Not every decision in the madness of the transfer market can be the right one. Sometimes, Premier League clubs get it wrong – really wrong.
Underwhelming performances, lacklustre goal returns and extortionate fees have all bitten top-flight teams in the past, but whose transfer decisions rank as the worst?
In this list, we’ve given it a go, ranking the Premier League’s worst transfer deals of the 21st century.
Unfortunately for the richer clubs, the vast sums of money in the modern game leaves them more prone to suffering the biggest embarrassments, so they feature heavily here (although Southampton’s Ali Dia is only spared by being a late 20th-century disaster).
Ranking factors
To help rank the list, we have considered the following factors:
- Transfer fee – how much the buying club paid at the time
- Output – how poorly they performed
- Expectation – how their performances lined up with the hype around their transfer
- Embarrassments – whether they suffered embarrassing moments during their spell
| Rank | Player | From | To | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Romelu Lukaku | Inter | Chelsea | £97.5m |
| 2 | Joao Felix | Atletico Madrid | Chelsea | £9.7m loan & £45m |
| 3 | Mykhailo Mudryk | Shakhtar Donetsk | Chelsea | £62m |
| 4 | Tanguy Ndombele | Lyon | Tottenham | £53.8m |
| 5 | Antony | Ajax | Man Utd | £82m |
| 6 | Donny van de Beek | Ajax | Man Utd | £35m |
| 7 | Radamel Falcao | Monaco | Man Utd & Chelsea | £6m loan & loan |
| 8 | Roberto Soldado | Valencia | Tottenham | £26m |
| 9 | Andy Carroll | Newcastle | Liverpool | £35m |
| 10 | Mario Balotelli | Milan | Liverpool | £16m |
10 – Mario Balotelli to Liverpool (2014)
Signed from Milan for £16m
Liverpool’s response to pushing Manchester City close for the title and losing Luis Suarez was to sign former City striker Mario Balotelli, in a move that will have raised a few eyebrows.
£16m was by no means a colossal waste of cash based on some of the horrors to follow on this list, but after four goals in 28 games, the Reds ended up paying a premium for very little service.
To Liverpool’s credit, they moved on and cut their losses, not that it kept Brendan Rodgers in a job for much longer. The Italian joined Nice for nothing two years after joining.
| Season | Appearances | Goals | Cost per goal |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014/15 | 16 | 4 | £4m |
9 – Andy Carroll to Liverpool (2011)
Signed from Newcastle for £35m
For those who are unaware, £35m in the early 2010s was an obscene amount of money, reserved for the very best in the game. So imagine everyone’s surprise when Liverpool decided to fork out £35m on the promising, yet unproven, Andy Carroll from Newcastle United.
It was certainly a bold move from Sir Kenny Dalglish as he raided one of his former clubs, with Liverpool keen to splash the cash after receiving £50m for Fernando Torres – who is lucky himself not to feature here, largely thanks to his priceless Champions League heroics.
But for Carroll, he was unable to pay off his gargantuan transfer fee, put into perspective by the comparably meagre £22.7m they spent to bring in Luis Suarez during the same window.
Carroll scored just four times in 35 appearances during his only full Premier League season at Anfield, with a strike rate of 0.19 goals per game confirming a pretty poor business decision on Liverpool’s part.
| Season | Appearances | Goals | Luis Suarez goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010/11 | 9 | 2 | 4 |
| 2011/12 | 47 | 9 | 17 |
| 2012/13 | 2 | 0 | 30 |
8 – Roberto Soldado to Tottenham Hotspur (2013)
Signed from Valencia for £26m
It’s difficult to blame Tottenham Hotspur too much on this one – all the signs were there for this to be a superb deal.
The £26m arrival of Roberto Soldado in 2013 came in the shadow of Gareth Bale’s departure, as Spurs accrued a world-record fee to replenish the squad with.
Spending nearly a third of Bale’s sale money on the Spaniard seemed justified – Soldado had just had a 30-goal season at Valencia, but he was unable to continue this hot streak in England.
Four of his six league goals were penalties, highlighting his general ineffectiveness. Given the hype around his signing as he looked to replace Bale’s goal threat, this was a pretty disastrous turnout.
| Season | Appearances | Goals | Open play goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2013/14 | 36 | 11 | 6 |
| 2014/15 | 40 | 5 | 5 |
7 – Radamel Falcao to Man Utd & Chelsea (2014 & 2015)
Signed from Monaco on loan
Back in 2012, Radamel Falcao was at the peak of his powers, leading Atletico Madrid’s charge to the Europa League just a year after doing the same with FC Porto.
But less than three years later, his career had dwindled somewhat, with his move to Monaco halting his rise in the game.
This appeared to hand Manchester United a superb opportunity, with the Red Devils hoping to reset following the arrival of Louis van Gaal as manager.
But despite the form that he had shown, Falcao – who also joined for a hefty £6m loan fee – was a shadow of his former self, netting just four times in all competitions.
His lack of goals didn’t deter Chelsea from taking a chance with the Colombian, but after one goal in 12 games, his reputation failed to live up to the billing for a second time (before ironically getting his career back on track with Monaco).
| Season | Appearances | Goals | Cost per goal |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014/15 | 29 | 4 | £1.5m |
| 2015/16 | 12 | 1 | Over £150k a week |
6 – Donny van de Beek to Man Utd (2020)
Signed from Ajax for £35m
Surely Manchester United couldn’t miss with this? A young star of Erik ten Hag’s Ajax side that went within seconds of the Champions League final, Donny van de Beek’s £35m switch could easily have been a snip.
