Worst signings of the season 08/09

LuckyLloyd

Pighead wrote: »

Saha for Everton. It was a risky buy that hasn't paid off. The glassman has spent his usual 3/4 of the season on the sidelines with his feet up.

He's on a pay per play deal. Good business imo.

JPA

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

He's on a pay per play deal. Good business imo.

I bet they pay his doctor fees though.

That_Guy

JPA wrote: »

I bet they pay his doctor fees though.

He's probably on minus wages now.

adox

Cant look past Bentley.

Samurai

Samurai wrote: »

Heskey

Take that back.

He is so like Zidane it hurts. Graceful and a privilege to watch......

Gotta be Xisco for me.

That_Guy wrote: »

Jimmy Bullard. Great player and all but that must be gutting for Hull.

He's been injured ^

That_Guy

Deleted User wrote: »

He's been injured ^

Exactly. First game he plays he gets injured for the season. Unlucky signing.

That_Guy

That_Guy wrote: »

Exactly. First game he plays he gets injured for the season. Unlucky signing.

Yeah true in that regard. Just don't like labelling him as a bad signing because he is a work horse & good player.

Boggles

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

He's on a pay per play deal. Good business imo.

You sure about that?

Pighead

jesus_thats_gre wrote: »

It was on a free and he gets paid per appearance..

LuckyLloyd wrote: »

He's on a pay per play deal. Good business imo.

Ah never realised that.. Not bad business so. Although I'm pretty sure there was a fee involved between the two clubs?

jesus_thats_gre

Pighead wrote: »

Ah never realised that.. Not bad business so. Although I'm pretty sure there was a fee involved between the two clubs?

I could actually be the retarded one.. It may not have been a free transfer.

edit: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/premier_league/everton/article4636267.ece

David Moyes, the Everton manager, believes that Saha is well worth a gamble. “Louis is a good centre forward who has a bit of everything,” Moyes said. “He can run, head the ball and score goals and he hasn’t cost us any money.

“There will be some money after he’s played some games, but there is no initial outlay and he has to play before we pay. He has had his injury problems, but if he had been playing every game, we wouldn’t be getting him for next to nothing.

Boggles

I suppose it would make sense having a pay as you play contract for the guy, afterall he did arrive for his medical in an ambulance. :pac:

GLaDOS

Was an undisclosed fee http://www.evertonfc.com/player-profile/louis-saha

Esse85

Cuellar @£;7.8m
Sidwell @£;5m
Shorey @£;5.5m
Heskey @£;3.5m

All have proved to be a big waste of money so far.

MementoMori

Elmander £10m 5 goals in 1932 mins (21 and a bit games)
Goals came against Stoke, Boro, Sunderland (2) and Villa

Deco £8m 3 goals 1927 mins (21 and a bit games) One Red Card

Bosingwa £16.2m for a defender - hasn’t really impressed me

Andy Johnson £10.5m for 7 goals in 2534 mins (28 games) Fulham’s record signing by some distance

Bullard £5m Hull - Previous record signing was £2.5m; rumours about his medical and the fact that the rest of Hull’s squad cost a total of £15m to assemble

Wayne Bridge £12m - Also hasn’t impressed me

Robinho £32.5m - how many games without a goal in a row

Berbatov £30.75m - Hasn’t impressed

David Bentley £15m - Comparing last year's form to this show just had bad things have got for him

Pavlyunchenko £14m - Doesn't look like a value signing

Savio for West Ham £9m Club record signing - has 227 mins no goals, 1 assist - still young

I think it’s between Savio, Pav, Boswinga, Deco and Elmander

SlickRic

MementoMori wrote: »

Elmander £10m 5 goals in 1932 mins (21 and a bit games)
Goals came against Stoke, Boro, Sunderland (2) and Villa

Deco £8m 3 goals 1927 mins (21 and a bit games) One Red Card

Bosingwa £16.2m for a defender - hasn’t really impressed me

Andy Johnson £10.5m for 7 goals in 2534 mins (28 games) Fulham’s record signing by some distance

Bullard £5m Hull - Previous record signing was £2.5m; rumours about his medical and the fact that the rest of Hull’s squad cost a total of £15m to assemble

Wayne Bridge £12m - Also hasn’t impressed me

Robinho £32.5m - how many games without a goal in a row

Berbatov £30.75m - Hasn’t impressed

David Bentley £15m - Comparing last year's form to this show just had bad things have got for him

Pavlyunchenko £14m - Doesn't look like a value signing

Savio for West Ham £9m Club record signing - has 227 mins no goals, 1 assist - still young

I think it’s between Savio, Pav, Boswinga, Deco and Elmander

imo having any of the ones in bold as 'worst signings' is a bit harsh. they have been, at worst, merely ok.

xisco and bentley jointly win this. no contest outside of them.
deco gets an honourable mention from me too.
and from my own club, Phillip Degen, I know people have said that you're at Anfield, but i'm becoming more and more convinced that those people were hallucinating.

