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Some footballers come to new clubs, seek out opportunities to win and conquer their respective competitions. Others do the exact opposite: join a new club and achieve the bare minimum, or worse, before leaving with more shame than fanfare.
Transfers are usually great news for a club: depth in different positions needs to be filled, a key player who's left the team needs to be replaced, a potential future star needs first-team opportunities. Most of the time, footballers join their new clubs and progress in their careers, even exceeding the expectations of the fans and club as well.
However, the headaches start when the new player plays a few games and performs so underwhelmingly that the manager is forced to almost ignore him during matchday. The club then has to embarrassingly put the player back on the market or release him as soon as there's a chance to do so.
In this article, we take a look at 10 such footballers who did nothing for their new clubs, thanks to their disappointing and subpar performances:
#10 Eric Djemba-Djemba | Manchester United
The highlight of Eric Djemba-Djemba's career with Manchester United was perhaps his winning goal in a League Cup match against Leeds United. Apart from that, the vast majority of his appearances for the Red Devils were extremely disappointing.
The star arrived at Old Trafford, after impressing at Nantes, for £3.5 million in 2003. After spending just two years with the Red Devils, Djemba-Djemba managed to play only 20 Premier League games.
Throughout his time at Manchester United, the star had subpar performances and he was eventually shipped off to Aston Villa. Notably, his poor showings continued with Aston Villa and he managed only 11 league games for the club. It was no shock when he eventually left the Premier League for Qatar in 2007.
#9 Benni McCarthy | West Ham United
For someone who had had a great career with Ajax, Celta Vigo, Porto and Blackburn, Benni McCarthy should have been a great buy for West Ham United. However, it ended up being the opposite. Joining the club on the winter transfer day deadline in 2010, the former South African international began what can only be termed as a miserable stint.
Within a year of his transfer, McCarthy had played less than 350 minutes of football in total. West Ham decided to omit him from the playing squad for the remainder of the season, while offering him a £1 million settlement to terminate his contract and leave the club. He eventually retired after playing for the Orlando Pirates in his home country of South Africa.
#8 Ciro Immobile | Dortmund
Given how Ciro Immobile has settled in perfectly at Lazio, one could be forgiven for thinking he has never had a bad spell at any football club before. In this season's Serie A, the footballer has picked up a brilliant six goals in six appearances, and he has dedicatedly scored over 15 goals per season over the last five seasons with Lazio. However, the picture wasn't always so rosy with Immobile.
Back in 2014, the Italian centre-forward moved to German giants Borussia Dortmund for €17.955 million and struggled to find his form. The year before, he had scored 22 goals in 33 league games for Torino, but his Dortmund story was a different case: just three goals in 24 league games for the club. It wasn't surprising when the BVB loaned the footballer out a year later to Sevilla and Torino, eventually shipping him off to Lazio for half the amount they spent getting him in.
#7 Xisco | Newcastle
After coming up through the ranks at Deportivo La Coruna and successfully integrating into the first team, Xisco left for Newcastle in 2008, having performed reasonably in Spain. The footballer's Newcastle story, however, is far from ideal and is seen as one of the Magpies' worst transfer debacles in the club's history.
Signed on for £7 million on deadline day, the Spanish footballer featured only once for the club, who immediately tried to sell him four months later. Newcastle were soon relegated and Xisco ended up going on loan to two different football clubs, including his former side Deportivo. After spending a grand five years contracted to Newcastle, Xisco played just 11 games, scoring one goal.
#6 Paul Konchesky | Liverpool
Paul Konchesky played remarkably well for Fulham in the Premier League and understandably caught Liverpool's eye. However, getting their target into the fold would prove to be the beginning of their woes. Although he signed on to Liverpool on a four-year deal, the footballer would end up playing just 18 official games for the club before being shipped out on loan to the Championship.
It also couldn't have helped that Konchesky's mother notably referred to Liverpool supporters as Scouse scum! However, his performances on the pitch were so sub-par that Liverpool were ready to do anything to get him out. By 2011, just a year after he joined the Reds, Konchesky was sold to Leicester City.
#5 Jonathan Woodgate | Real Madrid
When Real Madrid made the decision to purchase Newcastle defender Jonathan Woodgate in 2004, many pundits and critics questioned the move. In hindsight, they were right to do so. What happened in the years following that £13 million move only enforced the popular belief that Los Blancos had no business buying Woodgate.
He didn't play for Real Madrid throughout his debut season, and when he eventually did feature, he scored an own-goal and picked up a red card on his debut. Injuries and fitness problems saw the footballer earn only 14 appearances in his second season. At this point, Madrid knew they had made a drastic mistake and shipped him off to Middlesbrough where Woodgate found some form again.
#4 Bebe | Manchester United
Alex Ferguson and the higher-ups at Manchester United rarely made mistakes when it came to player transfers, but Bebe was perhaps one of the rare exceptions. On August 2010, the footballer was signed, and by 2011, he had gone on loan. In 2012, he went on loan again, and then it happened again the following year. Finally, in 2014, Benfica bought the underperforming footballer for €3 million, nearly a third of what the Reds had paid for him.
The footballer managed to make just seven appearances for Manchester United during his four-year stay with the club, scoring two goals. Notably, all his appearances took place in his debut season. The winger never made another official appearance for the club again, aside from friendlies.
#3 Danny Drinkwater | Chelsea
Chelsea's reasons for buying Danny Drinkwater are somewhat understandable. Leicester City had just won the league and clubs were itching to purchase their best footballers, including Drinkwater, N'Golo Kante, and Riyad Mahrez. While Kante and Mahrez have gone on to perform for their new sides, that hasn't been the case with Drinkwater, who Chelsea bought for £35 million in 2017.
His five-year contract is coming to an end but Drinkwater has only played a grand total of 23 games for the club, most of which came in his first season. He has spent the last four seasons on loan at different football clubs and is currently plying his trade at Reading in the English Championship.
#2 Julien Faubert | Real Madrid
Although he struggled due to injury during his first season at West Ham, Julien Faubert somehow looked like the best option for Los Blancos, who decided to get him on a loan deal. The story inspired a TV drama and got his agent nicknamed David Copperfield, but in reality, it was one of Madrid's worst signings ever.
While West Ham made off with £1.5 million, Faubert went off to Real Madrid and ended up playing just two games for the club. Unsurprisingly, his loan spell finished rather quickly and the star moved back to West Ham where he would blossom for a couple of years.
#1 Alexis Sanchez | Manchester United
It looked like a match made in heaven when Alexis Sanchez began playing for Arsenal. Before long, he was the club's star player, aiding them to two FA Cup wins and a Community Shield in the 3.5 seasons he spent at the football club. A move to Manchester United, however, was perhaps his biggest mistake.
Simply unable to rekindle the goalscoring fire he enjoyed at Arsenal, the footballer scored only three goals in his debut season and two in his second. That's five goals in 45 appearances for the Red Devils. Understandably, he was loaned out to Inter where he eventually moved to on a permanent transfer.