But the Dutchman was underused following his arrival at Old Trafford, with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer fielding him just four times from the start in the Premier League in 2020/21.
The midfielder endured a miserable time on British soil, even if a short-term loan at Everton offered temporary respite.
Another player of whom was expected so much more, Van de Beek eventually moved to Girona on the cheap (£420k) in a bid to resurrect his career.
| Season | Appearances | Goals | Games missed |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020/21 | 36 | 1 | 25 |
| 2021/22 | 21 | 2 | 16 |
| 2022/23 | 10 | 0 | 52 |
5 – Antony to Man Utd (2022)
Signed from Ajax for £82m
Man Utd have made a habit of wasting money over the years, with the likes of Jadon Sancho also joining for big money without getting anywhere close to justifying his price tag.
But perhaps their biggest faux pas over the last five years has been the signing of Antony – who became the fourth-most expensive signing in Premier League history behind Paul Pogba, Romelu Lukaku and Jack Grealish.
Now more known for pointless fancy flicks rather than delivering on the pitch, both his underwhelming spell at United and his subsequent revival at Real Betis made Ten Hag’s reunion with the winger a downright disaster.
He did have the occasional moment in the sun, including a Europa League winner against Barcelona, which perhaps sets him apart from the others below.
| Season | Appearances | Goals | Most successive games without scoring |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 44 | 8 | 8 |
| 2023/24 | 38 | 3 | 22 |
| 2024/25 | 14 | 1 | 12 |
4 – Tanguy Ndombele to Tottenham Hotspur (2019)
Signed from Lyon for £53.8m
Reaching the Champions League final was meant to be a watershed moment for Tottenham. They acted accordingly the following summer when they sealed a club-record deal to land Tanguy Ndombele from Lyon.
Things had started so well, with the Frenchman scoring on his top-flight debut to help rescue Spurs on the opening day.
But after the departure of Mauricio Pochettino, things started to unravel. Fast-forward seven months and he was being publicly called out by Jose Mourinho over his attitude, and his Premier League career never really recovered.
He left on a series of loan deals before finally securing a move away on a free transfer to Nice in July 2024.
| Season | Appearances | Goals | Games missed through injury |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019/20 | 29 | 2 | 13 |
| 2020/21 | 46 | 6 | 2 |
| 2021/22 | 16 | 2 | 4 |
3 – Mykhailo Mudryk to Chelsea (2023)
Signed from Shakhtar Donetsk for £62m
Given their transfer sprees of late, it is hardly surprising that Chelsea have run into one or two mistakes along the way.
On the face of it, their deal to sign Mykhailo Mudryk was an exciting one, with the Ukrainian tearing it up for Shakhtar Donetsk and shining in the Champions League, showcasing his electric pace and eye for a finish.
He was heavily sought after, with Arsenal thought to be in the running for the 22-year-old’s signature.
But following a £62m move to Stamford Bridge – which could have risen to an eye-watering £89m – Mudryk has failed to fulfil his potential.
A poor goal return and spending time on the sidelines has been capped off by the attacker’s doping ban, which leaves him unable to train with Chelsea ahead of the 2025/26 campaign.
| Season | Appearances | Goals | Percentage of games started |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 17 | 0 | 33% |
| 2023/24 | 41 | 7 | 45% |
| 2024/25 | 15 | 3 | 14% |
2 – Joao Felix to Chelsea (2023 & 2024)
Signed from Atletico Madrid on loan & £45m
Signing a dud once can happen. But twice? Unforgivable. When you factor in the context of the second signing, Chelsea’s deal to bring in Joao Felix permanently looks even worse.
The Portuguese forward first arrived at Stamford Bridge on loan in January 2023, marking one of the most expensive loan moves, valuing at £9.7m.
During his initial spell under Graham Potter, Felix was sent off on his debut amid hints of brilliance.
While that could have been written off as a punt that didn’t work out, Chelsea returned for Joao Felix in the summer of 2024, seemingly purely to balance the books while selling Conor Gallagher to Atletico Madrid.
Selling an academy product in Gallagher meant the Blues remained in compliance with the league’s rules, though their acquisition of Joao Felix remained a total waste of time.
20 appearances under Enzo Maresca – just eight of them starts – eventually led to the 24-year-old falling out of favour less than one season into his seven-year deal.
| Season | Appearances | Goals | PL starts |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022/23 | 20 | 4 | 11 |
| 2024/25 | 20 | 7 | 3 |
1 – Romelu Lukaku to Chelsea (2021)
Signed from Inter for £97.5m
When Chelsea became European champions again in 2021, it wouldn’t have been ridiculous to back them for the title, with the Blues finding a renewed solidity under Thomas Tuchel.
No statement of intent was larger than when they forked out nearly £100m on Romelu Lukaku to bolster their attack.
Lukaku had the reputation – he had finished only behind Cristiano Ronaldo in the Serie A scoring charts, while he was fresh from winning the league with Inter.
Three goals in four games had the likes of Gary Neville backing him for the Golden Boot, but things then started to unravel.
Lukaku lost his place under Tuchel before resorting to publicly stating his disappointment with life under the German, also hinting that he’d like to return to Inter.
He saw out the season and started just 16 times in the league, and was eventually loaned out across Serie A before Chelsea finally managed to offload him to Napoli in August 2024.
Of all their mistakes, this surely has to rank as the Blues’ and the league’s worst.
| Season | Appearances | Goals | Cost per appearance |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021/22 | 44 | 15 | £2.21m |
All player stats sourced via Transfermarkt.
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