The XI at 11: Most expensive flops
by Adam Marshall, 25 July 2008
Anyone can waste money if it's somebody else's. Just ask David O'Leary.
Many, many lists have been compiled about the biggest misuse of cash in The Premier League and, yes, Marcelino is always on them.
Well not this one. Okay, he cost £5 million and was utterly useless to Newcastle United but that was small change compared to the millions squandered on these so-called stars.
Working backwards from the biggest fee, this is our top 11 most expensive flops. Let us know, as always, why you disagree.
1. Andriy Shevchenko, Milan to Chelsea £30.8m
It is hard to believe that, when the Ukrainian assassin signed for Chelsea, he was expected to make the best unbeatable. He may have hinted at some kind of fading talent when missing the crucial penalty for the Rossoneri in the Champions League final defeat to Liverpool but after unlocking the best defences in Serie A, it was anticipated that he would blow English backlines apart. The fact that Milan think they can sign him back on a free says it all about Roman Abramovich, sorry Jose Mourinho's worst signing.
2. Juan Sebastian Veron, Lazio to Man United £28.1m.
In 2001, the Argentina playmaker was one of the classiest players in Europe. Sir Alex Ferguson had long admired the South American's precision passing and broke the bank to pull off what still seems an unlikely capture. After a bright start, he flopped badly and one careless error effectively ended United's title challenge at home to Middlesbrough. Rumour has it Roy Keane, sidelined that day, pinned him up against the wall in the dressing room in anger. The Sunderland boss does now confess he was too harsh on Veron. Probably not, but at least Chelsea kindly refunded £15 million of the outlay two years later.
3. Nicolas Anelka, Arsenal to Real Madrid £22.3m
In the summer of 1999, after Arsenal narrowly missed out to Manchester United in the title race, this was the classic bid you cannot refuse. Real, desperately trying to live up to their world's biggest club tag, performed their now annual unsettling techniques to get Anelka and his entourage into the Madrid mindset. Arsene Wenger banked the cash after snapping up the young forward as a rough diamond from PSG and it is impossible to argue against the decision as the Frenchman flopped at the Bernabeu.
4. Shaun Wright-Phillips, Man City to Chelsea £21m
The England speedster might yet come good but everybody knows he should have joined Arsenal, his natural path after step-dad Ian Wright's achieved legendary status in North London. Instead, Chelsea blew their capital rivals out of the market in 2005, even though they did not need the double-barrelled danger-man and barely played him. He has since been used regularly to highlight how expensive substitutes' benches are these days but charitable Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp may rescue him this summer.
5. Jose Antonio Reyes, Sevilla to Arsenal £17.4m
This was no January panic buy in 2004, Reyes looked the real deal and Arsenal usurped some of La Liga's biggest clubs to bring the Spanish wide man to Highbury. If ever a player was not suited to the hurly-burly of The Premier League it was this Iberian attacker who was kicked out of games, especially when the Nevilles were on the opposition side. In a bid to prove he was no pushover, he became only the second player ever to be sent off in an FA Cup final when getting a red card against United in Cardiff. It is probably all he will be remembered for in the record books in many years to come.
6. Hernan Crespo, Inter to Chelsea £16.8m
If you blow a billionaire's money does it count as a waste? Chelsea fans will answer this question as Crespo was ridiculously expensive and, despite sporting curly locks and the classic look of a South American, he was another player never suited to England. Some will argue his goals record stands up but most of his plundering was done against brow-beaten opposition and the fact that he has been off-loaded from the wage bill in various loan deals tells everything you need to know about his lack of impact.
7. Darren Bent, Charlton to Tottenham £16.5m
A good season in the top flight with The Addicks saw Bent's stock rise but nobody seriously valued him at this sort of price. Except Spurs that is. Although he had looked set to join West Ham, only to snub his old boss Alan Curbishley, and then to deny that was the case, Charlton did superbly to wait for somebody with even bigger pockets to come calling. That said, if Dimitar Berbatov and Robbie Keane secure their exits from White Hart Lane this summer, with Jermain Defoe already flogged to Portsmouth, he could be leading the line for Juande Ramos next term. There's a sobering thought for Spurs supporters.
8. Adrian Mutu, Parma to Chelsea £15.8m
£15.8 million is a lot of dough. Arsenal have reportedly spent the same amount on Samir Nasri. They will expect a better return from the Marseille midfielder than Chelsea got for Mutu. Apparently, he was a bit arrogant, it is fair to say. He used to park his flash motor on double-yellow lines each night and give the keys to a youth-teamer to go and pick it up and pay the fine when it was towed away. Well, he could afford to. Which is surprising seeing as he had a bit of a cocaine habit which led to him being sacked by Chelsea and seeing his career lay in ruins. Back en vogue these days in Italy, largely for doing the decent thing by missing a penalty for Romania that would have handed the Azzurri an early exit from the European Championship.
9. Djibril Cisse, Auxerre to Liverpool £14m
We could have put Veron in this list twice but that would be unnecessary and a little boring. And we do not want to put too many of Roman's daft signings up here if you catch our drift. Billionaires tend to make powerful enemies. Anyhow, the abiding memory of Cisse's Anfield stay, apart from his ridiculous haircuts and tattoos, was his grotesquely broken leg at Blackburn. He bounced back okay and did score in the FA Cup final against West Ham but was too busy becoming a lord of the manor off the pitch to worry about scoring goals on it. Perhaps it can be argued he was always up against it after being bought by Gerard Houllier but only playing under Rafa Benitez. El Hadj Diouf and Salif Diao had already done the damage for the French coach.
10.Jonathan Woodgate, Newcastle to Real Madrid £13.4m
We like Woody, he's undoubtedly a quality defender. But he doesn't really play much and was one of Real's worst value buys, which is certainly something. The fact he celebrated his first goal for the club with the physio is all you need to know about the injury-prone stopper who managed to finally get match-fit in time to move back to England. Little wonder Brits have such bad reputation when getting transfers abroad - he played only nine matches in three years for the Madrid giants.
11.Robbie Keane, Coventry to Inter £13m
In July, 2000, the Republic of Ireland striker had done enough to catch the eye of Inter's scouts and was whisked away to Milan dreaming of a new life in Italy. We are not sure what went wrong but, by December of the same year, yes less than six months, he was heading back to the UK and relieving Leeds of some of the money burning a hole in O'Leary's pocket. Inter only took a £1 million loss on the striker but it gets onto our list to spare us including the £11.5 million Fulham coughed up for Lyon's Steve Marlet because that is another of those deals that always features in such lists. At least Coventry did not waste the fee either.