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

In our final article of our three-part series, we take a look at a few more high-profile names who failed to cut it in the Premier League.

As we have mentioned in our previous posts, the game in England is not suited to every footballer, especially back in the 90s, when physicality and strength were probably more important than technical ability.

Some of those that have made our list today go back to the early years of the Premier League, where costly imports from abroad were more of a rarety.

Press the next page as we name five more high-profile players who flopped in English football.

Tomas Brolin

Following performances for Sweden at Euro ’92 and at the 1994 World Cup, Leeds believed they were getting a top-class player when they beat three Italian clubs to the playmaker’s signature in 1995.

However, poor fitness and clashes with manager Howard Wilkinson meant Brolin’s £4.5m move to Elland Road was an unmitigated disaster. He was loaned out after a year, and his contract was finally terminated in 1997. He had another brief stint at Crystal Palace before he retired soon afterwards

Roberto Soldado

Tottenham had money burning a hole in their pocket after the sale of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid, so they opted to spend some of the cash on the Spanish forward who had scored 30 goals in all competitions for Valencia the previous campaign.

Soldado struggled during his two seasons in England, as he found the pace and physicality too much to deal with, and he returned to Spain when Villarreal paid £10m for his services, under half of what Spurs signed him for.

Karel Poborsky

United’s recruitment of the Czech midfielder is very much a lesson about not signing players off the back of international tournaments. Poborsky lit up Euro ’96, helping his country to the final, where they lost to Germany.

The playmaker started just 17 times for United over a two-year period before being shipped out to Benfica. He did demonstrate more of his talent in Portugal but he never hit the heights many expected.

Robinho

The controversial Brazilian actually started off his career at Manchester City pretty well, scoring 14 goals in 30 league appearances, but it soon became clear that he wasn’t that keen on staying in Manchester.

After some injury problems and poor form, Robinho was loaned back to his native Brazil, before joining AC Milan in 2010. City made a £17.5m loss on the deal.

Alvaro Morata

Chelsea paid a club-record £60m for the Spanish striker in 2017 but, despite some good performances, he did not live up to expectations, scoring only 11 league goals in his first season at Stamford Bridge.

Morata was loaned out to Atletico Madrid midway through his second campaign before moving back to Spain on a permanent basis. Surprisingly, the Blues actually got most of their money back on the player.

You may also be interested in reading:

5 High Profile Players Who Flopped In The Premier League (PART TWO)
5 High Profile Players Who Flopped In The Premier League (PART ONE)
5 Premier League Stars (Who Cost A Combined 252M) Who Are Available To Buy This Summer
Five Players Who Signed For Clubs But NEVER PLAYED A Single Game
TOP Five Players Who Have Had The Most 25 Goal League Seasons Over The Past 20 Years
Spurs Superstar And Chelsea Flop Among The TOP Five Worst Finishers In The Premier League This Season
The FIVE Current Favourites For The PFA Player Of The Year Award
Five Hidden Gems In Europe’s Top 5 Leagues That Premier League Clubs Should Consider Signing

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