Out comes the chequebook, up go the expectations; then down to earth come the fans. Here are the 50 worst signings made by Premier League clubs since its inception in 1992, based on the size of transfer fee and impact made by the player. Do you agree?
50 Stan Collymore, Liverpool to Aston Villa, £7m, May 1997
The striker scored just seven goals in 46 league appearances for the club he supported as a boy.
49 Khalid Boulahrouz, SV Hamburg to Chelsea, £7m, August 2006
The “Cannibal” has devoured only the weakest of Premier League opponents.
48 Eddie McGoldrick, Crystal Palace to Arsenal, £1m, June 1993
The Ireland winger was reunited with Ian Wright but could not supply crosses for his former Crystal Palace team-mate as he had done at Selhurst Park.
47 Mark Hateley, Rangers to Queens Park Rangers, £1.5m, November 1995
The England centre forward was a hero in Glasgow but the fans at the other Rangers did not take to him.
46 Darren Huckerby, Coventry City to Leeds United, £4m, August 1999
A world-beater on his day, the forward was not one of David O’Leary’s successes at Leeds.
45 Georgios Samaras, Heerenveen to Manchester City, £6m, January 2006
A lack of goals led to Stuart Pearce’s sacking as manager and the Greece striker was among the chief culprits.
44 Massimo Taibi, Venezia to Manchester United, £4.5m, August 1999
United splashed out in the hope of finding the next Peter Schmeichel, to no avail. The Italian goalkeeper lasted just four months.
43 Titus Bramble, Ipswich Town to Newcastle United, £5m, July 2002
Bramble looked like a future England player when at Ipswich but became a byword for calamitous defending at Newcastle.
42 Fernando Morientes, Real Madrid to Liverpool, £6.5m, January 2005
The striker who helped knock Chelsea out of the Champions League as an AS Monaco player failed to trouble English defences much while at Liverpool.
41 Francis Jeffers, Everton to Arsenal, £8m, June 2001
Signed as Arsene Wenger’s “fox in the box”, he was sold as a donkey in the box at a loss of £5.4m.
40 Michael Owen, Real Madrid to Newcastle United, £16m, August 2005
The English striker has fared reasonably well when fit but injuries mean Newcastle have yet to see anything like a decent return for their money.
39 Chris Kiwomya, Ipswich Town to Arsenal, £1.25m, January 1995
Signed in the dying days of George Graham’s reign and later allowed to leave for nothing.
38 Massimo Maccarone, Empoli to Middlesbrough, July 2002
Views on the Italian range from not picked enough to not good enough. Either way, 18 league goals in four years was a poor return for the striker, who was allowed to leave on a free transfer.
37 Gerry Creaney, Portsmouth to Manchester City, £1m, September 1995
The Scottish striker was a prolific scorer at Portsmouth but misfired at City.
36 Jon Dahl Tomasson, Heerenveen to Newcastle United, £2.5m, July 1997
Played as a striker rather than his more familiar attacking midfield role, the Dane was out of position and out of luck.
35 Ned Zelic, Borussia Dortmund to Queens Park Rangers, £1.25m, July 1995
Blamed the hard English ground for his injuries and quickly returned to Germany.
34 Dean Saunders, Galatasaray to Nottingham Forest, £1.5m, July 1996
The striker who specialised in relegations endured a barren run in front of goal as Forest plunged from the Premier League.
33 Eoin Jess, Aberdeen to Coventry City, £2m, February 1996
An unsuccessful spell at Highfield Road had the Scotsman scuttling back to Aberdeen for a third of the original transfer fee.
32 Paul Furlong, Watford to Chelsea, £2.3m
Chelsea would spend this on a team bus nowadays but it was their record transfer fee in 1994. The striker’s spell was characterised by howlers in front of goal.
31 Ramon Vega, Cagliari to Tottenham Hotspur, £3.5m, January 1997
The Switzerland central defender gave Tottenham fans countless nervous moments.
30 Salif Diao, Sedan to Liverpool, £5m, August 2002
Gerard Houllier, the Liverpool manager who signed the midfield player, compared him to Patrick Vieira. Well, he is tall and from Senegal, but otherwise...