Mr Alan

Berbatov hasn't been "at worst" ok, he has "at worst" been an embarrasment to the game

Think fulham away, getting hauled off at half time, cause after Scholes sending off they couldn't afford to play with 8 men, and Ronaldo is the one who's allowed do nothing!

CHD

LOL at saying Boswingwa.


Berbatov wins imo

MementoMori

SlickRic wrote: »

imo having any of the ones in bold as 'worst signings' is a bit harsh. they have been, at worst, merely ok.

xisco and bentley jointly win this. no contest outside of them.
deco gets an honourable mention from me too.
and from my own club, Phillip Degen, I know people have said that you're at Anfield, but i'm becoming more and more convinced that those people were hallucinating.

Probably true about the ones in bold - more a case of failing to live up to their transfer fees.

On the whole Degen thing - he has an identical twin who is a professional footballer as well - I'm nearly positive that Phillip and David are just one person picking up two wage packets - one in England and one in Switzerland.

Xisco cost £5.7m Bentley £15m - advantage (if that's the rigth word) Bentley I think between those two

SlickRic

Mr Alan wrote: »

Berbatov hasn't been "at worst" ok, he has "at worst" been an embarrasment to the game

Think fulham away, getting hauled off at half time, cause after Scholes sending off they couldn't afford to play with 8 men, and Ronaldo is the one who's allowed do nothing!

do you really believe he's been an embarrassment?? arguably maybe one or two instances like the one you mentioned, but not overall. he just hasn't lived up to the hype. it doesn't mean he's been consistently embarrassing.

believe me, i've been in the utd forum arguing that berbatov hasn't been up to standard, so i'm no huge fan, but he's nowhere near the worst signing of the season. not even close.

Mr Alan

SlickRic wrote: »

do you really believe he's been an embarrassment?? he just hasn't lived up to the hype. it doesn't mean he's been embarrassing.

believe me, i've been in the utd forum arguing that berbatov hasn't been up to standard, so i'm no huge fan, but he's nowhere near worst signing of the season. not even close.

For the money paid for him & what was expected, imo, he should be considered.

and yes i think he has been truly embarrasing at times this season.

SlickRic

Mr Alan wrote: »

For the money paid for him & what was expected, imo, he should be considered.

and yes i think he has been truly embarrasing at times this season.

fair enough. we'll agree to disagree on him.

i stand by the fact there's many more candidates worthy of the 'worst signing' tag though.

carlop

Elmander is a decent shout, when you consider that Bolton don't exactly have that much money to be wasting.

JPA

I actually forgot about Elmander. That probably says it all.

Seemed like a weird signing at the time and proved right.

shano_88

in fairness savio hasnt been given a proper go off it yet. he was bought more because of his potential than for this season. A bit premature labelling him one of the worst signings of the season.......

newballsplease

Deco
Jo (before he moved to everton, i know he wasnt really given a chance)
Bentley

Xavi6

Can't believe Robinho got mentioned. Feckin hell, if it wasn't for his 12 Premiership goals we'd be hovering about relegation.

Worst signing? Not by a long, long way.

Mitch Connor

Mr Alan wrote: »

Berbatov hasn't been "at worst" ok, he has "at worst" been an embarrasment to the game

Think fulham away, getting hauled off at half time, cause after Scholes sending off they couldn't afford to play with 8 men, and Ronaldo is the one who's allowed do nothing!

Such a stupid statement. How about the FHACT he got 'hauled' off at half time because he was injured, and subsequently missed the internal games because of that injury. But no, the injury had nothing to do with it, eh Al, doesn't suit you, does it Al?

Highsider

If Rafa had spent 30m+ on Berbatov and his performances where of the same level of this season he would get slaughtered by the fans and press. Why not the same for ferguson? imo he is the worst signing of the season bar none.

SWAR

Andre Arshavan...looks crap!

On a serious note, probably Bentley. Although he was played out of position (on the left) at the start of the season and Lennon has been excellent of late. They didn't need him in the first place and I thought at the time they paid too much for him.

kida

Mitch Connor wrote: »

Such a stupid statement. How about the FHACT he got 'hauled' off at half time because he was injured, and subsequently missed the internal games because of that injury. But no, the injury had nothing to do with it, eh Al, doesn't suit you, does it Al?

v true, but don't let the facts get in the way of his opinion.

