100% this. They were willing to ship him out on loan this window. I’d add Dembele as well. Wasn’t he over £100m as well?
Worst Transfers of all Time
- Thread starter Classical Mechanic
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik and Imran hold a long overdue conversation about United's awful league form with 1 win in 7. They discuss a disappointing draw at Bournemouth, a not so disappointing draw against Liverpool and a crushing defeat at Chelsea - Is time nearly over for Erik Ten Hag?
Then in a special second half of the pod, Nik welcomes Natalie ( https://twitter.com/natalie_17) to discuss the fortunes of Manchester United Women as they booked a place in the FA Cup Final after a historic first ever win vs. Chelsea.
Adrian Mutu to Chelsea - Sacked for Cocaine use. They paid 22.5 m euros for him in 2003.
Torres for goodness knows how much.
Shevchenko the same.
And I'll raise you a Tiemoue Bakayoko - £40m to Chelsea.
Which club has made the most and biggest errors in the transfer market? As a Chelsea fan I think it's my club.
Torres for goodness knows how much.
Shevchenko the same.
And I'll raise you a Tiemoue Bakayoko - £40m to Chelsea.
Which club has made the most and biggest errors in the transfer market? As a Chelsea fan I think it's my club.
We had a long line of these guys in the 1990s. The late Daniel Prodan cost £2.2m in 1998 and didn't play once because we didn't carry out a medical. Seb Rozental cost £4m and played a couple of games before his knee broke down and that was him basically finished. Oleg was the biggest miss though, was one of the top handful of central defenders in Europe around that time.
Yeah he did well. Especially considering he was getting 10-15 minutes here and there, which is crap for building up your confidence as a striker.
Some silly suggestions in this thread. Neymar? Yeah he was ridiculously expensive and didn't deliver what he was bought for, but still played excellently for them and will eventually be sold or traded for similar value he was acquired for.
CR7? Juve's intentions were obvious: 1. Raise their international profile 2. Win the CL. CR7 has more fans than Manchester United the club (let alone Juventus) so that's the first part done. In CL, he scored 5 goals in 4 knockout fixtures, so if anything it was Juventus letting CR7 down and not the other way around.
All things considered, I can't pick anyone but Alexis Sanchez as the sigle worst transfer in history. It's just an absolute disaster in all its aspects. He already cost us over 40 million in wages (+Mkhi +signing fee) and turned out to be worthless player, a washed up parody of his former self. We have 17 year old academy kids looking better than him! He's a bad influence in dressing room and impossible to get rid of, we can't even negotiate a loan deal for him. Broke our wage structure too, now we'll have to give our GK (!) 350k/w + contract if we don't want to lose him for nothing. And the worst thing of all - the damage he's done will be felt after he's gone too, crippling our future transfer deals... "You're the mugs who paid half a million weekly to retired dog walker, right? Well pay up if you want me, then..."
CR7? Juve's intentions were obvious: 1. Raise their international profile 2. Win the CL. CR7 has more fans than Manchester United the club (let alone Juventus) so that's the first part done. In CL, he scored 5 goals in 4 knockout fixtures, so if anything it was Juventus letting CR7 down and not the other way around.
All things considered, I can't pick anyone but Alexis Sanchez as the sigle worst transfer in history. It's just an absolute disaster in all its aspects. He already cost us over 40 million in wages (+Mkhi +signing fee) and turned out to be worthless player, a washed up parody of his former self. We have 17 year old academy kids looking better than him! He's a bad influence in dressing room and impossible to get rid of, we can't even negotiate a loan deal for him. Broke our wage structure too, now we'll have to give our GK (!) 350k/w + contract if we don't want to lose him for nothing. And the worst thing of all - the damage he's done will be felt after he's gone too, crippling our future transfer deals... "You're the mugs who paid half a million weekly to retired dog walker, right? Well pay up if you want me, then..."
58 games. In which he has 51 goals and 29 assists in.
Wobble your head a bit, man. He's nowhere near the 'worst transfers of all time'.
Andy Carrol's fee in today's market would still be absolutely ludicrous.
Diego from Santos to Porto: Porto paid a little fortune for any top Portuguese club at the time of 50% his sports rights and he flopped massively.
