Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham named worst transfer culprits for wasting millions on the likes of Angel di Maria, Christian Benteke and Roberto Soldado
Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham have been accused of being the worst offenders for signing big-money flops.
The three clubs have been singled out in a new study of transfer trends for signing the likes of £60m winger Angel di Maria, £32.5m forward Christian Benteke and £26m striker Roberto Soldado.
The Soccerex Transfer Review by Prime Time Sport based the rankings on the size of fees paid and the amount of minutes the players went on to play.
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Di Maria played just 27 Premier League games before being shipped off to Paris Saint-Germain at a loss last summer, just a year after his transfer from Real Madrid to Old Trafford.
United also had Memphis Depay, who has failed to convince since a £26m switch from PSV Eindhoven, and much-maligned £27.5m midfielder Marouane Fellaini, in the report’s list of top 10 failed signings of the last four years in the English top flight.
Benteke also lasted just one underwhelming season at Liverpool, scoring nine times in 29 league games, before joining Crystal Palace this summer.
The Reds, like United, had two more players in the top 10 flops list: £20m Serbia winger Lazar Markovic, who has made just 19 league appearances in two years at Anfield, and maverick Italy frontman Mario Balotelli, who cost £16m in 2014 and left on a free transfer last month.
Soldado, who netted just nine times in 52 league appearances as he struggled to live up to his billing at Tottenham, is joined on the list by fellow Spurs struggler Heung-Min Son, who has played just 28 times and scored four goals since a £22m move from Bayer Leverkusen.