With Atletico Madrid having finally got rid of their record signing, GOAL selects the costliest mistakes ever made...
Money makes the football world go around, but spending big doesn't always guarantee success. In the modern era, clubs are more willing than ever before to splash the cash in a desperate pursuit of silverware.
And yet, time and time again, quality players have proven incapable of living up to their lofty transfer fees. It's not always solely their fault, of course. Sometimes, it's simply a case of joining the wrong club with the wrong coach at the wrong time.
Whatever the reasons, though, a plethora of the biggest transfers of all the time have proven awfully expensive mistakes, as GOAL outlines below...
15James Rodriguez: Monaco - Real Madrid (2014)
Just like everyone else in the football world, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez fell in love with the fresh-faced, silky-skilled James Rodriguez during Colombia's run to the quarter-finals of the 2014 World Cup. Given the attacking midfielder with a keen eye for spectacular goals had long dreamed of moving to Santiago Bernabeu, a transfer was inevitable, so James became Perez's latest Galactico.
At times during his first season in Spain, he played like one, ending the 2014-15 campaign with 17 goals in all competitions. However, while Zinedine Zidane's appointment as coach in 2016 proved a crucial turning point in Madrid's modern history, it effectively spelt the end of James' Blancos career. He rarely featured under the Frenchman, who at one point claimed that James had asked to be left out of a game against Athletic Club.
In the end, after a couple of years on loan at Bayern Munich, and a dire final season in which he made just eight appearances, the €80m (£68m/$86m) signing left for nothing – the perfect illustration of just how far his stock had fallen since winning the Golden Boot in Brazil.
14Zlatan Ibrahimovic: Inter - Barcelona (2009)
As Zlatan Ibrahimovic would be the first to tell you, he's an absolute legend of the game. However, his move to Barcelona ranks as one of the most disastrous deals of all time. Remember, the Blaugrana didn't just pay Inter €69.5m (£59m/$75m) for Ibrahimovic, they also handed over 2009 Champions League hero Samuel Eto'o, who then helped the Nerazzurri win the treble, after eliminating Barca in the semis.
It's worth remembering that Ibrahimovic scored 21 goals in all competitions, but what we're talking about here is arguably the greatest personality clash in football history.
Getty13Neymar: Barcelona - Paris Saint-Germain (2017)
At times, Neymar played sensationally well for Paris Saint-Germain, wowing all and sundry with his wonderful array of tricks and flicks. Nonetheless, it would be hard to paint his time at the Parc des Princes as anything other than a failure.He stepped out of Lionel Messi's shadow to become a superstar in his own right by leading the French club to a first Champions League title. However, the most expensive player of all time was quickly upstaged by Kylian Mbappe and was then joined in Paris by Messi, whose arrival only pushed the Brazilian further down the pecking order at PSG.
The Ligue 1 outfit tried to sell Neymar in 2022 before eventually sending him to Saudi Arabia in exchange for a most welcome €90m (£77m/$100m) the following year. Given his continued injury issues in Saudi Arabia, that was a fine fee for PSG.
12Kepa Arrizabalaga: Athletic Club - Chelsea (2018)
The most expensive goalkeeper in the world - and yet nowhere near the best. Indeed, Chelsea are still desperately trying to find a buyer for their historic £72m ($94m) signing from Athletic Club in 2018.
The former Spain international was a regular during his first two seasons at Stamford Bridge and actually managed to reclaim his starting spot from Edouard Mendy for the 2022-23 season but he's probably forever be associated with the Carabao Cup - for all the wrong reasons.
Firstly, for shamefully refusing to be substituted in the 2019 final, and, secondly, for failing to make a single save and then skying the decisive spot-kick after being brought on solely for the shootout in the 2022 decider against Liverpool.
At the time of writing, Robert Sanchez is ahead of Kepa in the pecking order, meaning he's facing up to the prospect of spending another year warming the bench at Chelsea.
Getty Images11Romelu Lukaku: Everton - Man Utd (2017)
The only man to feature on our list twice, Romelu Lukaku first flopped at Manchester United, which was surprising, given he had already proven himself in the Premier League, with both West Brom and Everton.
