The summer transfer window can see even the shrewdest manager make the silliest transfer. For all the brilliance of Vieira, Fabregas, and Henry, Arsene Wenger must also take responsibility for signing Francis Jeffers, Kaba Diawara and Christopher Wreh.
But thats only scratching the surface, and here are five English summer flops for starters.
Alberto Tarantini (Boca Juniors to Birmingham City, £295,000, 1978)
The original reckless summer signing? While Ossie Ardiles and Ricky Villa prospered at Tottenham, their fellow Argentine World Cup winner lasted just one season in the midlands, wading into the home crowd for a punch up on his 23rd and final game.
Thomas Brolin (Parma to Leeds United, £4.5 million, 1995)
Scorer of a hometown goal that knocked England out of Euro 92, a drastically different shaped Brolin arrived at Leeds three years later. The now third division club have made a lot of poor signings since but none as comical as the Swede who made 19 appearances in two years.
Juan Sebastian Veron (Lazio to Manchester United, £28.1 million, 2001)
Veron wasnt the first internationally renowned player to have failed to adapt to life in the premiership but he was certainly the most costly. Recouping £15 million from Chelsea after two unsuccessful seasons was probably Sir Alex Fergusons finest move of all.
Serhiy Rebrov (Dinamo Kiev to Tottenham Hotspur, £11 million, 2000)
You cant help but feel Spurs went shopping for strikers in the Ukraine 12 months too late. A season after Andriy Shevchenko left for Milan, Rebrov boarded a plane for London and while his old strike partner scored 90 goals in his first four seasons, Rebrov managed just 10 in his four at Tottenham.
Marco Boogers (Sparta Rotterdam to West Ham United, £1 million, 1995)
Harry Redknapp wasnt immune to a misguided signing or two in the mid-nineties and not even Florin Raducioiu could compete with Boogers. Red carded in his second and final substitute appearance, the striker promptly disappeared, discovered several weeks later in a Dutch caravan park.
Missing a few more? And beyond England, where have the expensive mistakes been made?
Padraic Halpin, London
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6 comments so far
Didn’t Graeme Souness once sign someone by mistake? An imposter.
- Posted by LondonSome would argue he brought Torben Picnic and Istvan Kozma to Merseyside by mistake, or as a joke at the very least…
- Posted by Padraic HalpinBut alas while at Southampton, Souness was duped into signing Ali Dia after Dia’s agent phoned posing as George Weah to recommend the alledged Senegalese international. Dia made one appearance, replacing Matt Le Tissier in a first half game against Leeds before being substituted himself 53 minutes later. His contract was cancelled after two weeks and he failed to cut it at non-league Gateshead after that. I didn’t include him as there doesn’t seem to be much of a transfer fee involved but I can’t think of a worse player to have graced the premier league.
- Posted by Padraic HalpinThat’s the one. Does it make Ali Dia the worst signing ever?
- Posted by LondonBarcelona: Geovanni, Fabio Rochemback, Saviola, Christanval and Patrik Andersson for 100 million euros between them must be the worst summer of signings in the history of football.
- Posted by RafaGerard Houllier also had a bad close-season in 2002 when he signed Diouf, Diao and Cheyrou, but it wasn’t quite in the same league as that Barcelona spending spree.
- Posted by Kev