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Sometimes transfers just don’t work out. Big clubs have to take the risk of spending money in the window when results aren't going for them. That means panic buys or going after players who have been hyped up.
Obviously not every player turns out the way you would expect but there has always been more than one occasion when a club gets is completely wrong with a player. These stars proved their doubters and critics right by being a complete mess at their clubs.
Here are the 7 biggest flops from 7 of the biggest clubs in Europe
7) Chelsea – Andriy Shevchenko
Andriy Shevchenko was no doubt a striker with the potential to go down as one of the greatest forwards of all time. The Ukranian was a prodigy at Dynamo Kyiv scoring 60 goals in 117 appearances.
He was the kind of player who just knew where the back of the net was. His brilliant performances in Ukraine earned him a move to Italian giants AC Milan where he furthered his reputation.
He netted an incredible 127 goals in just 208 appearances. After that, he became Europe’s most wanted in 2006. Newly cash-rich Chelsea brought him in for a whopping 43 million euros a record for the club at the time.
But his Blues career did not go according to plan. He only managed 4 goals in 30 league appearances in his debut season, 5 in 17 the next season. He was eventually loaned back to Milan but his career took a turn for the worse after that.
Shevchenko would go down as a player whose potential was wasted and never truly fulfilled.
6) Arsenal – Francis Jeffers
Considered Arsene Wenger’s worst signing in his 20 years at Arsenal and even as the worst ever by many Francis Jeffers is a prime example of what hype can to for a football player.
Bought from Everton for a cool 15 million Euros by Wenger in 2001, the Frenchman famously termed him the fox in the box., but he turned out to be more of a sloth in the box. Jeffers managed 18 goals in 48 appearances for the Toffees which was a decent return.
But not a player Arsenal really needed considering they had the likes of Bergkamp and Henry. Jeffers managed only 4 goals in 22 appearances over three seasons before he was loaned back to Everton.
He cost the Gunners 681,000 Euros per appearance and 3.75 million Euros per goal. In comparison, Henry only cost the club around 48,000 Euros per goal which is a bargain. It’s safe to say this was not one of Arsene’s incredible finds.
5) Juventus – Thierry Henry
Speaking of great strikers, Thierry Henry is one of the greatest strikers of all time and definitely one of the best ever to grace the Premier League. But he became a legend at Arsenal and not many people know much about his career before that.
No doubt, Henry was a great striker but his time at Juventus was forgettable. The Frenchman joined Juve from Monaco for the same amount Jeffers was bought at Arsenal.He came with a big reputation of course as a winger at that point of time, not a striker.
But for some reason, it just did not work out at Juve. The form and prowess he showed at Monaco just wasn’t there. He only played 16 times that season scoring just thrice for the Turin giants. It was very disappointing from the Frenchman but then Wenger came calling and he has never looked back since.
4) Liverpool – Andy Carroll
There won’t be too many who dispute the inclusion of this fine striker in this list. Andy Carroll had only played 19 games in the Premier League before Kenny Dalglish was convinced he’s the next big thing.
The manager spent a ridiculous 35 million Pounds on the Englishman in the January transfer window. He had scored a decent 19 goals before that, but it was still a huge gamble.
Caroll spent three seasons at Anfield before the Reds decided to sell him on a permanent basis to West Ham United. He made 35 appearances in the 2011-12 season and managed just 4 goals!
Luckily there was one other bloke called Luis Suarez who more than made up for Carroll’s goof up.
3) Manchester United – Angel Di Maria
Angel Di Maria would have remained United’s record signing for a while to come if they had not invested in a player named Paul Pogba. Nevertheless, the Argentinian was one of many expensive signings made by Louis Van Gaal during his rather fruitless reign at the club.
He signed from Real Madrid for a whopping 59 million pounds, breaking the British transfer record at the time A lot was expected of him and to be fair he did deliver in his first few games scoring or assisting in 4 of his first 6 games for the club.
But after that, he only managed 7 assists in the next 20 games which is a very poor return for someone of his quality. That season United scraped into 4th place, just about and the Argentine was benched for many of the games during the season because of his poor form.
After that disappointing season,he decided to end his nightmare spell by forcing a move to PSG after falling out with Van Gaal. Now he’s back to his brilliant best again.
2) Barcelona – Dmytro Chygrynskiy
Barcelona fans will not be familiar with this name let alone his pronunciation. But back in 2010, he was the player every big club wanted. Barcelona managed to snap him up for 15 Million Euros.
Little did they know what they had bought into! The Ukranian was a mess at the back. Pep Guardiola could not foresee that he just wasn’t a fit for the Barcelona system. He was very poor with the ball at his feet which was the one thing you needed to be successful at the Catalan club.
His purchase from Shakhtar Donetsk was also a bit puzzling. All the attributes that he displayed at Shakhtar were the ones Barcelona did not take advantage of but you can’t blame Pep for sticking to his philosophy because of the success it brought the club.
He only made 12 appearances for Barca before being shipped back to Shakhtar for a loss where he once again failed to establish himself because of the lack of confidence. Now, still only 29, he finds himself in Greece with AEK Athens.
1) Real Madrid – Jonathan Woodgate
Yes, Jonathan Woodgate was a Real Madrid player. I promise you I wiki’d it before putting his name on this list. Woodgate spent two whole seasons at Los Blancos where he played 9 games scoring no goals.
Madrid paid £13.4 million for the Englishman but they realised too late that they had overpaid. They should've seen the warning signs or at least taken a look at his injury record before paying Newcastle that amount of money.
But it was a period of financial strength for Madrid and they wanted to use that to their full advantage. Even so, recruiting a player like Woodgate had all sorts of red flags even before the move had materialized.
Woodgate ended up making only 9 appearances in two years at the club scoring zero goals. He will probably go down as the worst transfer ever witnessed in Spanish football