Xavi6

Highsider wrote: »

If Rafa had spent 30m+ on Berbatov and his performances where of the same level of this season he would get slaughtered by the fans and press. Why not the same for ferguson? imo he is the worst signing of the season bar none.

But Rafa hasn't signed him. Berbatov doesn't, and probably will never, have anything to do with Liverpool so your above whining is completely hypothetical and therefore pointless.

And people wonder how every thread gets turned into United v Liverpool :rolleyes:

Frisbee

MementoMori wrote: »

Robinho £32.5m - how many games without a goal in a row

Zero

Mitch Connor

Frisbee wrote: »

Zero

so he has scored in every game he has played in this season - should be on that PFA Player of the Year list so.

joe123

Ones that spring to mind are

Man United : Berbatov. 32 million and hes been pretty damn awful imo.

Liverpool: Dossena. Enough said about him.
Robbie Keane. Didnt get a fair chance imo but has to be included.

Others would be Quaresma,Deco,Bentley.

Im sure theres loads more....

Jazzy

F365's take on it:

10) Nicky Shorey (£2.5m to Aston Villa)
To be fair there are a few candidates for this list in the Villa squad as Steve Sidwell and Carlos Cuellar have hardly set the Premier League alight for their combined £12.8m, but we at F365 have been particularly amused by Shorey's move to Villa to provide cover and competition for the injured Wilfred Bouma. He was so underwhelming in the role that the manager preferred to play two players out of position (including Luke Young on the left) rather than call on the former England international. He's back in the side now, but we don't think Bouma will be too worried.


9) Fabricio Coloccini (£10.3m to Newcastle)
Hands up who thinks that the player who was given an absolute (if we were Alan Pardew we would say something different here) shoeing by Liverpool in a five-goal mauling in December, or was made to look like an amateur by Chelsea earlier this month, was a sensible £10m-plus investment. Nobody? Not even Dennis Wise? The Argentine has been rescued time and time again by the inexpensive Sebastien Bassong all season and undoubtedly he will slope off back to Spain in the summer as Newcastle prepare for a season in the Championship.


8) Borja Valero (£4.7m to West Brom)
A promoted club obviously has limited funds so that money has to be spent wisely and sensibly, usually on experienced campaigners. Unless you're West Brom, of course, who broke their transfer record to spend £4.7m on a relatively unknown 23-year-old Spaniard who had plied his trade exclusively for Real Mallorca. Unsurprisingly, it has not gone brilliantly well and Valero was last seen being urged by Jonathan Greening to stay and learn his trade in the Championship. How well do we think that suggestion will go down?


7) Robbie Keane (£20m to Liverpool)
Keane would be higher up this list had Liverpool not recouped a good whack of that money already, but the Anfield club still paid around a £1m a month to have Keane in their ranks for half a season. We haven't got space here to go into the whys and wherefores of the deal (did Rafa ever want him? Did he ever get a real chance?) but the upshot is that Liverpool paid £20m for a striker who did not deliver, and that makes him a shoo-in for this list.


6) Dave Kitson (£5.5m to Stoke City)
"I hold my hands up - it was my fault. I made the decision to go to Stoke, I didn't have to, no-one forced me to go, and it was a bad decision," sayd Kitson, who ended the season back at Reading on loan with no goals and a new nickname (Dave S***son) the only thing he had to show for his sojourn in Stoke. It had been a disaster for both club and player, though Tony Pulis more than made up for his mistake when he spent less than half the that club-record amount to sign James Beattie - a striker far, far better suited to Stoke's style.


5) Andrea Dossena (£7m to Liverpool)
Apart from bringing him off the bench during a rout to score a cracking goal in a 'look how bad you are, even Dossena can score against you' stylee, it's difficult to see what value Dossena brings to Liverpool for his £7m. Just like the majority of the F365 editorial staff, the Italian looks 'prone to fat' and has struggled with any semblance of pace. Rafa Benitez may be a master tactician, but paying £7m for a third-choice left-back proves that there are still things he needs to learn.


4) Deco (£8m to Chelsea)
Hands up, we were among the media bods saying back in September that Deco might well be the missing piece in the Chelsea jigsaw after he set off at a canter for the Blues. We should have listened to followers of his career in Spain who warned that he would soon lose interest and the old, lazy attitude would return. Fast-forward a few months and the Portugeezer is just a bit-part player - his last 'bit' was his cameo off the bench when Bolton almost came back from a 4-0 deficit - and he's quite likely to be moved on again in the summer. Probably not for £8m, mind.


