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The 2016 summer transfer window is officially closed. There have been many exciting transfers as well as some truly terrible, overpriced ones. We're only a few weeks into the new season so we don’t know for sure how these transfers are going to work out, but we've come up with a list of 10 transfers which we anticipate will prove worthless.
10 Summer Transfers That Are Destined To Fail
#10: Maarten Stekelenburg | Fulham to Everton
After Tim Howard’s departure, new manager Ronald Koeman decided to bring his Dutch compatriot Maarten Stekelenburg to replace the American. Stekelenburg, who played in the 2010 World Cup Final, seems like a good choice at first glance. However, the 33-year-old hasn’t been called up to the Netherlands national team since 2012, and he hasn’t had a permanent home since 2013.
The Dutch keeper left Italian giants AS Roma in favor of Fulham for the 2013-14 season, which didn’t work out well for him. He lost his place in the team in the middle of the season and Fulham were eventually relegated. He was no longer in the plans of the manager afterwards and had to go off on loan to AS Monaco for the 2014-15 campaign, where he only played in one league game the whole season.
He was then loaned out to Southampton, managed by Koeman, last season and started 17 league games due to injuries to Frazer Forster. However, he lost his place after Forster returned and he then went back to Fulham in the summer before signing for Everton. He has started all three league games for Everton this season, and, although he's looked decent, Everton surely had enough money to go out and find a much better keeper.
#9: Rafael Santos Borre | Atletico Madrid to Villarreal
Rafael Santos Borre is a 20-year-old Colombian striker on loan to Villarreal from Atletico Madrid. He debuted for his local team Deportivo Cali in 2013 when he was just 17. He proceeded to score 14 times in 26 matches for Deportivo. His form impressed Atletico Madrid, and they signed him on a six year contract in 2015.
He was then loaned back to Cali but, due to injury problems, he failed to score as many as his first stint there. He then joined Villarreal in August after strikers Roberto Soldado and Cedric Bakambu went down with injuries. The Colombian played in both of their Champions League qualifiers versus Monaco but did very little to impress.
He wasted a great opportunity against Monaco when he failed to score when one on one against the keeper. He also couldn’t stay onside when he had the chance to score against Sevilla. Overall, his first time playing in Europe has gone horribly wrong — is he really good enough to be playing top flight European football? Villarreal will be kicking themselves for picking Santos Borre when they had a chance to scoop up Mariano Diaz from Real Madrid, who has impressed in preseason.
#8: Alfred N’Diaye | Betis to Villarreal
Another Villarreal signing that hasn’t gone according to the plan. N’Diaye, a Senegalese international who spent three seasons with Betis, was signed by Villarreal to replace the outgoing Tomas Pina in the summer. The 26-year-old, who can play as both defensive midfielder and center back, had a nightmare start to the season when he gave away a penalty just three minutes into his competitive debut.
The €8 million man also failed to impress in his league debut for the club versus Granada and has failed to make his way back into the starting eleven since. There were even bizarre rumors going around that he would be joining Marseille before the transfer window closes. However, the move failed and he will be staying put with Yellow Submarine. Given the way he has performed so far, he looks to be the worst buy in La Liga this season.
#7: Luis Hernandez | Sporting Gijon to Leicester
The 27-year-old Spaniard was signed for free in June by Leicester to be a back up center back for the team. The Premier League champions, who will also be playing Champions League football, needed an experienced center back who can come in when the starting center back pair of Wes Morgan and Robert Huth are either injured or fatigued.
However, the former Sporting Gijon player failed to impress during his first two competitive games for the club as they lost both of those matches. Since then, he has made way for Huth to come back into the starting eleven and they have looked much more stable in the back.
Things might get rough for Leicester when the schedule gets tighter and they are forced to play him in important games. The club could have certainly went out to bring in a better center back with their massive earnings. This could certainly hurt Leicester this season.
#6: Fernando Llorente | Sevilla to Swansea
Swansea City snapped up striker Fernando Llorente in the summer. At first glance, signing the World Cup winner and former Juventus striker might sound impressive — especially for a club like Swansea. But in reality, they just signed an aging and slowing striker whose numbers haven’t been impressive for years.