29 Milan Baros, Liverpool to Aston Villa, £6.5m, August 2005
Nine goals in 42 league games was not what Villa had in mind when signing the Czech from Liverpool and they were happy to offload him to Lyons.
28 Faustino Asprilla, Parma to Newcastle United, £6.7m, February 1996
The Colombian was a fine player who enjoyed some good times at Newcastle but his mid-season arrival appeared to unbalance a team that had seemed destined for the Premier League title.
27 Kevin Davies, Southampton to Blackburn Rovers, £7.5m, June 1998
The burly striker is having more luck down the road at Bolton Wanderer but at Blackburn he managed just one goal in a whole league season.
26 Andriy Shevchenko, AC Milan to Chelsea, £30.8m, May 2006
The Ukrainian may yet justify his fee but so far his arrival has contributed little apart from prompting a change in formation that arguably hindered Chelsea last season.
25 Stephane Guivarc’h, Auxerre to Newcastle United, £3.5m, June 1998
The World Cup winners’ medal that the striker collected with France needed to be seen to be believed by frustrated Newcastle fans.
24 Glen Johnson, West Ham United to Chelsea, £6m, July 2003
The first signing of the Roman Abramovich era has still to establish himself four years and one loan spell at Portsmouth later.
23 Corrado Grabbi, Ternana to Blackburn Rovers, £6.75m, June 2001
The Italian striker scored two goals in 30 Premier League appearances. That’s £3.38m per goal.
22 Adrian Mutu, Parma to Chelsea, £15.8m, August 2003
As if six goals in 27 league games was not bad enough, the Romania striker was sacked after failing a drugs test for cocaine.
21 Tore Andre Flo, Rangers to Sunderland, £6.75m, August 2002
Four goals in 29 league appearances by the Norway striker helped Sunderland towards an ignominious relegation.
20 Joey Beauchamp, Oxford United to West Ham United, £1m, June 1994
The Oxford-born winger was so homesick after joining West Ham that he left two months later without playing a competitive game. He returned closer to his roots with a move to Swindon Town.
19 Hugo Viana, Sporting Lisbon to Newcastle United, £8.5m, June 2002
The young Portuguese midfield player spent most of his two years at the club on the bench.
18 Andrea Silenzi, Torino to Nottingham Forest, £1.8m, August 1995
The Italian striker was so poor that Forest allowed him to leave for nothing.
17 Florin Raducioiu, Espanyol to West Ham United, £2.4m, July 1996
Lasted only six months after missing training to go shopping.
16 Sasa Curcic, Bolton Wanderers to Aston Villa, £4m, August 1996
Fell out with Brian Little, the manager, amid accusations of a wild lifestyle off the pitch.
15 Alex Nyarko, Lens to Everton, £4.5m, July 2000
Complained that the English league was too physical. Walter Smith, his manager, appeared to side with the Everton fan who ran onto the pitch at Highbury to confront the Ghanaian over a supposed lack of effort.
14 Ade Akinbiyi, Wolverhampton Wanderers to Leicester City, £5m, July 2000
Known to some Leicester supporters as Ade Abadbiyi, he was lampooned by fans across the country for his desperate misses.
13 Chris Sutton, Blackburn Rovers to Chelsea, £10m, July 1999
The striker was a regular goalscorer with Norwich City, Blackburn and Celtic but never recovered from missing a couple of sitters on his debut for Chelsea, for whom he scored once in 28 Premier League appearances.
12 Jean-Alain Boumsong, Rangers to Newcastle United, £8m, January 2005
Somehow made it into France’s World Cup finals squad last year but Newcastle fans were relieved when the error-prone central defender left for Juventus.
11 Juan Sebastian Veron, Lazio to Manchester United, £28.1m, July 2001; United to Chelsea, £15m, August 2003
To spare the Argentinian from appearing twice, these two moves have been placed together. If anything, Chelsea’s signing was worse, given that they knew Veron had failed to adjust to English football.