Roberto from Atlético Madrid to Benfica: at the time, he was the third most expensive goalkeeper transfer ever. To his defense, he actually had very good reflexes, and he was actually very good in one on one situations. The bad part was evertyhing else: his handling technique and positioning was so bad that he made howlers on a constant basis
Imbula (yeah, they guy who played at Stoke): Insanely expensive bought by Porto, but somehow they manage to get the money back thanks to Stoke. Clumsy, terrible passer, always out of position, etc. In his defense, the guy was a beast at FM
Adrian López: Atlético Madrid is quite an expert in selling flops: expensive winger who supposedly would score for fun at Portuguese League, flopped so bad that he only goes to the bench if everyone else is injured.
Pongolle: You guess it: from Atlético. This guy was painful to watch
Felipe Caicedo: on loan from City to Sporting. This guy first touch would make Lukaku look like Messi. The memories he left was from a top speed player but that would dribble the ball so far that everyone could anticipate it easily.
Roberto from Atlético Madrid to Benfica: at the time, he was the third most expensive goalkeeper transfer ever. To his defense, he actually had very good reflexes, and he was actually very good in one on one situations. The bad part was evertyhing else: his handling technique and positioning was so bad that he made howlers on a constant basis
Imbula (yeah, they guy who played at Stoke): Insanely expensive bought by Porto, but somehow they manage to get the money back thanks to Stoke. Clumsy, terrible passer, always out of position, etc. In his defense, the guy was a beast at FM
Adrian López: Atlético Madrid is quite an expert in selling flops: expensive winger who supposedly would score for fun at Portuguese League, flopped so bad that he only goes to the bench if everyone else is injured.
Pongolle: You guess it: from Atlético. This guy was painful to watch
Felipe Caicedo: on loan from City to Sporting. This guy first touch would make Lukaku look like Messi. The memories he left was from a top speed player but that would dribble the ball so far that everyone could anticipate it easily.
Robbie Keane to Liverpool. Bought for something like £17M, did pretty much nothing, then sold back to the same club after 6 months for £5M less.
Torres to Chelsea. One of the hottest Strikers in the world and he just kept going and going without scoring a goal and looking depressed. I really felt sorry for him.
Yeah yeah yeah. I've been shown the errors of my reasoning by others. My head has been well and truly wobbled.58 games. In which he has 51 goals and 29 assists in.
Wobble your head a bit, man. He's nowhere near the 'worst transfers of all time'.
Hahahahaha
From the Bundesliga:
- Carlos Alberto -> Werder Bremen
then most expensive transfer in club history, destined to be Diegos successor. When he bothered to show up at all, he mostly picked up fights in training, was declared unfit due to insomnia. Went back to Brazil on loan after 6 months and 2 matches.
- Abedi Pele -> 1860 Munich
At the afternoon of his career, Fifa 100 list memeber Abedi Pele received an offer from a "top team" from Munich. He accepted, believing it was Bayern who wanted him. It was local rival, 2nd league 1860 instead. He proved to be a good sport and stayed for 2 seasons, playing 50 games.
- Mihailovic and Mazinho -> FC Bayern
1991 Bayern decided to go Brazilian and hired a player called Mazinho. Only, it wasn't *that* Mazinho of WC'94 fame and father of Thiago and Rafinha, but a different and less talented one. Scored 11 goals in 2 seasons, then got transferred back to Brazil.
Wasn't the first case of mistaken identity: 1989 Bayern had hired sriker Mihailovic from Yugoslavia. Only it wasn't Siniša from Red Star, but Radmilo from Dinamo Zagreb. Formed a rather infamous attacker duo with equally prolific Alan Macinally ("Mic and Mac", according to munich tabloids). 4 goals in 34 matches, then he got moved to Schalke.
(Sidenote: Hoeneß had already agreed on a 2.5Mio fee with Schalke manager Kremer, but then Schalke president Eichberg decided to take matters in his own hands and demanded to talk to Hoeneß himself. Hoeneß told him 3 Mio... and got it).
- Carlos Alberto -> Werder Bremen
then most expensive transfer in club history, destined to be Diegos successor. When he bothered to show up at all, he mostly picked up fights in training, was declared unfit due to insomnia. Went back to Brazil on loan after 6 months and 2 matches.
- Abedi Pele -> 1860 Munich
At the afternoon of his career, Fifa 100 list memeber Abedi Pele received an offer from a "top team" from Munich. He accepted, believing it was Bayern who wanted him. It was local rival, 2nd league 1860 instead. He proved to be a good sport and stayed for 2 seasons, playing 50 games.
- Mihailovic and Mazinho -> FC Bayern
1991 Bayern decided to go Brazilian and hired a player called Mazinho. Only, it wasn't *that* Mazinho of WC'94 fame and father of Thiago and Rafinha, but a different and less talented one. Scored 11 goals in 2 seasons, then got transferred back to Brazil.
