulon tournament 2003 when Ronaldo catched United's eye, but not sure what turned out of Lourenço.
 

GifLord

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Ronaldo to Inter Milan. Signed to win Serie A and likely to win the CL too.

First season amazing albeit they missed out on Serie A by a whisker. Won the UEFA Cup with him starring in the final.

Second season injuries came into play and restricted him. Inter nowhere near winning anythng.

Third season knee injury destroyed him. No chance to win anytihing.

Fourth season missed the entirety. No chance to win anything.

Fifth sesaon was a battle to get fit for the World Cup and then left for Real. No chance to win anything.

Always wonder if he'd stayed at Barça would he have done his knees in so badly? Probably. But it's a thought given the nature of Serie A and their defenders in the 90's versus La Liga.
I've jus realized Ronaldo won the Ballon d'or in 2002 by playing less than 15 matches for inter in all comp's
The influence the WC has :houllier:
 

matherto

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At Milan he got leaner for a while though. It's not out of question that if the injury had not happened and he had a run of many games, he could've found some nice form even if not what he was before.

He looks pretty lean here which is surprising. I genuinely have only ever seen him at Milan with a bit of timber on him (albeit not post-final knee injury timber) but here he looks pretty similar to 2002 WC/first season at Madrid level.