The TOP FIVE Biggest Losses Premier League Clubs Have Made In The Transfer Market

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2 years ago

Categories: Galleries, Manchester City News, Transfer News

Tags: Arsenal, aston villa, Chelsea, Everton, leeds, Leeds United, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Sheffield United, Southampton, spurs, West Ham, wolves

Every club has made mistakes in the transfer market. It is inevitable that some moves, for whatever reason, just don’t work out.

Some mistakes are, however, more costly than others and today we are looking at the players who have led to a Premier League team making the biggest loss.

The five signings we have mentioned on this list all left on free transfers or for very low fees, despite being heralded as key additions when they first joined.

Press the next page as we name the five most expensive mistakes clubs have made in Premier League history.

5) Moussa Sissoko – Tottenham – £28.5m

Spurs paid Newcastle £31.5m for the France international in 2016 and, while he did spend five seasons at the North London club, he never really fulfilled his potential.

Watford had a £3m offer accepted for Sissoko last summer and he is now playing regularly for the Hornets as they struggle against relegation.

4) Alexis Sanchez – Manchester United – £35m*

This deal has an asterisk beside it simply because United technically didn’t pay anything for the Chilean international in January 2018. However, they did send Henrikh Mkhitaryan to Arsenal as part of the deal and the Armenian was said to be worth £35m.

After a disastrous eighteen months with United, Sanchez moved on loan to Inter Milan before joining the Nerazzurri permanently on a free transfer in the summer of 2020.

3) Eliaquim Mangala – Manchester City – £42m

The Frenchman was a young talent who had impressed during three seasons at Porto but City made a huge mistake when they paid £42m for the defender in 2014.

After struggling terribly during his first two years at the Etihad, Mangala was loaned out to Valencia and Everton. He finally left on a free transfer at the end of the 2018/19 campaign.

2) Mesut Ozil – Arsenal – £42.5m

The German playmaker’s move from Real Madrid was seen as a massive coup at the time and, initially, it did look like a good piece of business. Ozil scored 44 goals and contributed 77 assists in 254 appearances so he was by no means a disastrous signing.

However, his languid style left him vulnerable to criticism from fans and pundits. The departure of Arsene Wenger as manager pretty much spelled the end of his Arsenal career, falling out with successive managers in Unai Emery and Mikel Arteta before his expensive contract was terminated.

1) Fernando Torres – Chelsea – £49m

Many believe that the Spaniard was a Roman Abramovich signing as the striker had struggled with injury in the year leading up to his £50m move to Chelsea from Liverpool in 2011.

Torres never really made an impact and, while he had his moments (most notably his goal in the Champions League semi-final against Barcelona), he was a huge disappointment. He was sold for less than £1m to AC Milan in 2015, having scored only 45 goals for the Blues.