The Epic Fails: The Top 6 Worst January Transfer Window Moves, Featuring Chelsea’s Double Disaster
As it does every year, the final day of the January transfer window is expected to bring drama and last-minute deals to the forefront.
The past demonstrates, however, that clubs are often tempted to press the panic button and gamble on transfers that frequently turn out to be catastrophic failures.
After spending over £150 million on no less than seven new players during the transfer window, Chelsea may be at risk of repeating previous errors.
Time will tell if Todd Boehly will live to regret his transactions, as Roman Abramovich may have done 12 years ago with Fernando Torres, with Myhkaylo Mudryk being this year’s marquee acquisition for £88 million.
However, the Blues are not the only Premier League club to have engaged in questionable transfer dealings in the past, as a number of their rivals have also made high-profile transfer errors.
Liverpool, Fulham, and QPR may also wish to obliterate transactions that quickly went awry.
With only a few days remaining in the transfer window and a multitude of deals still in flux, SportsDias looks back at the transfers that took an unexpected route with disastrous results.
Fernando Torres
In 2011, Chelsea pursued the Spaniard for the entirety of the January transfer window, and Liverpool sold their fan-favorite striker for a British record £50 million.
Torres’ inability to regain his best form was arguably the biggest Premier League disappointment in history.
At 27, he should have been in his prime at the club, but Torres scored only 20 league goals in 110 appearances, and his departure four years later on a free transfer was barely noted.
He left west London with a Champions League winner’s medal, but it was little consolation for his four-year ordeal there.
Juan Cuadrado
Jose Mourinho must have believed he had pulled off a coup when he signed Cuadrado from Fiorentina for £26 million in 2015, ahead of Real Madrid and Juventus. Instead, the Portuguese was left wondering how everything could have gone so horribly wrong for the Colombian.
In his five-month stay in England, Cuadrado made just four Premier League appearances due to his inability to break into Jose Mourinho’s starting lineup.
The following summer, he returned to Italy on loan with Juventus, where he has remained ever since completing a £16 million transfer in 2017.
Andy Carroll
Due to the rapid nature of Fernando Torres’ transfer to Chelsea, Liverpool broke their transfer record twice within a few hours on the final day of the January 2011 transfer window.
Andy Carroll and Luis Suarez, however, followed different paths at Anfield.
Carroll’s 18 months on Merseyside were marred by injury, and he struggled to replicate his form at Newcastle, scoring only 11 goals in 58 games for the Reds.
He was quickly loaned to West Ham before making a permanent £15 million move to east London, allowing Liverpool to recoup a portion of the high fee they paid to acquire him.
Christopher Samba
Harry Redknapp was ecstatic when he finally captured Christopher Samba after pursuing him for many years.
His transfer from Anzhi Makhachkala was costly, costing a club-record £12.5 million fee and £100,000 per week in wages, which was the beginning of a costly error.
The 31-year-old defender struggled to find form in a porous QPR defense that kept only one clean sheet in his 10 appearances for the club. After falling out with the club’s supporters over criticism of his performance, he rejoined Anzhi shortly thereafter.
Afonso Alves
In 2007, Middlesbrough paid £14 million for Alves after he scored seven goals in a single game while playing for Heerenveen in the Netherlands. In England, however, he struggled, scoring only 13 goals in 49 games.
When Alves scored only four goals throughout the entire 2008-09 season, it was inevitable that the North East club would be relegated to the Championship, with Alves joining Al-Sadd in the Middle East.
Kostas Mitroglou
In 2014, the Greek striker decided to trade playing in the Champions League knockout stages with Olympiacos for a relegation battle with Fulham, setting a record transfer fee of £11 million.
It is safe to say that this was a decision that all three parties now regret, as Mitroglou was soon packing his bags and leaving at the end of the season.
Mitroglou arrived with a reputation for goal-scoring, having scored 14 goals in as many matches. The thief failed to make a significant impact in west London and left after just three appearances, as Fulham were relegated to the Championship.
Fulham supporters will be thankful that they now have another “Mitro” who has no trouble finding the back of the net.
The Epic Fails: The Top 6 Worst January Transfer Window Moves, Featuring Chelsea’s Double Disaster
The Epic Fails: The Top 6 Worst January Transfer Window Moves, Featuring Chelsea’s Double Disaster