Fernando Llorente was a solid striker at Bilbao, netting 85 goals in 262 matches for the Basque club. He then put up a good number of goals during his first season in Turin, scoring 16 times in 34 matches in the league. Things started going downhill for him the second season after the arrival of Alvaro Morata.
He was left on the bench many times to the favor of the fellow Spaniard and only managed to score seven times in 31 matches in the league. He was then sold to Sevilla for €20 million. However, he put up a woeful number — scoring only four times in 23 league matches. It would be shocking if he can score a double digit amount of goals for the Swans this season.
#5: Alvaro Arbeloa | Real Madrid to West Ham
Arbeloa’s move to West Ham is a move that makes very little sense for both the player and the club. The 33-year-old full back, who only appeared six times for Real Madrid last season, does not look anywhere good enough to be playing in top flight football.
The former Liverpool and Real Madrid man is a versatile player who can play on either flank but when Aaron Cresswell, Sam Byram, Arthur Masauku and Michail Antonio are all fit, it will be hard for him to even get on the bench.
An argument can be made that West Ham are looking for an experienced defender to help out in the back, but it’ll be hard for a naturally slow player to keep up with the intensive pace of the Premier League and its speedy wingers. His stint in East London can turn out to be a disaster for the Salamanca native.
#4: Graziano Pelle | Southampton to Shandong Luneng
The 31-year-old Italian stirker is taking his talents to the far east, as he is set to earn up to €16m ($18m) per season. However, leaving the Premier League for the Chinese Super League might not be the best thing for his career. It also doesn’t seem to be a good deal for the club to pay that amount of money to a player who has only netted 23 goals in 68 Premier League appearances.
Overall, it made little sense for the club to pay a very high amount for a slightly above average striker.
#3: Joe Hart | Manchester City to Torino
One of the biggest shocks in this transfer window happened when England and Manchester City keeper Joe Hart decided to make a move to Italian minnows Torino. Since Pep Guardiola arrived in Manchester City this summer, it has been well known that he hasn't fancied Hart.
Rumors had it that Borussia Dortmund, Everton and Sunderland were interested in Hart. So when he decided to join Torino for a season long loan, it surprised everybody. Getting a keeper of Hart’s caliber is an extremely great deal for Torino. However, in Hart’s point of view, this move makes absolutely no sense.
Apart from a guaranteed starting spot, playing for a low quality team can hurt his confidence, performance and national team opportunities. Hart will be on the pitch for England in this month’s international break, but it will be hard to tell if he’ll start for Three Lions in the next one.
#2: Moussa Sissoko | Newcastle United to Tottenham Hotspur
One of the biggest dramas of this transfer window was Sissoko’s transfer, who was rumored with various clubs across Europe. He was part of the disappointing Newcastle team that were relegated last season, but it was his performance for France in the Euros that made him a hot property in the window.
He was linked with Real Madrid, Arsenal, West Ham, Liverpool and Everton. Everton even had a plane ready for him to bring him to Merseyside during the last hours of transfer window. However, Tottenham Hotspur hijacked the deal in the last minute to bring him in for a transfer fee up to £30m ($40m).
Sissoko did have a good Euros with France in the summer, but his performance and consistency are nowhere close to justifying that amount of money. Overall, this move seems like a last minute signing by Spurs to compete with their money splashing rivals.
#1: David Luiz | PSG to Chelsea
Who would’ve thought that David Luiz would reunite with Chelsea this season? The 29-year-old Brazilian center back was just sold two years ago to PSG for a record breaking fee of £50m ($66m). After celebrating in front of Chelsea fans when he scored against them in the 2014-15 Champions League knock out stage, it seemed like the relationship between him and the fans had gone sour and there'd be no way back for him to Stanford Bridge. Chelsea decided to splash £32m on him on transfer deadline day to bring him back to the club.
Manager Antonio Conte has been searching for a center back all summer long, and, after failing to bring in Leonardo Bonucci of Juventus or Kalidou Koulibaly of Napoli, it looks like he settled for the Brazilian. Even then, this move made very little sense as Luiz is a very error prone and undisciplined player who doesn’t look to be Conte’s type.
The only good part of this move is he’s actually a versatile player that can also plays as a defensive midfielder. However, paying this amount for someone who doesn’t look like a starter just means terrible business by the club.