The Belgian had also hit the ground running at Old Trafford, scoring 10 times in his first nine appearances, breaking a record previously set by the legendary Bobby Charlton. However, Lukaku began to struggle during his second season and, after finally ending a 12-game drought under Jose Mourinho, he saw less and less game time under the Portuguese's successor, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
10Alvaro Morata: Real Madrid - Chelsea (2017)
Plenty of pundits consider Alvaro Morata's agent the best in the business. How else to explain how a striker who has consistently struggled to score goals continues earning moves to Europe's elite clubs for significant sums of money?
Morata did manage 15 Primera Division goals in 2016-17, which convinced Chelsea to sign him from Real Madrid for £60m ($75m), but it remains his joint-best top-flight haul. Indeed, the Spain international managed just 16 Premier League goals during a miserable 18-month stay at Stamford Bridge, which was cut short in January 2019, when he was allowed to join Atletico Madrid on loan with a view to a permanent transfer.
Morata felt the press were to quick to criticise him during his time in England, but there's no denying that he was a massive disappointment given the size of the outlay.
GettyJosep Maria Bartomeu, though, inexplicably went back in for Griezmann the following year, agreeing to pay the €120m (£100m/$130m) buy-out clause in the Frenchman's contract, as if determined to prove a point.
The versatile attacker had his moments at Barca, but they were few and far between and he went crawling back to Madrid in 2021, re-joining Atletico on loan before completing a permanent move back to the capital, where he re-established himself as a world-class player, suggesting his struggles at Camp Nou had more to do with Bartomeu's shambolic Barca than any lack of quality or effort on Griezmann's part.
Getty8Harry Maguire: Leicester City - Man Utd (2019)
Harry Maguire can be a good Premier League defender. He proved that at Leicester. Remember, even Pep Guardiola wanted to sign him in 2019. Maguire claims that he chose United instead, but the truth is that Manchester City baulked at the price. They simply didn't feel Maguire was worth a world-record fee for a defender, and they were proven correct.
Some of the abuse Maguire received from Manchester United fans during his five years at the club has gone way over "the line", as the centre-back put it himself. But there's no denying that his spell at Old Trafford has been a dreadful disappointment, and the decision to make him club captain was made to look completely ridiculous by a succession of shocking displays and meme-worthy mistakes.
As if you need reminding, United paid £80m ($100m) for Maguire - and they'll never recoup even a quarter of that fee, given they failed to offload him to West Ham in the summer of 2023.
Consequently, Maguire remains in Manchester and while he may not be completely "sh*t", as Rafael van der Vaart infamously stated, the England international certainly still ranks as a colossal waste of money.
Getty Images7Nicolas Pepe: Lille - Arsenal (2019)
There was a time when it looked like Nicolas Pepe was coming good for Arsenal; a purple patch at the end of the 2020-21 campaign when he looked like the winger that had torn it up in Ligue 1 with Lille.
However, the Ivorian scored one Premier League goal in his final season at the Emirates, his place in the starting line up having long since been taken by younger, better players, making a parting of the ways inevitable.
Arsenal attempted to recoup some of the £79m ($104m) they paid for his services in 2019 but, after an unsurprisingly unsuccessful loan spell at Nice, the beleaguered Gunners allowed him to join Trabzonspor for nothing in the summer of 2023 - even though he still had a year left on his contract. That's how desperate they were to get rid of him!
Felix said at the time that he just wanted to "enjoy" his football, so it remains hard to work out why he elected to play under Diego Simeone, who demands that his attackers work as hard as his midfielders and defenders. Right from the start, this deal just didn't look like a good fit, and so it proved, with Atletico agreeing to let Felix join Chelsea on loan for the remainder of the 2022-23 season, after just 25 goals in 96 Liga appearances.
He did, in the process, extend his contract with the Rojiblancos, but that was only done to try recoup some some money on their record signing at the end of what they hoped would be a successful stint at Stamford Bridge.
Felix managed just four goals in 20 appearances for Chelsea, but even though he also flopped during a subsequent loan stint at Barcelona, the Blues rather inexplicably decided to resign the Portugal international on a permanent basis in the summer of 2024 for £45m.
The free represented a major loss on Atleti's initial investment, but they didn't care; they were just happy to finally get the forward off their books.
(C)Getty Images5Romelu Lukaku: Inter - Chelsea (2021)
Lukaku said his return to Chelsea was about "unfinished business", given he had failed to score once during his previous stint at Stamford Bridge. However, while he finished the 2021-22 season as the club's top scorer, the striker's second spell proved far worse than his first. Indeed, 15 goals from 44 appearances was a dismal return given the club-record investment of £97.5m ($119m) in his services.