10 Darko Kovacevic, Red Star Belgrade to Sheffield Wednesday, £2m, December 1995
The forward made no impression at Hillsborough but promptly became a prolific goalscorer in the Spanish league with Real Sociedad when he left.
9 Robert Fleck, Norwich to Chelsea, £2.1m, August 1992
The Scottish striker was a cult hero at Carrow Road but a carthorse at Stamford Bridge, where he scored five times in 40 league appearances.
8 Bosko Balaban, Dynamo Zagreb to Aston Villa, £6m, August 2001
The Croatia forward did not start a league game in his two and a half years at the club.
7 Sergei Rebrov, Dynamo Kiev to Tottenham Hotspur, £11.5m, June 2000
The player who formed an outstanding attacking partnership with Andriy Shevchenko at Dynamo Kiev lost his radar after joining Tottenham.
6 Marcelino, Real Mallorca to Newcastle United, £5m, June 1999
Dubbed the “lesser-spotted Magpie”, he played just 17 Premier League games in three and a half years at St James’ Park.
5 Steve Marlet, Lyons to Fulham, £11.5m, August 2001
The Frenchman provided just one goal per five league games, fell out with Chris Coleman over his refusal to play out of position and spent two years on loan to Marseilles.
4 Tomas Brolin, Parma to Leeds United, £4.3m, November 1995
Injury had left Brolin overweight and over the hill but Leeds paid well over the odds for the Sweden striker. He left two dismal years later when his contract was cancelled.
3 Albert Luque, Deportivo La Coruna to Newcastle United, £9.5m, August 2005
One of a host of expensive signings by Newcastle to have disappeared down a black and white hole. The Stevens Inquiry placed a question mark over the transfer and the rest of the world placed a question mark over why Newcastle bought him at all.
2 Valerien Ismael, Strasbourg to Crystal Palace, £2.75m, January 1998
Hopeless in South London, the French central defender has since won the German league and cup double both with Werder Bremen and Bayern Munich.
1 Per Kroldrup, Udinese to Everton, £5m, June 2005
Everton paid a fortune for the Denmark central defender but then showed no interest in actually playing him amid suggestions they had suddenly discovered he couldn’t head the ball. Made one league appearance before returning to Italy.
50 Stan Collymore, Liverpool to Aston Villa, £7m, May 1997
The striker scored just seven goals in 46 league appearances for the club he supported as a boy.
49 Khalid Boulahrouz, SV Hamburg to Chelsea, £7m, August 2006
The “Cannibal” has devoured only the weakest of Premier League opponents.
48 Eddie McGoldrick, Crystal Palace to Arsenal, £1m, June 1993
The Ireland winger was reunited with Ian Wright but could not supply crosses for his former Crystal Palace team-mate as he had done at Selhurst Park.
47 Mark Hateley, Rangers to Queens Park Rangers, £1.5m, November 1995
The England centre forward was a hero in Glasgow but the fans at the other Rangers did not take to him.
46 Darren Huckerby, Coventry City to Leeds United, £4m, August 1999
A world-beater on his day, the forward was not one of David O’Leary’s successes at Leeds.
45 Georgios Samaras, Heerenveen to Manchester City, £6m, January 2006
A lack of goals led to Stuart Pearce’s sacking as manager and the Greece striker was among the chief culprits.
44 Massimo Taibi, Venezia to Manchester United, £4.5m, August 1999
United splashed out in the hope of finding the next Peter Schmeichel, to no avail. The Italian goalkeeper lasted just four months.
43 Titus Bramble, Ipswich Town to Newcastle United, £5m, July 2002
Bramble looked like a future England player when at Ipswich but became a byword for calamitous defending at Newcastle.
42 Fernando Morientes, Real Madrid to Liverpool, £6.5m, January 2005
The striker who helped knock Chelsea out of the Champions League as an AS Monaco player failed to trouble English defences much while at Liverpool.
41 Francis Jeffers, Everton to Arsenal, £8m, June 2001
Signed as Arsene Wenger’s “fox in the box”, he was sold as a donkey in the box at a loss of £5.4m.