3) Jimmy Bullard (£5m to Hull)
As a statement of intent and a PR exercise, it's easy to see Hull's logic in doling out big money on one of England's favourite footballers. But spending £5m on a 30-year-old player - with reported £45,000-a-week wages over a massive four-and-a-half year deal to boot - with a history of knee problems looks frankly a bit mental. Ths sum total of his efforts for Hull so far? 38 minutes of football in a battle for survival that the Tigers could very well lose.


2) Jo (£19m to Manchester City)
If we'd done this list back in January, we might have speculated that Jo was unsuited to Premier League football. We might have lumped him in with Afonso Alves as the most recent examples of Brazilian strikers who fail to adapt to English football. But David Moyes would have made us look as foolish as Mark Hughes, who failed to coax more than one goal out of a player who has already scored five for the Toffees. Manchester City's owners may not care a jot about the money - after all he only cost about a tenth of a Kaka - but they probably care that their manager looks a tad daft.


1) David Bentley (£15m to Tottenham)
Oh lordy, where did it all go wrong? The move to Spurs was supposed to cement his place as England's first-choice right-winger, and instead the only team he's guaranteed to play for is Tottenham's reserve side. To be fair, he's clearly found his level because he's been in fine scoring fettle for the stiffs, but that's probably not what Daniel Levy had in mind when he signed a cheque for a massive £15m last summer. Harry Redknapp said back in January that if "we can get him going we can have a terrific player again". As he's since played 19 minutes of Premier League football, we assume that 'Arry's plan has backfired somewhat.

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hard to argue with them really. i notice the lack of berbatov and i agree. hes just a hate figure among utd haters and certain sects of utd supporters. ppl tend to over exaggerate about him.. in reality hes a very good football player

eagle eye

Chong wrote: »

Paul Robinson - Blackburn
Younes Kaboul - Pompey

Wat???? Paul Robinson who was man of the match on Sunday?

Edit to change from Saturday to Sunday.

Frisbee

Mitch Connor wrote: »

so he has scored in every game he has played in this season - should be on that PFA Player of the Year list so.

I believe he was asking how many games it has been since Robinho last scored.
When he has ended that barren spell the saturday previously.

thegen

Berbatov, utter crap
Dossena, Degen total sh1t, Keane????
Jo, lol
Bentley, probably the worst
Liam Miller:rolleyes:

rosboy

redout wrote: »

Where is Berbatov and more importantly were is the poll ?

Xavi6 wrote: »

Most assists at United this year. Overpriced maybe but not a bad signing.

to be fair, I don't think Xavi's list was meant to be a comprehensive list. I think it was more a starting point for discussion.

With regards to Keane vs Berbatov, I personally think its a little unfair to cast Keane as a bad signing while saying that Berbatov isn't.

If we look at Keane's minutes played for Liverpool, he scored a goal every 250 min and got an assist every 417 min. Berbatov has scored a goal every 255 min at ManU, and got an assist every 255 min also (all stats are premiership only).

Berbatov cost approx 10-12 million more (not sure of exact figures). Is 10-12 million a good investment for an extra assist every 162 min?

There is a interesting thread here started by MementoMori on the Keane transfer fees. It looks like Liverpool will end up losing 3-4 million on the deal. Not a massive ammount of money. The bigger issue might actually be whether the money could have been better spend on another striker that would have had a better impact (i.e. another Torres). But the same could be spent about Berbatov. If SAF had spend the 30m on a player that was more prolific in terms of goals and assists (i.e. another Torres), United could be in the FA cup still, have a much greater lead in the league and have scored an extra goal or two against Arsenal last night.

My last points about signing different player are of course all hypothetical, but the point I'm trying to get across is that what can be said about Keane can be said about Berbatov.

Signing Keane for Liverpool had the look of being a masterstroke. He was (I use "was" because I'm looking at how Rafa would have been viewing his history/performance at the time) intelligent, a good link up player, a proven goal scorer in the league, energetic and had a good mentality. Unfortunately it didn't work out at Liverpool and Rafa moved him on quickly. Does that make him a bad signing? Quite possibly. but relatively speaking Berbatov hasn't been massively better.

noodler

Of course Berba was a flop for 30m.

I have to disagree with anyone saying Robinho was a flop though. Scored alot of goals for a fairly avergae city outfit.

1mcampo1

Has to be Dave Kitson.
Moved from Reading to Stoke for 5.5 million, played 18 competitive games and not one goal. When he was with Reading in the premiership, he scored a good few goals for them but not one this season is pretty bad...