My Top Transfer Flops (3/3)

Steve Marlet

Lyon to Fulham in 2001 for 11.5 Million

When France forward Marlet arrived, he said “It’s a fantastic offer for any player and too good to refuse.” in other words ”I can’t turn down a big pay day”! It took Marlet over 4 months to score his first goal for Fulham and he ended with a tally of just 11 Premier League strikes in two seasons.

Looking back at the performances put in by Marlet it shows he was not particularly quick, not particularly strong, not particularly skilful and not particularly good.

His disastrous spell ended in litigation, as Fulham owner Mohamed Al Fayed refused to pay the final instalment of Marlet’s fee, accusing manager Jean Tigana of deliberately inflating his price. Well that to me is just the biggest after timing ever! ”Ah I have paid too much for a crap player” well you have to just wear it Sir. Fayed was made to pay up and Marlet goes down as the biggest flop in Fulham history.

Bosko Balaban

Dinamo Zagreb to Aston Villa in 2000 for 5.8 Million

Was there ever a more useless signing than Aston Villa’s Croatian striker? Two and a half years, nine appearances, 0 goals. Easily the worst £5.8 million Aston Villa have ever spent.

Balaban is another player who falls into the category of looking good in a bad league then not been able to step up to the next level of the Premiership. Bosko Balaban made the list of 50 worst footballers ever in the Times Newspaper in 2007. In his defence, Balaban has scored plenty at all of his other clubs and complained that he wasn’t given enough of a chance at Villa.

Then again, the stats speak for themselves and 5.8 Million is crazy for a striker who didn’t net one goal over a two and a half year period!

Fernando Torres

Liverpool to Chelsea in 2010 for 50 Million

As the sixth most expensive footballer ever, behind Ronaldo, Zidane, Imbrahimovic, Kaka and Figo, Torres can’t avoid people calling him a flop. He has made 67 appearances for Chelsea netting only 12 goals over a two year period. He is regarded by most football fans as the biggest Premier League flop of all time.

It’s hard to believe as he was so prolific for Liverpool with 65 Premiership goals in 102 appearances. Messi scored more hat tricks this season than Torres did league goals! It’s not fair to compare people to Lionel Messi but remember Torres is a 50 Million pound player and must be judged accordingly.

He went 903 minutes in a Chelsea shirt before scoring a single goal and when he finally got it didn’t really ”kick on”. There is a long way to go in the Torres saga and it would not be the biggest shock if he found his form once again and proved a lot of doubters wrong next term, but until then he is firmly placed on the list of shame as a massive flop.

Andy Carroll

Newcastle to Liverpool in 2010 for 35 Million

This shouldn’t come as a surprise to most, as Liverpool panic bought the relatively unproven Newcastle forward. Yes he had a great spell in the Championship with Newcastle netting 17 goals from 39 league appearances and had a decent Premiership season with Newcastle too but 35 Million? Really?

Carroll is the 8th most expensive footballer of all time, and with 42 games for Liverpool in the Prem returning just 6 goals, it’s an obvious choice for the list of Premiership flops. I am not saying Andy Carroll is a bad player or will never become a better player but what I am saying is that at 35 Million it is one of the biggest wastes of money I have seen.

English players a massively overpriced in the Premiership as we know but my god 35 Million for an unproven talent is crazy! Will Andy be given the chance to set things right this year at Anfield or will he be shipped back off to Tyneside before he gets the chance?

Juan Sebastian Veron

Lazio to Manchester United in 2001 for 28 Million

Veron was seen as the man to take Manchester United to the next level and Veron’s 2001 transfer fee was a huge 28 Million. He arrived to the premier league with enormous expectations after signing from Lazio.

Once he made his debut it was easy to see he was slow off the mark, wasteful in possession, shocking in the air and clueless at the back. It was quite clear Veron just wasn’t cut out for the Premier League or perhaps football for that matter.

Not only was he a Premier League flop at Manchester United but just to be 100% sure he was as crap as everyone thought he was Chelsea decided to waste 15 Million on him to give him another shot. After 7 league appearances they decided everyone was right and Veron was sent on his way with his pockets full.

Massive Premiership flop and in all honesty he didn’t do much good anywhere else either!