Wasn't the first case of mistaken identity: 1989 Bayern had hired sriker Mihailovic from Yugoslavia. Only it wasn't Siniša from Red Star, but Radmilo from Dinamo Zagreb. Formed a rather infamous attacker duo with equally prolific Alan Macinally ("Mic and Mac", according to munich tabloids). 4 goals in 34 matches, then he got moved to Schalke.
(Sidenote: Hoeneß had already agreed on a 2.5Mio fee with Schalke manager Kremer, but then Schalke president Eichberg decided to take matters in his own hands and demanded to talk to Hoeneß himself. Hoeneß told him 3 Mio... and got it).
Bebe is clearly the worst transfer of all time.
Shevchenko, Mendieta, Sanchez all made some sense at the time (Not Carroll obviously), but didn’t work out for different reasons, Bebe made absolutely no sense.
We literally paid 7m for someone we’ve never seen play, cmon...
Shevchenko, Mendieta, Sanchez all made some sense at the time (Not Carroll obviously), but didn’t work out for different reasons, Bebe made absolutely no sense.
We literally paid 7m for someone we’ve never seen play, cmon...
Oh, Angelos Charisteas from Ajax to Feyenoord. No idea if we even paid them for it, it's the psychological damage buying their 4th choice striker who went on to be shite did that counts.
I reckon the worst ones should exclude; rather young players who clubs are always taking a bit of gamble on anyway; injuries after signing for which there was little sign before because that is mostly luck; and transfers between very different style of leagues because again, even very good players don't always adjust.
I reckon the worst is Ibra to Barca. Astonishingly expensive at his prime moving between Spain and Italy (not a huge difference style wise at that time) with no idea of how to use him.
Mendieta is to Lazio is also similarly terrible for the same reasons
I reckon the worst is Ibra to Barca. Astonishingly expensive at his prime moving between Spain and Italy (not a huge difference style wise at that time) with no idea of how to use him.
Mendieta is to Lazio is also similarly terrible for the same reasons
Pretty sure Mutu still owes us his transfer fee, not sure if ECHR came down on his side finally.
Torres won a CL, EL and FA cup with us, even if a bit gash in the league, sometimes.
Bakayoko is a decent player, just inconsistent. Played some good matches on loan last year.
Plus always did well in big games for us including a decent performance in FA cup final win v Utd.
Shevchenko, ok. Never looked like the Milan version.
Bogarde was our "Sanchez" back in the day, on massive wages for the time and just gave up.
Sanchez for United no ?
The guy have been paid 41M in wages since he came for absolutely nothing.
The guy have been paid 41M in wages since he came for absolutely nothing.
Alexis.
I remember Finidi George signing for Ipswich Town in 2000 for £3.1m.
They finished 5th the season before after promotion and then got relegated. Finidi was absolutley horse for them.
They finished 5th the season before after promotion and then got relegated. Finidi was absolutley horse for them.
Absolutely awful signing, but the £42m fee is still guesswork. Footy leaks only confirmed that City paid £24m to Porto, who held 57% of the player's right. That the third parties would be bought out for the same rate (£18m for the remaining 43% of the rights in total) is still purely guesswork.
Shocking transfer either way, whether it was worth £32m or £42m. The most perplexing bit is that his original contract, which was running out this summer, was extended in March for another year, but he still left on a free.
I mean stuff like this is ridiculous. Trust me, I'm hardly Mendy's biggest fan, he comes across as a twat most of the time, and it's obvious he has a lot of room to improve defensively, but in the few games he has played the difference between him and Zinchenko is night and day. Zinchenko, unlike Mendy, is a player I have a lot of time for and I'm delighted at how he's performing and that he's able to hold down his place, but he is an attacking midfielder converted to left back and there are a lot of times where it shows.
Without a doubt.
Using these criteria, in what world is Ibra worse than Sanchez?
Young - No, supposedly in his prime
Injury - No, just washed up and finished
Different leagues - No, Ibra at least went from Italy to Spain, Sanchez stayed within the league
Ibra for Barcelona - 46 matches, 23 goals, 13 assists. Sold for 24 million after one season.
Dog Walker for us - 45 matches, 5 goals, 9 assists. Impossible to get rid of, rotting on the bench while being one of the highest paid players in the world.
I think Renato Sanches is up there. Most expensive 18 year old ever and he’s done absolutely nothing.
