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Deadline day: one of the most dreaded days for football clubs across two mandatory transfer windows. It's a day where important squad players might drop huge transfer bombs, announcing their intention to leave the club.
And alongside all the last-minute drama is the crisis of filing massive paperwork against a race with the transfer deadline.
Yet transfer deadline day stands out as a remarkably fortuitous day for snatching cut-price deals. All with a big risk.
Clubs don't have as much time to delve into researching whether or not the player fits their style and it all comes down to the value they're getting on the market.
On that note, let's take a look at the top five transfer deadline-day signings who flopped.
#5 David Luiz to Arsenal (£8m)
Rash challenges and giving away meaningless penalties. Do these two things remind you of a Brazilian defender who was at one time the most expensive central defender that PSG signed? Well, it's David Luiz, but it's the 32-year-old version of him that Arsenal snapped up on the 2019 summer deadline day for an £8m fee from Chelsea.
Luiz was signed as an option who would not only bring some much-needed experience to a relatively young side but also as a player who would often help rotate the core team players. Yet David Luiz ended up being one of the first names on the sheet as Arsenal's main defenders picked up injuries. Subsequently, the Brazilian got enough game time.
A record that sums up his time at Arsenal, you ask? How about becoming the player with a record of having conceded the most number of penalties in a single season. Surely, Luiz was a signing that flopped for Mikel Arteta.
#4 Marouane Fellaini to Manchester United (£27.5m)
A signing from the doomed Moyes era for football giants Manchester United. Fellaini was one of Everton's standout performers from previous seasons and a trusted player who learned his trade under David Moyes. The midfielder created chances all around the pitch and played with an attitude that saw him put his body on the line.
Marouane Fellaini then signed for Manchester United on the summer deadline day of 2013 for a reported £27.5m fee from Everton. But he soon became a signing that is surely enough to embarrass United's transfer dealings from the post-Ferguson era.
With inconsistent and repeated sub-par performances he definitely did not live up to his reputation at Old Trafford. However, as Jose Mourinho's stint started at the club, Marouane Fellaini seemed to improve and started delivering bit by bit.
But he will still be largely seen as a signing who flopped for Manchester United after leaving the club in January 2019.
#3 Radamel Falcao to Manchester United (loan)
Radamel Falcao was signed as a player with an unmatched reputation for his performances across La Liga and the Europa league competition. He was the one signing Manchester United had hoped would click for them as they wrapped him up on a loan deal for an estimated £6m loan fee from Monaco. Furthermore, an option to buy him permanently for £43.5 million at the end of the season was included in the contract too.
But he was a mere bench-warmer under then United manager Louis van Gaal. Falcao, a player seen as an option to augment United's illustrious attack, struggled massively with fitness issues. At one point, Van Gaal even demoted Falcao to the club's under-21 side.
Radamel Falcao goes on to be on our list as the second United signing and #3 out of top five deadline day signings who flopped.
#2 Andy Carroll to Liverpool (£35m)
Andy Carroll was an English striker widely tipped to have a bright future ahead even by the likes of legends such as Gianluigi Buffon, against whom he scored (albeit in a friendly). He was once set to be one of England's leading number nines as Liverpool signed him on 2011 winter transfer deadline day.
A package worth £35 million was paid to Newcastle for the player's services as Liverpool looked to replace the departing Fernando Torres. It was the amount that made him the most expensive British footballer at the time.
Andy Carroll was a signing that proved to be nowhere near fruitful for the price Liverpool paid for him. The promise of his youth and goalscoring ability surely did not pay off across his time at Anfield.
#1 Fernando Torres to Chelsea (£50m)
A thunderous striker in his prime for Liverpool. A record 81 goals in only 142 appearances for the Reds - almost a cult signing for the club. Well, almost, as Fernando Torres' extraordinary performance in front of goal convinced Chelsea to pull the trigger on a £50m deal during the 2011 January transfer window.
After much effort to keep him at Anfield, the player finally handed in a transfer request that saw him move to the Blues. It was a deal which saw him become the sixth-most expensive signing in the history of football at the time. He came in with the promise of being the goal-scoring machine he was known for during his time with the Reds. Yet he could only manage a handful of top performances for Chelsea.
Although Torres never lived up to the transfer fee Chelsea paid for him, he came in handy with goals across several competitions for Chelsea. One of the most memorable goals that he scored was the one in the last minute of the Champions League semi-final against Barcelona in 2012.
