TOP 10 WORST PREMIER LEAGUE SIGNINGS

THOMAS BROLIN

Brolin arrived at Leeds with a massive reputation.

Classy performances at Euro ’92 and World Cup ’94, where

Sweden made the last four on both occasions, convinced

Howard Wilkinson that Brolin would be the perfect foil for

Tony Yeboah. Unfortunately, injury led to weight gain and weight

gain led to mediocrity and ridicule from fans across the land.

Brolin was quickly loaned out and retired at the age of 29.

STEVE MARLET

Jean Tigana signed Steve Marlet for Fulham for £11.5m

back in 2001, Fulham’s record signing. Marlet went on to repay

the manager’s faith by scoring one goal for every million pounds

of investment (11 goals in 54 appearances to be precise).

In 2004, Fulham’s chairman, Mohammed Al Fayed took Tigana

to court, claiming the manager had overspent on the striker.

ANDREA SILENZI

The wonderfully erratic striker holds a prestigious distinction:

he was the first Italian to play in English football.

But after failing to score one league goal in an abysmal two year spell

at the City Ground, Dave Bassett ripped up his contract.

MARCO BOOGERS

Boogers was signed for West Ham in 1995, by Harry Redknapp.

“I signed Boogers off a video,” said Redknapp, “He was a good

player but a nutter.” Boogers was sent off in his second match for the

Hammers, after a horror tackle on Gary Neville. The Dutchman was

to make only two more appearances for West Ham and was quickly

shipped out on loan.

WINSTON BOGARDE

You couldn’t fault the Dutchman’s pedigree:

the Ajax graduate had spells at Milan and Barcelona before arriving

at the end of Gianluca Vialli’s reign. Chelsea then paid £40,000

a week for four years for nine full appearances with Bogarde stubbornly

refusing to move.

FRANCIS JEFFERS

Signed by Arsene Wenger in 2001 for £8m, Jeffers never

lived up to his hype as the “fox in the box” Arsenal so craved.

Four goals in 22 appearances and Franny was quickly loaned back

to Everton and eventually sold to Charlton.

JUAN SEBASTIAN VERON

After years of dominance with the Giggs-Keane-Scholes-Beckham

midfield quartet, Sir Alex lashed out £28.1 million on Argentinian

starlet Juan Sebastian Veron. But, after 51 appearances for

the Red Devils and only 7 goals, it was widely perceived that

Veron had struggled to keep pace with the English game. When

Abramovich came calling for the Argentine for £15 million in 2003,

Fergie ate humble pie and when Mourinho came to Chelsea in 2004,

Veron was quickly shown the door, again.

SERGEI REBROV

Throughout the ‘90s, Dynamo Kiev blazed an unlikely trail

sparked by their prolific double act. While that duo’s

Batman, Andriy Shevchenko secured a move to mighty Milan,

Sergei “Robin” Rebrov made do with an £11m transfer to

George Graham’s Tottenham side. Here followed three years

of unrelenting toil: 10 goals in 60 games, one in his last 30 appearances

and equally uninspired loan spells at Fenerbache and West Ham.

MASSIMO TAIBI

Four games and 10 goals conceded. A poor record for any

'keeper, let alone a Manchester United 'keeper. Dubbed the

"Venetian Blind" by the Financial Times after letting a tame

Matthew Le Tissier strike through his legs, Fergie, who’d laid out

£4.5 million on the keeper, soon wielded the axe and packed

Massimo off to Reggina.

ANDY CARROLL

After scoring 31 goals in 80 appearances for Newcastle,

Liverpool parted with £35 million of the £50 million war-chest

they’d raised from the sale of Fernando Torres to Chelsea.

Fast forward 18 months and the 6ft 3in target-man has only

netted 6 goals in 42 appearances for Liverpool.