Top 10 Transfer Deadline Day Flops
Fans around the country will be hoping that their club will have a thrilling transfer deadline day and bring in a star player to change their season. However, before you demand action in the market have a look at these 10 flops that made moves just before the transfer window slammed shut.
10. Paul Konchesky – Fulham to Liverpool 2010
The England international was a very solid performer at left-back for Fulham but became the target of some serious hatred at Anfield during Roy Hodgson’s regime at Liverpool. He only cost around £4million but for his 15 league appearances in red this still represented poor value for money.
9. Andre Santos – Fenerbahce to Arsenal 2011
The “left-back” will be seen as many as the archetypal Brazilian defender, i.e. he has no interest whatsoever in defending. The Brazil international became something of a figure of fun with his hapless performances for the Gunners and has since been shipped back to Brazil.
8. Roman Pavlyuchenko – Spartak Moscow to Tottenham Hotspur 2008
Maybe not quite as disastrous as some others on this list but after joining for a fee of £13.7million it is safe to say that more was expected of the Russian. He never really secured a regular place in the starting line-up at White Hart Lane and returned to Russia with a worsened reputation.
7. Dario Silva – Sevilla to Portsmouth 2005
After scoring plenty of goals in Serie A, La Liga and for the Uruguayan national side there was plenty expected of Silva but he completely failed to hit the ground running at Fratton Park. He scored a couple of times in his year-long stay before heading for the exit door.
6. Lassana Diarra – Chelsea to Arsenal 2007
It is fair to say that the French midfielder has had an up and down career and this was one of his poorer moves as he went from making very little impact at Stamford Bridge to making none at all at Arsenal. He lasted less than a year before he moved on to Portsmouth.
5. Alexander Hleb – Barcelona to Birmingham 2010
It looked like something of a star signing for the Blues but it turned out to be quite the opposite as the Belarusian suffered an injury plagued season at St Andrews during which he rarely showed his best form. He then said he would not be staying at the club as he didn’t like their style of play.
4. Xisco – Deportivo La Couna to Newcastle 2008
A cool £5.7million was spent on the Spanish striker who had plenty of promise but it all remained unfulfilled at St James’ as he managed just one goal for the club in a stay that somehow lasted five years, although the majority of this was spent away on loan.
3. Danny Graham – Swansea to Sunderland 2013
The Black Cats shelled out £5million for Graham’s services in January as they desperately needed fire power to keep them in the Premier League. The former Swansea man’s 11 appearances yielded no goals and he has since moved to Hull on loan.
2. Christopher Samba – Anzhi to QPR 2013
Harry Redknapp’s desperate attempts to keep QPR in the Premier League included splurging £12.5million on central defender Christopher Samba in January and agreeing to pay him a wage packet almost the same size as the Congolese player. He played poorly, Rangers went down and then he returned to Russia.
1. Andy Carroll – Newcastle to Liverpool 2011
Many still find it quite hard to understand why Liverpool felt it necessary to make Carroll the most expensive British player of all time with their £35million bid to Newcastle, but they did. 11 goals in 58 games was hardly what they were after before selling him to West Ham for less than half the price.