Lukaku only had himself to blame too, for conducting an unsanctioned interview with Sky Sport Italia midway through the season, in which he professed his undying love for former club Inter and, even more incredibly, criticised Thomas Tuchel's tactics. He never really recovered from losing the trust of his coach and the club's supporters, making his loan return to San Siro an inevitability.
However, after once again upsetting Inter fans by conducting secret talks with Juventus over a move to Turin, a proposed permanent switch to Juventus collapsed. Roma eventually took him on loan for the 2023-24 season but decided against buying him outright.
Consequently, Lukaku now finds himself in limbo at Chelsea, who are still hoping to flog him to Antonio Conte's Napoli before the close of the current transfer window.
Getty4Paul Pogba: Juventus - Man Utd (2016)
Manchester United lost Paul Pogba for nothing in 2012. Ten years later, it happened again. Make no mistake about it, most fans were delighted to get rid of a player that they'd long since given up on producing his undoubted world-class quality on a consistent basis. Indeed, some irate supporters on the Stretford End not only booed the France midfielder during the Premier League clash with Norwich in April 2022, they also shouted 'F*ck off, Pogba!'Losing such a valuable asset for nothing still stung, though. United, after all, paid a world-record £89.5m ($117m) to re-sign Pogba from Juventus in 2016. However, after six seasons, one Europa League, one Carabao Cup and a string of pitiful performances and shameful come-and-get-me pleas to rival clubs, Pogba returned from whence he game.
Again, much to most fans' relief.
Getty3Philippe Coutinho: Liverpool - Barcelona (2018)
One of the most important transfers in Liverpool's history but one of the worst in Barcelona's. The Blaugrana agreed to pay €120m (£100m/$130m) – plus €40m (£34m/$43m) in potential bonuses – for a player that they simply didn't need.
Was he an attacker, a midfielder or something in between? Bartomeu certainly had no idea but he went out of his way to sign the Brazilian regardless. His most significant contribution during his four years on Barca's books was scoring two goals against the Catalans while on loan to Bayern Munich in 2020.
2Eden Hazard: Chelsea - Real Madrid (2019)
A transfer 10 years in the making, Eden Hazard's €100m (£85m/$111m) move to Real Madrid appeared doomed from the moment the winger turned up overweight for pre-season training.
In fairness to the Belgian, he was also desperately unfortunate with injuries, having had an almost clean bill of health for the duration of his time at Chelsea. However, even when he managed to get a run of games together in Spain, he looked a very cheap imitation of the player who had illuminated the Premier League for seven years.
Hazard has got his hands on some important trophies, including the Champions League, but he played about as much part in Madrid's 2021-22 triumph as Gareth Bale. He left Santiago Bernabeu having never played a single minute of a Clasico, which tells you everything you need to know about the worst signing in Real's history.
(C)Getty images1Ousmane Dembele: Borussia Dortmund - Barcelona (2017)
The shock loss of Neymar to Paris Saint-Germain in the summer of 2017 left Barcelona in a tight spot. Yes, they had received a world-record fee for the Brazilian, but every club in the world knew they had money to burn and were desperate for a replacement. Indeed, Dortmund saw Barca coming a mile off, playing hard ball on Ousmane Dembele until the Catalans cracked, making the ultimate panic-buy by handing over an initial €105m (£90m/$112m) for a player with just one good Bundesliga season under his belt.
Dembele didn't just fail dismally to justify his price tag. He repeatedly let the club - and himself - down, right up until the moment he left for PSG just a year after extending his contract. There were constant reports that Dembele's diet was disastrous and that he was playing video games until the early hours of the morning, which led to him arriving late for one team meeting after another. As he admitted himself, he "lost five years" of his life because of his unprofessional lifestyle, which contributed to the umpteen injuries he suffered during his time at Camp Nou.Barca went out of their way to accommodate Dembele, with club president Joan Laporta arguing that this "genius" of a player deserved "special treatment", resulting in Dembele being given countless chances to prove himself. He never did, though, and infuriated his employers, his coach and the club's supporters by absconding to Paris having never once managed to hit double figures in a single Liga season.
