The Worst Premier League Player Signings Ever | JFC Sports
Over the past three decades, the Premier League has been one of the biggest football leagues in the world and has built a reputation as a difficult and competitive trophy to win, with most players proud to play in football team kits belonging to the top flight.
From when the first bars of Simple Minds’ Alive And Kicking played on the now-infamous Sky Sports advert until today, thousands of players have plied their trade in the league, and each summer and winter transfer window is a time when a team’s fortunes can turn on making the right player choices.
However, they cannot all be as good as signing Eric Cantona, Thierry Henry or Alan Shearer to Manchester United, Arsenal or Blackburn Rovers respectively. Some signings can be outright terrible.
Whether it is a fantastic player in the worst situation, some of the most appalling luck possible or simply a player that was not good enough to play in the Premier League, here are some of the worst signings ever.
Ali Dia To Southampton
We should just get this one out of the way because the Ali Dia signing is one that was so ridiculous that it would be rejected from a football sitcom for being too unrealistic and on the nose.
Someone calls Southampton manager Graeme Souness claiming to be George Weah, recommending a player who, it turned out, had only ever played at Sunday League level and was 31 at the time.
His career lasted 53 agonisingly awful minutes as a sub for Matt Le Tissier in 1996 before being subbed off.
Danny Drinkwater To Chelsea
After Leicester City’s Cinderella run to the Premier League title ended, the following summer in 2017 was rather eventful, to say the least.
After fellow Leicester midfielder N’Golo Kanté starred at Chelsea, Danny Drinkwater was brought in at an utterly ridiculous £34.1m transfer fee.
That paid for 12 Premier League appearances, two disastrous loan moves and a headbutt to a teammate whilst at Burnley.
Ricky Alverez To Sunderland
The Ricky Alverez story is strange and a truly surreal case of a pyrrhic victory in football. Sunderland.
Ricky Alverez showed up on loan from Inter Milan in 2014 with a rather odd condition; if Sunderland avoided relegation they would be obligated to buy the player for £9.5m, so long as his left knee stayed healthy.
In a rare case of a great escape being worse for a team, Sunderland stayed up and despite an injury to Mr Alverez’s right knee, they had to buy a player they would let go on a free transfer.