40 Michael Owen, Real Madrid to Newcastle United, £16m, August 2005
The English striker has fared reasonably well when fit but injuries mean Newcastle have yet to see anything like a decent return for their money.
39 Chris Kiwomya, Ipswich Town to Arsenal, £1.25m, January 1995
Signed in the dying days of George Graham’s reign and later allowed to leave for nothing.
38 Massimo Maccarone, Empoli to Middlesbrough, July 2002
Views on the Italian range from not picked enough to not good enough. Either way, 18 league goals in four years was a poor return for the striker, who was allowed to leave on a free transfer.
37 Gerry Creaney, Portsmouth to Manchester City, £1m, September 1995
The Scottish striker was a prolific scorer at Portsmouth but misfired at City.
36 Jon Dahl Tomasson, Heerenveen to Newcastle United, £2.5m, July 1997
Played as a striker rather than his more familiar attacking midfield role, the Dane was out of position and out of luck.
35 Ned Zelic, Borussia Dortmund to Queens Park Rangers, £1.25m, July 1995
Blamed the hard English ground for his injuries and quickly returned to Germany.
34 Dean Saunders, Galatasaray to Nottingham Forest, £1.5m, July 1996
The striker who specialised in relegations endured a barren run in front of goal as Forest plunged from the Premier League.
33 Eoin Jess, Aberdeen to Coventry City, £2m, February 1996
An unsuccessful spell at Highfield Road had the Scotsman scuttling back to Aberdeen for a third of the original transfer fee.
32 Paul Furlong, Watford to Chelsea, £2.3m
Chelsea would spend this on a team bus nowadays but it was their record transfer fee in 1994. The striker’s spell was characterised by howlers in front of goal.
31 Ramon Vega, Cagliari to Tottenham Hotspur, £3.5m, January 1997
The Switzerland central defender gave Tottenham fans countless nervous moments.
30 Salif Diao, Sedan to Liverpool, £5m, August 2002
Gerard Houllier, the Liverpool manager who signed the midfield player, compared him to Patrick Vieira. Well, he is tall and from Senegal, but otherwise...
29 Milan Baros, Liverpool to Aston Villa, £6.5m, August 2005
Nine goals in 42 league games was not what Villa had in mind when signing the Czech from Liverpool and they were happy to offload him to Lyons.
28 Faustino Asprilla, Parma to Newcastle United, £6.7m, February 1996
The Colombian was a fine player who enjoyed some good times at Newcastle but his mid-season arrival appeared to unbalance a team that had seemed destined for the Premier League title.
27 Kevin Davies, Southampton to Blackburn Rovers, £7.5m, June 1998
The burly striker is having more luck down the road at Bolton Wanderer but at Blackburn he managed just one goal in a whole league season.
26 Andriy Shevchenko, AC Milan to Chelsea, £30.8m, May 2006
The Ukrainian may yet justify his fee but so far his arrival has contributed little apart from prompting a change in formation that arguably hindered Chelsea last season.
25 Stephane Guivarc’h, Auxerre to Newcastle United, £3.5m, June 1998
The World Cup winners’ medal that the striker collected with France needed to be seen to be believed by frustrated Newcastle fans.
24 Glen Johnson, West Ham United to Chelsea, £6m, July 2003
The first signing of the Roman Abramovich era has still to establish himself four years and one loan spell at Portsmouth later.
23 Corrado Grabbi, Ternana to Blackburn Rovers, £6.75m, June 2001
The Italian striker scored two goals in 30 Premier League appearances. That’s £3.38m per goal.
22 Adrian Mutu, Parma to Chelsea, £15.8m, August 2003
As if six goals in 27 league games was not bad enough, the Romania striker was sacked after failing a drugs test for cocaine.
21 Tore Andre Flo, Rangers to Sunderland, £6.75m, August 2002
Four goals in 29 league appearances by the Norway striker helped Sunderland towards an ignominious relegation.
20 Joey Beauchamp, Oxford United to West Ham United, £1m, June 1994
The Oxford-born winger was so homesick after joining West Ham that he left two months later without playing a competitive game. He returned closer to his roots with a move to Swindon Town.
