Premier League 2018/19: The underperforming team of the season

Forward: Alexis Sanchez – Manchester United

Alexis Sanchez could go down as one of the Premier League's worst-ever signings

Reportedly the Premier League’s highest earner – making somewhere between £410,000 and £500,000 per week depending on the source – Manchester United’s Alexis Sanchez has endured an absolutely torrid time at Old Trafford this season, looking like a complete shadow of the man who was once a genuine world-class performer.

Sanchez has started just 9 games in the Premier League – making a further 11 appearances from the bench – and he’s scored just 1 goal and made 3 assists.

He’s actually played a total of just 877 minutes – that’s less than the much-maligned Fred and the apparently outgoing Juan Mata – which makes you wonder quite why the Red Devils went to such lengths to sign him in the first place.

Fans might point at Paul Pogba as an indicator of what’s gone so wrong for United this season, but at least the Frenchman played excellently during Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s early days as caretaker boss.

Sanchez struggled under Jose Mourinho and hasn’t made an impact under Solskjaer either. Not only is he one of this season’s most underperforming players, but he’ll probably go down as one of the league’s worst ever signings, too.

Forward: Alireza Jahanbakhsh – Brighton

Alireza Jahanbakhsh hasn't lived up to his price tag at Brighton

Brighton have struggled for goals all season, managing just 34 of them – the least of any side who haven’t been relegated – and part of that has to be down to the form of their record signing, Iran’s Alireza Jahanbakhsh, who was signed for an undisclosed fee – reportedly a club record – last summer from Eredivisie club AZ.

Jahanbakhsh had a pretty impressive record in the Netherlands – scoring a great total of 21 goals in 33 games for AZ in 2017/18 – but it’s been pretty clear from the off that he just isn’t up to the standard needed in the Premier League.

The Iranian forward hasn’t scored or made one assist in a total of 18 appearances this term, which is hardly surprising when you consider he’s had just 19 shots on goal – 12 of which came from outside the box.

The Iranian’s creative game has hardly been much better – he’s made just 5 key passes all season and his pass success rate of 68.3% is one of the lowest in Brighton’s first-team squad, too. To see Chris Hughton look to offload him this summer wouldn’t be at all surprising.

Forward: Riyad Mahrez – Manchester City

Riyad Mahrez has failed to establish himself in Manchester City's first team

Riyad Mahrez might be set to pick up another Premier League winner’s medal – his first with Manchester City after achieving the feat with Leicester in 2015/16 – but his contribution this season has been nowhere near the massive one he made when he was one of the Foxes’ key men during that famous season.

After sealing a £60m move to the Etihad in the summer – making him the most expensive African player in history – Mahrez may have expected to become one of Pep Guardiola’s key men, but instead he’s been a bit-part player, starting just 13 Premier League matches and making a further 13 appearances from the bench.

It’s not that Mahrez has played badly when he has appeared – 6 goals and 3 assists is a decent return – but he just hasn’t been able to force his way into City’s first XI for a prolonged period, essentially due to the excellent form of City’s other wide forwards such as Raheem Sterling and Bernardo Silva.

For a player who’s capable of so much more, this can’t have been what the Algerian expected when he made the move last summer.