5 High Profile Players Who Flopped In The Premier League (PART ONE)

We are starting a series of posts looking at a number of well-regarded footballers who failed to make an impression in the Premier League.

Some of these players simply didn’t have the attributes to really cut it, while others were coming to the end of their careers when they arrived on these shores.

The stars we have picked today had a lot of success on the continent but, for whatever reason, things just didn’t happen for them when they played in the English top flight.

Press the next page as we name five big-name players who flopped in this country.

Fernando Morientes

The Spaniard had been in scintillating form after helping Monaco to the Champions League final in 2004 but, after moving to Liverpool in January 2005, it quickly became clear he wasn’t suited to the Premier League.

Morientes was very good technically, but his lack of pace and physicality meant he was often marked out of games, and he left Anfield after just eighteen months, having scored only 12 goals.

Juan Sebastian Veron

The Argentinian playmaker became the most expensive player in English football when Manchester United paid Lazio £28.1m for his services in the summer of 2001.

Although Veron started his time at Old Trafford strongly, it became apparent that he was uncomfortable with the speed of English football. He didn’t fare much better during a spell at Chelsea and he was loaned back to Italy before returning to Argentina.

Gonzalo Higuain

The Argentinian international broke the Serie A scoring record at Napoli, scoring 36 goals in the 2015/16 campaign before Juventus paid €90m for the striker. By 2018, it was clear he was on the decline, having been sent out on loan to AC Milan.

Chelsea were, therefore, signing a player who was already past his best when they took Higuain on loan for the second half of the 2018/19 season. He still managed five goals in 14 league games, but the Blues didn’t sign the player on a permanent basis. The 34-year-old is now playing in the United States.

Bastian Schweinsteiger

In a similar vein to Higuain, the German playmaker was clearly on the wane when United paid £6.5m for his services in 2015, and he didn’t really make much of an impression at Old Trafford.

During Schweinsteiger’s second season, manager Jose Mourinho even demoted him to the Under 23s for a spell before reinstating him later on during the 2016/17 campaign. The writing was on the wall, though, and he left to play for Chicago Fire in MLS.

Andriy Shevchenko

The Ukrainian was a legendary figure at AC Milan, having racked up 127 league goals in his seven seasons in Italy, and Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich wanted to bring him to England.

However, his manager Jose Mourinho wasn’t as enthused about the prospect, and the Portuguese’s concerns were proven correct when Shevchenko struggled to replicate his best form, scoring just nine times in the Premier League before being loaned back to his former team.

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