19 Hugo Viana, Sporting Lisbon to Newcastle United, £8.5m, June 2002
The young Portuguese midfield player spent most of his two years at the club on the bench.
18 Andrea Silenzi, Torino to Nottingham Forest, £1.8m, August 1995
The Italian striker was so poor that Forest allowed him to leave for nothing.
17 Florin Raducioiu, Espanyol to West Ham United, £2.4m, July 1996
Lasted only six months after missing training to go shopping.
16 Sasa Curcic, Bolton Wanderers to Aston Villa, £4m, August 1996
Fell out with Brian Little, the manager, amid accusations of a wild lifestyle off the pitch.
15 Alex Nyarko, Lens to Everton, £4.5m, July 2000
Complained that the English league was too physical. Walter Smith, his manager, appeared to side with the Everton fan who ran onto the pitch at Highbury to confront the Ghanaian over a supposed lack of effort.
14 Ade Akinbiyi, Wolverhampton Wanderers to Leicester City, £5m, July 2000
Known to some Leicester supporters as Ade Abadbiyi, he was lampooned by fans across the country for his desperate misses.
13 Chris Sutton, Blackburn Rovers to Chelsea, £10m, July 1999
The striker was a regular goalscorer with Norwich City, Blackburn and Celtic but never recovered from missing a couple of sitters on his debut for Chelsea, for whom he scored once in 28 Premier League appearances.
12 Jean-Alain Boumsong, Rangers to Newcastle United, £8m, January 2005
Somehow made it into France’s World Cup finals squad last year but Newcastle fans were relieved when the error-prone central defender left for Juventus.
11 Juan Sebastian Veron, Lazio to Manchester United, £28.1m, July 2001; United to Chelsea, £15m, August 2003
To spare the Argentinian from appearing twice, these two moves have been placed together. If anything, Chelsea’s signing was worse, given that they knew Veron had failed to adjust to English football.
10 Darko Kovacevic, Red Star Belgrade to Sheffield Wednesday, £2m, December 1995
The forward made no impression at Hillsborough but promptly became a prolific goalscorer in the Spanish league with Real Sociedad when he left.
9 Robert Fleck, Norwich to Chelsea, £2.1m, August 1992
The Scottish striker was a cult hero at Carrow Road but a carthorse at Stamford Bridge, where he scored five times in 40 league appearances.
8 Bosko Balaban, Dynamo Zagreb to Aston Villa, £6m, August 2001
The Croatia forward did not start a league game in his two and a half years at the club.
7 Sergei Rebrov, Dynamo Kiev to Tottenham Hotspur, £11.5m, June 2000
The player who formed an outstanding attacking partnership with Andriy Shevchenko at Dynamo Kiev lost his radar after joining Tottenham.
6 Marcelino, Real Mallorca to Newcastle United, £5m, June 1999
Dubbed the “lesser-spotted Magpie”, he played just 17 Premier League games in three and a half years at St James’ Park.
5 Steve Marlet, Lyons to Fulham, £11.5m, August 2001
The Frenchman provided just one goal per five league games, fell out with Chris Coleman over his refusal to play out of position and spent two years on loan to Marseilles.
4 Tomas Brolin, Parma to Leeds United, £4.3m, November 1995
Injury had left Brolin overweight and over the hill but Leeds paid well over the odds for the Sweden striker. He left two dismal years later when his contract was cancelled.
3 Albert Luque, Deportivo La Coruna to Newcastle United, £9.5m, August 2005
One of a host of expensive signings by Newcastle to have disappeared down a black and white hole. The Stevens Inquiry placed a question mark over the transfer and the rest of the world placed a question mark over why Newcastle bought him at all.
2 Valerien Ismael, Strasbourg to Crystal Palace, £2.75m, January 1998
Hopeless in South London, the French central defender has since won the German league and cup double both with Werder Bremen and Bayern Munich.
1 Per Kroldrup, Udinese to Everton, £5m, June 2005
Everton paid a fortune for the Denmark central defender but then showed no interest in actually playing him amid suggestions they had suddenly discovered he couldn’t head the ball. Made one league appearance before returning to Italy.
