Not all the big-money signings in the football world go on to become major hits. Indeed, apart from Cristiano Ronaldo, no player of this era has yet to reach remarkable heights after an expensive transfer.
Be it Paul Pogba or Gareth Bale, it is very rare to find an overly-expensive player performing at his peak after a financially-bulging move. Sometimes, things become even worse as the said players don’t even perform on a par level or don’t go on to fit the system.
In that case, some players are let go on loan with the hope that they might find their touch or just to get him off the wage bill. And here are five of the most expensive players that went on loan deals.
#5 Andy Carroll – £35 million
At the time of his signing, Andy Carroll became the most expensive British player of all time. Fans were left stunned at how Liverpool agreed to pay £35 million for a striker that only had half a good season.
To be fair, though, Fernando Torres’ sudden departure left Liverpool in a bad place as they had no other option but sign a striker quickly. Newcastle exploited the Reds’ desperation and got the best deal for themselves. And in days to come, the mind boggling amount is still the tag that is still used to criticise the man.
After completing one-and-a-half season at the Merseyside, Brendan Rodgers was appointed as the new manager and he clearly didn’t think Carroll had what it took to play for Liverpool.
So, a loan move to West Ham beckoned and Carroll has been there ever since, making the move permanent after one season on loan as West Ham paid £15 million for his services.
#4 Fernando Torres – £50 million
The man who was responsible for the previous slide, Fernando Torres’ move to Chelsea affected everyone in the worst possible way. Every party involved in the domino effect had to face repercussions.
The London club paid £50 million – and high-end wages – for a striker who had seemingly forgotten how to score, the player itself was so low on confidence that he developed somewhat of penalty-box fright. Liverpool themselves were left with no time and had to make a quick and overpriced move for an unproven striker and Andy Carroll had to face the humiliation of the football fraternity for being one of the worst big-money deals of all time.
Fernando Torres’ time at Chelsea was so bad that it is one of the things he would like to forget, except for the Champions League triumph. His spell at Chelsea could be described in a nutshell by watching this video of him missing an open goal against Manchester United.
Chelsea, however, persisted him with three-and-a-half years before accepting that he won’t be the striker they had hoped for. The Spaniard was then shipped off to Milan on a loan deal, who terminated it after just six months.
In the end, Atletico Madrid came to the rescue and grabbed him on a two-year loan deal before making the move permanent on a free transfer.
#3 Radamel Falcao – £52.5 million
At one point in his career, Radamel Falcao was labelled as the only player close to Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. The striker’s instincts in the box were second to none and he could score from any given angle.
However, due to a terrible ACL injury during his first season at Monaco, he missed six months of football – including the World Cup in 2014 – and was then shipped off to Manchester United on loan after he made a comeback to the game.
His loan move to the Old Trafford coincided with the worst phase of his career. The former best striker in the world was now a timid entity in the team. He could manage only four goals in his 29 appearances for the club before he returned to Monaco at the end of the season.
After that, another year on loan beckoned – and this time it was with Chelsea – and another year of frustration was lived. Falcao’s time at Chelsea was injury-ridden as he could play only 12 times and score just the one time against Crystal Palace.
Upon his return to France, Monaco manager, Leonardo Jardim, made him the captain of the club. He seems to have rejuvenated his career ever since as he scored 30 times last season in only 43 appearances, helping Monaco win the Ligue 1 title.
#2 Zlatan Ibrahimovic – £57 million
It was strange that Pep Guardiola decided to bring Zlatan Ibrahimovic to Barcelona with Samuel Eto’o going the other way to Inter. Barcelona’s deal to sign Ibrahimovic summed up to £57 million and he wasn’t all that bad either.
Even now, in his mid-30s, Zlatan can put up brilliant performances week-in and week-out – that’s the quality he has. However, his differences with then-Barcelona manager Pep Guardiola became the fundamental reason for his ostracising at the Camp Nou.
After only one season, he was loaned off to Milan, where he took the Serie A by storm in his comeback season, scoring 21 goals in 41 games to help Milan win the Scudetto. After his heroics at San Siro, he was signed on a permanent transfer for £20 million.
#1 James Rodriguez - £65 million
And the most expensive player of all time is James Rodriguez after sealing his 2-year loan move to Bayern Munich some days ago. It is interesting to note that he is the second Colombian player on this list as he cost Real Madrid £65 million right after his stellar World Cup 2014 campaign.
After three seasons with the Galacticos, it became apparent that he never really fit in with the team as it had no place for number 10 in its system. Despite that, the former Monaco man scored or assisted once every 90.7 minutes in his Real Madrid tenure – which is a great return for a player who never really got a consistent run-in with the team.
With the World Cup coming up next year, James didn’t want to take any chances and pushed for a move to Bayern Munich, where he now pairs up with Carlo Ancelotti. Under the tutelage of the Italian, James played his best football at Real Madrid as he now hopes that he would replicate those moments in Germany.
