#8 Renato Sanches – Bayern Munich
After having rave reviews of his exploits in Portugal and winning Young Player of the Tournament during his nation’s successful Euro 2016 campaign, Renato Sanches was the name on everyone’s lips. Stepping up to sign the wunderkind was Bayern Munich, seeing the teenager as a future world-beater that would add an extra dynamism to their midfield.
To say that mark has been missed would be a bit of an understatement. The 19-year-old made six starts in the league while making a further 11 appearances off the bench, failing to register either a goal or an assist and taking a back seat to the rest of the superb Bayern midfield.
A football darling just 12 months ago, it already looks like the Portuguese wants out. With signings on the way and talents like Thiago and Arturo Vidal still ahead of him, that huge outlay by the Bavarians is looking like money down the drain with every passing minute.
#7 Aleksandar Dragovic – Bayer Leverkusen
In a season full of disappointments for Bayer Leverkusen, the signing of this Austrian defender might just be a tiny blip on their radar of awfulness. Aleksandar Dragovic was highly rated coming out of FC Basel, with a number of clubs chasing his signing before he joined Dynamo Kiev in Ukraine.
£12.75m later, he signed for the Bundesliga side but has not quite jelled into a faltering defence. Injuries played a part but he was involved in just five wins in 22 games with four clean sheets, two of those coming in nothing games against Monaco in the Champions League and Bayern Munich once they had already won the league title.
With Omer Toprak off to Dortmund, there is a hole they need to fill at centre-back. Whether that will be Dragovic, who might still be the best of a poor bunch, remains to be seen.
