Summary
Every season, European football clubs have two transfer windows during which they can add new players. The English Premier League has a habit of spending a lot of money on players that don’t live up to expectations.
Nicolas Pepe, Angel Di Maria, Kepa Arrizabalaga, Bebe, and Romelu Lukaku are some of the Premier League’s worst signings.
These players either failed to fulfill expectations, performed poorly on the field, left the club prematurely, or were overpaid.
Every season, European football has two transfer windows. Clubs can only sign contracted players during certain periods; free agents can be signed at any point during the season. Players can be transferred permanently from another club or brought in on loan.
Because of the exorbitant sums of money in sports today, these periods allow soccer clubs to carelessly spend their millions. The English Premier League has arguably shown to be the best at spending money on players that turn out to be largely useless.
A disastrous signing is determined by four major factors: price, expectation, on-field success, and duration with the club. Normally, one or two of these things can excuse the transfer if the others are poor, but there isn’t a single situation on this list where you can look at the move and say, ‘Actually, that wasn’t that bad.
Ranking Factors
The player appeared in several games.
The entire amount paid on the player less the transfer fee/wages.
How much return on investment the club received.
Fernando Torres and Mario Balotelli are among the honorable mentions. They’ve both had more-than-respectable careers, but their big-money moves to Chelsea and Liverpool fell short of expectations. However, they were not as awful as this gang.
20Eric Djemba-Djemba
£4.1m to Manchester United
The Cameroonian is a perennial on these lists, but even given the player he turned out to be, his price tag wasn’t a big deal for the Red Devils. He was 21 when he signed for the club, and he was expected to succeed club legend and captain Roy Keane.
That never happened, and when questioned about Djemba’s tenure at United, former teammate Rio Ferdinand summed it up eloquently. His comment on the Filthy Fellas podcast was, “He’s a nice guy, man.” A fairly disparaging way to refer to a former teammate as a player.
Time spent in the club
Games played
Goals
Assists
Two years.
20
0
0
19Davy Klaassen
£23.6m to Everton
The Dutch midfielder was the essence of Everton’s poor investment over the last decade. He moved to the club from Ajax in the summer of 2017. The Dutch are well-known for producing technical footballers, but Davy Klaassen failed not meet that standard.
He started only three Premier League games for Everton and came on as a substitute in four more. He departed the club the following summer to join German side Werder Bremen. This move, together with his return to Ajax and signing with Inter Milan in the summer of 2023, demonstrated that there was a decent player there; it simply didn’t fit at Everton.
Time spent in the club
Games played
Goals
Assists
One year.
7
0
0
18Wesley Fofana
£75m to Chelsea
With so many appearances already, you can imagine how stacked Chelsea has been for the most of the Premier League period, and there will be more to come. Wesley Fofana was once regarded as one of the Premier League’s best young defenders. The only concern was his injury history.
Fofana, one of the most expensive centre-backs in football history, had major injuries prior to joining Chelsea, and they have worsened since his arrival. The 24-year-old joined the club at the close of the 2022 summer transfer window and has only appeared in 30 league games since.
Time spent in the club
Games played
Goals
Clean sheets.
2022-present
32
2
10
17Jack Grealish
£100m to Manchester City
After years of strutting his stuff for Aston Villa, and everyone became tired of hearing the continuously repeated statistic about him being the most-fouled player in the Premier League season after season, Jack Grealish ultimately agreed to a £100 million move to Manchester City in 2021.
It seemed right, and he swiftly justified the anticipation by leading the Cityzens to an unprecedented treble in only his second season. But the two campaigns that followed were lackluster, and his swagger had all but vanished. During his final two league seasons at the Etihad, he scored only four goals, a pitiful return for a nine-figure signing who was anticipated to offer constant impact.
Time spent in the club
Games played
Goals
Assists
Four years
157
17
23
16Nicolas Pepe
£72m to Arsenal
The Ivory Coast international arrived with high expectations, but he struggled to match the club’s then-record cost. That record was broken in the summer transfer window of 2023, when they bought midfielder Declan Rice from Premier League rivals West Ham.
Pepe was far from a bad Arsenal player; he scored 16 league goals in three Premier League seasons. However, if a club is willing to spend that much money, they should expect a team-altering return, which Arsenal did not receive.
Time spent in the club
Games played
Goals
Assists
Three years.
80
16
9
15Jack Rodwell
£11.3m to Sunderland
During his tenure at Sunderland, the former Manchester City player personified the club’s troubles. Sunderland were demoted to English soccer’s second tier (the Championship) in 2017. The club was demoted again in the 2017/18 season, during which he played two games and earned a whopping £70,000 per week, according to ESPN.
Even when they dropped to the third tier, he was still scheduled to earn £43,000 per week before they mutually agreed to terminate his contract. Jack Rodwell will be known in that area of the world for the bad impact he had on the club, and he – regarded as one of the worst flops in Premier League history – was immortalised in the Netflix series ‘Sunderland ‘Til I Die’.
Time spent in the club
Games played
Goals
Assists
Four years
67
5
1
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