Ten worst big-money transfers ever include Liverpool fleecing two rivals off and worst swap

Peter Fitzpatrick
Fernando Torres was not great at Chelsea

Liverpool are the masters of duping teams into wasting huge money on awful signings; Chelsea are equally adept at being fooled for considerable cash.

With the transfer window mercifully closing on Friday, it feels like an appropriate time to take a trip down memory lane and revisit some of the worst big-money signings in history.

This summer has already seen more money spent than ever before, largely by the Premier League and Saudi Pro League. The biggest deals have featured English clubs and English players, most notably Declan Rice and then Moises Caicedo breaking the British transfer record in moves to Arsenal and Chelsea respectively.

READ MORE: The 20 biggest transfers in the world in the 2023 summer transfer window

The two best English players, Harry Kane and Jude Bellingham, have moved to heavyweights of European football and judging by their brilliant starts to life at Bayern Munich and Real Madrid, they are highly unlikely to end up on this list.

With so many terrible big-money deals to choose from over the years, it’s quite hard to narrow it down to 10 but these came with serious hype and seriously undelivered.

 

10) Antoine Griezmann – Atletico Madrid to Barcelona, £107m, 2019
While his goals tally with Barca was more acceptable, Griezmann makes the list for everything that came around and the lack of success for the club while he was there.

The Frenchman had long been linked with a move to the Nou Camp but a year prior, had gone full LeBron James and ‘The Decision’ in announcing he would stay with Atletico on live TV. A year later, of course, he did join Barca after they paid out his buyout clause.

A great player, no doubt, but he never fit in. He played in a similar position to Lionel Messi and it pointed further to Los Cules’ terrible transfer planning.

Considered finished as a top player, he then returned on loan to Atletico Madrid in 2021. The 2022 World Cup, however, marked a renaissance and a change to a deeper position. The relatively low fee paid for a permanent return to Atletico further summed up how bad this transfer was.

Antoine Griezmann

Antoine Griezmann had a forgettable time at Barcelona

 

9) Fernando Torres – Liverpool to Chelsea, £50m, 2011
A £50m transfer fee might seem like small change in today’s market but back in January 2011, it was a British record transfer fee.

Torres had lit up English football upon arrival from Atletico in 2007 but Liverpool were in serious decline by 2010/11 and the Spaniard was angling for a move to a club capable of challenging for the biggest trophies.

Loathe to sell to a fierce rival, the Reds eventually relented when it became clear Torres was adamant about leaving and the fee was too good to turn down. That it helped fund a move for Luis Suarez – and Andy Carroll – made up for it.

Torres was never the same player after the 2010 World Cup and multiple injuries prior, and was a shadow of himself in west London, taking 14 games to open his scoring account.

There was more downs than ups from here but he did at least make Gary Neville squeal with his goal against Barcelona to book Chelsea’s spot in the 2012 Champions League final.

 

8) Andriy Shevchenko – AC Milan to Chelsea, £30m, 2006
Another supposed world-class striker. Another British record transfer fee. And, of course, another big-money bust for Cheslea. They really struggle with strikers, don’t they?

Shevchenko was widely considered the best No. 9 in the world in the summer of 2006, having starred for AC Milan for seven years and won the 2004 Ballon d’Or.

A personal friend of Roman Abramovich at the time, he was a vanity signing for the Chelsea owner and came alongside Michael Ballack and Ashley Cole in all-star transfer window. Having won the two previous titles, an era of pure dominance for the Blues seemed inevitable.

There were just two problems: Sheva was not the player he was in Serie A; and Jose Mourinho did not want to sign him, which saw the first cracks emerge in his first reign at the Bridge.

Having scored on his debut, he quickly played second fiddle to Didier Drogba, who enjoyed his best season to date at Chelsea. A paltry 22 goals in 77 appearances came for Sheva before he returned to Milan on loan and then Dynamo Kyiv for free.

 

7) Paul Pogba – Juventus to Manchester United, £89m, 2016
A symbol of the post-Fergie United in many ways, PogBACK promised so much and delivered so little.

The Frenchman had joined United as a 16-year-old from Le Havre but departed in the summer of 2012 for Juventus on a free. Fergie picking Rafael Da Silva over him in midfield was a failure on his part but issues with Mino Raiola were the main driver behind his exit.

His four years at Juve showed what a stunning player he was and there was huge excitement when United brought him back to Old Trafford in a world-record transfer. He was meant to be Jose’s on-field lieutenant but his best double act sadly came with Stormzy.

After more meddling from Raiola, a public fall-out with Mourinho and consistent injuries, he became more of a nuisance than an asset for many at the club and the fanbase. There were good moments but few mourned his second free transfer exit to Juve last summer.

