Premier League clubs spent a record £950 million in the 2014-15 summer and winter transfer windows making it the highest ever seen. The previous best was £760 million in the 2013-14 season. As is usually the case, all transfers turn out extremely good or downright horrid. Here are some of them that didn’t quite go according to plan this past season.
Rickie Lambert
A return to his boyhood club for the bargain sum of 4 million pounds was quite a punt that Brendan Rodgers took this season. As for Lambert, unfortunately, it has not gone his way whatsoever. Barely getting a chance to lead the line, meant he only got the goals against Villa and Crystal Palace in the Premier League, which have not been convincing enough that this signing has made any sort of positive impact for any of the parties concerned.
Rio Ferdinand
Brought in for free to ensure his wealth of experience was passed on to a young defence has definitely not worked out that way. Having missed the start of the season due to injury and a ban for an explicit tweet, Ferdinand has barely featured for QPR as they languish second from the bottom of the table with 7 games to go and a glimmer of hope to survive the drop.
Eliaquim Mangala
Mangala came to the Premier League with a big reputation on the back of some very imperious performances for FC Porto. On the transfer of a massive sum, he was supposed to step up and displace the error prone Martin Demichelis. He is yet, however, to prove that he is a better option to the veteran Argentine defender after some average displays so far in the sky blue of City.
Bacary Sagna
Sagna had been Arsenal’s first choice right-back for a lengthy spell before his move to City, a move in which he followed the footsteps of fellow French internationals Samir Nasri and Gael Clichy in search of trophies. It hasn’t been smooth sailing, however, for the French starter after finding himself 2nd choice to the ever excelling Pablo Zabaleta. Sagna was perhaps the best defender in the Arsenal squad before he left and can now barely get a chance in City’s star studded starting XI.
Emmanuel Riviere
Emmanuel Riviere has made 17 appearances in a Geordie shirt following his move from AS Monaco for a fee rumored to be around 6 million. He is yet to make a dent on the statisticians goals column, however, and is not in contention to be selected in a match day squad anytime soon thanks to the form of Ayoze Perez. The choice for him to make the switch to Tyneside was easy but life so far in a Newcastle shirt has been far from rosy for the Frenchman.
Jack Rodwell
Signed for 10 million pounds from the current champions Manchester City, Rodwell would have been hoping he could resurrect a career that showed immense promise but lacked consistent performance. A move to Sunderland could have been the boost he required but it hasn’t been a fruitful one for the English midfielder. When you can’t get into the side of a club that is threatened by relegation and when the likes of Lee Cattermole and Seb Larsson (winger) get picked to start in the centre of the park ahead of you then it’s indeed going pear shaped.
Dejan Lovren
Following an impressive season with Southampton, the former Lyon defender made his way to Liverpool FC. Brendan Rodgers was quoted saying Lovren was the ideal replacement for Jamie Carragher, a leader in defence who was combative, strong and comfortable on the ball. Unfortunately for the Croatian defender, Southampton was not just the club he made his mark in but seemed to have left his form behind there as well. He loses on average 1.60 tackles per game and also commits 0.30 errors per game. Dejan Lovren has yet to convince he is a genuinely top drawer defender as he has been anything but that so far.
Samuel Eto’o
The memory of Samuel Eto’o in an Evertonian shirt is too short even for the Toffees’ fans to remember. With just 4 goals in 20 games across all competitions, it is fair to say that the astronomical wages he was afforded have not been worth the investment for the club from the blue half of Merseyside. Eto’o was packing his bags come the winter transfer window and flew off to Italy to play for Sampdoria.
Radamel Falcao
Signed on loan for a massive sum from AS Monaco, Falcao came to United to make an impression on the Barclays Premier League. A hefty reputation of banging in the goals at FC Porto, Atletico Madrid and Monaco, however, deserted the Colombian forward in England. He averages just 0.20 goals a game, hardly good enough when you put him up against teammate and club captain Wayne Rooney who averages double that (0.44) despite having played in deeper positions for majority of the season.
Mario Balotelli
The mercurial Italian is another high profile casualty that makes this list. Signed at a sum of 16 million, this deal seemed like a failure in the making from the beginning. Football experts and pundits alike were unsure about the kind of impact Mario Balotelli was going to make. With just one Premier League goal to his name so far and a shot accuracy of 56% it is fair to say things have not gone to plan for Mario and there are strong rumours that his short time maybe coming to an end at Merseyside.