A large part of the caf was upset that we "let" him go to Bayern.
I still think he can turn out well. The issue is mostly, that the club has absolutely no plan with him. We just bought him because we could. He never had a chance. Which makes the deal even worse.
What about Pierluigi Casiraghi? £5.4m when that was a lot of money scored once and played 10 games before injury ending his career. Going back even further I remember David Hay who hardly played, Chris Sutton, Bosnich (more cocaine) and Veron. Falcao. We've had more than our fair share of bad signings.
This. British record for a striker I believe? 1.25 m pound for a fast goal scoring striker from Nottm Forest to Man United. Twice European cup winner, promising England international, scored 6 in 9 at the beginning of 80/81 season before the record deal. Then scored zero goals in 25 league games for United in his first season. Lost his confidence completely. Returned to Forest a year later, never played for England again.
How bad was he actually? Obviously nowhere near record fee material, but he stayed at the club for 7 years as a starter.
They signed him on a 10 year contract so that might explain why he stayed so long.
I did put in the OP that he was a world record transfer that turned out to be an average player rather than a major flop.
For me, Mendieta was the worst transfer of all time. He was the 6th most expensive player of all time when he signed for Lazio. He arrived with the reputation as bring one of the world's top players but he only made 20 Serie A appearances for them before being released on a free transfer only 3 years later.
To be fair, Mendieta was loaned out after his first season with Lazio so Barcelona and Middlesbrough covered his wages at least, I imagine. Good luck finding anyone willing to take Sanchez off our hands.
As an aside, the maximum length for a contract is 5 years, anything beyond that isn't recognized.
Sanchez is truly awful that's true although I don't think he was that good in the season we signed him. Also Ibra was way way more expensive than just Miki - it was Eto'o and a bucket load of cash
Aquilani and Markovic cost 20 million each and hardly kicked a ball. Took us ages to sell them as well.
For *of all time*, the fee has to be massive, or the wages have to be massive, and the return for that outlay laughable.
Therefore it's Torres (Chelsea were going through even if he didn't score against Barca, by the way), Coutinho, Sanchez, Carroll, Mendieta and Denilson who are the first cabs off the rank in my mind.
Shevchenko should really belong there, but he transferred at 29/30 after a long old career at the top, so it pains me to put him up there with those other ones.
Therefore it's Torres (Chelsea were going through even if he didn't score against Barca, by the way), Coutinho, Sanchez, Carroll, Mendieta and Denilson who are the first cabs off the rank in my mind.
Shevchenko should really belong there, but he transferred at 29/30 after a long old career at the top, so it pains me to put him up there with those other ones.
Agreed.
I always associate this transfer with Lazio's downfall - it would have happened either way sooner or later, but Mendieta was their biggest transfer blunder and surely didn't help.
I haven't seen Arsenal's is mentioned here. Amazing!
Jeffers comes to mind, and Arshahin.
Jeffers comes to mind, and Arshahin.
Brian Laudrup to Fiorentina. Got relegated
Whilst not the worst transfer of all time, Taibi’s brief stint here is one I remember being particularly bemused by as a fan. Complete unknown, 4.5 million fee (we would sign VDS 6 years later for less than half that), conceded 11(?) goals in 4 games, THAT error vs Southampton, shipped out on loan a few months later never to be seen again and sold for half what we paid, back to mid table Serie A mediocrity.
I think him coming and going as quickly as he did prevents him from being close to the worst ever - the length of time Torres (and Sanchez) underperformed and the fact they were both top drawer 6 months prior to their moves would give one of them the nod for me.
Taibi would get a slightly different “worst” tag though, as alongside Bosnich 2.0, Howard, Ricardo, Carroll and Barthez he surely makes up the worst set of cumulative transfers ever in attempting to replace someone. Schmeichel to VDS was painful.
I think him coming and going as quickly as he did prevents him from being close to the worst ever - the length of time Torres (and Sanchez) underperformed and the fact they were both top drawer 6 months prior to their moves would give one of them the nod for me.
Taibi would get a slightly different “worst” tag though, as alongside Bosnich 2.0, Howard, Ricardo, Carroll and Barthez he surely makes up the worst set of cumulative transfers ever in attempting to replace someone. Schmeichel to VDS was painful.
Rebrov to Spurs anyone? He was supposed to be a very big deal, especially in an era where Spurs had Steffen Iversen up front.
Taibi wasn't an unknown. I used to watch Serie A back on channel 4 in those days. He was a decent shot stopper, Given-esque. IDK why he was so horrible for us.