Since then, more injuries and some serious family drama have put the brakes on his career. At 30, it is unlikely Pogba will ever hit the heights he should have with his ability.

READ MORE: Paul Pogba, an inconsistent footballer who had to leave an inconsistent football club

 

6) Angel Di Maria – Real Madrid to Manchester United, £60m, 2014
Signed after a man-of-the-match performance in the 2014 Champions League final, Di Maria’s capture was considered a huge coup for United and new manager Louis van Gaal.

There was just one issue though: he and his wife never wanted to move to Manchester. It was doomed from the start.

After a brilliant home debut against QPR and a stunning chip against Leicester, things turned sour after United lost that second game 5-3. Total football was scrapped and any freedom for the Argentinean was curtailed.

He ended up playing as a wing-back and a striker in some games and finished the season behind Ashley Young in the pecking order.

He left for PSG after just one season, where, obviously, he returned to his best form.

 

5) Romelu Lukaku – Inter Milan to Chelsea, £97.5m, 2021
Lukaku’s apparent decline can be traced back to his return to Stamford Bridge two summers ago.

Having shone at Inter for two seasons, the Belgian returned to the Premier League and his first English club for a then-British record transfer fee (Chelsea and strikers, oil and water).

A debut goal at Arsenal came and he started quite well but it soon fell apart, particularly after he conducted an interview saying he wished he never left Inter. It all made little sense.

He returned on loan to the San Siro last season but will now move to Roma for a reunion with Jose, again on loan. Chelsea are still footing the bill for most of his wages, just to rubberstamp how bad this transfer was.

 

4) Alexis Sanchez – Arsenal to Manchester United, player exchange, 2018
While the fee might not be the biggest, Sanchez’s extortionate wages and incredibly poor performances put him into fourth spot on this list.

The Chilean was undoubtedly one of the best players in the league while at Arsenal but his talent was apparently stolen in the 2017/18 season. At first it just seemed he had downed tools at the Emirates, but his showings at Old Trafford confirmed something was off.

In probably the worst swap deal of all time that saw Henrikh Mkhitaryan go the other way, Sanchez stunk things up for 18 months, scoring just five goals in 45 games for United, although one funnily came against Arsenal.

He was an albatross around the neck of the club and thankfully Inter’s then-obsession with United castoffs saw him move to Serie A, albeit with a large pay-off.

 

3) Eden Hazard – Chelsea to Real Madrid, £88.5m, 2019
Hazard was the most thrilling player in English football for a time and the best player in both of Chelsea’s last two title successes. A move to Madrid had long been mooted and finally arrived in the summer of 2019.

Unfortunately, it was not the same player who had wowed the Premier League for years. A combination of injuries, poor form and fitness and whatever else saw him labelled the worst signing in Real’s history. He remains their most expensive when add-ons are included.

In his four seasons at the Bernabeu, he made just 76 appearances, scoring seven times. He also never played in El Clasico, amazingly.

Having been released this summer, it is rumoured he is now considering retirement at 32. A sad story.

 

2) Philippe Coutinho – Liverpool to Barcelona, £142m, 2018
One of the signings that can be viewed as the beginning of Barca’s decline and descent into financial meltdown, as much as it was influtential to Liverpool’s rise to heights not seen since the 1980s.

Barca had bid for the Brazilian after Neymar left in the summer of 2017 but Liverpool rejected any bids. Just six months later, a fee twice the size of the initial offers was agreed after Coutinho made it clear he wanted the move.

Like Griezmann, it just never worked out and the Nou Camp fans were not fond of the player at times. After 18 months at the club, he went on loan to Bayern and even scored twice against his parent club in that 8-2 Champions League loss.

Having won the famous trophy with his loan club, Barca shambolically had to pay more add-ons to Liverpool.

After another 18 months toiling at Barca, Coutinho left for Aston Villa and now finds himself likely on the way out of there too.

 

1) Neymar – Barcelona to PSG, £198m, 2017
Neymar’s still-world-record transfer to PSG is the worst of all time for multiple reasons, which isn’t to say he didn’t perform while at the club.

PSG made their power play in 2017, taking one of the world’s best from a traditional heavyweight of European football. It was meant to be the start of a new world order in Paris, but it never panned out.

PSG became the Hollywood club, Barcelona squandered all of the money they received and fell into crisis while the transfer market has never recovered and prices are fully out of control.

As for the brilliant Brazilian, he was on the verge of all-time great status at Barcelona and sadly, his move began his decline. Injuries, family drama and everything else saw him never fulfil his potential both at team and individual level while in Ligue 1.

There was a sigh of relief at the club and among the fanbase when he recently left for Saudi Arabia at just 31 years old. One of the great ‘What If’ players.

Topical Top Ten Eden Hazard

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