Sven-Goran Eriksson's Manchester City revolution has been amazing. Yes, he has Thaksin Shinawatra's big, black sack of quite-possibly-laundered money to back him up, but he has spent fairly well, and has a good eye for talent.
Bianchi, though, just did not work out. Splashing out a sizeable £8.8 million to land the 25-year-old from Serie A relegation strugglers Reggina is questionable.
First off, he hates England. He's not the first, and certainly will not be the last, Italian to come to this country and despise it from top to bottom. He has been spared the embarrassment, because Sven made the smart move of offloading him at the first possible opportunity.
He has gone back to Italy on loan to an under-performing Lazio side, with whom he has made a good start. Assuming Sven does well enough to recover a significant amount of the original transfer fee come this summer, it will be business not-so-badly done on part of the Swede.
Diomansy Kamara (West Bromwich Albion to Fulham)
Has Lawrie Sanchez cost Fulham their place in the Premier League? The coach did a fantastic job in charge of Northern Ireland, and was head-hunted by Mohamed Al-Fayed to take over from Chris Coleman at Craven Cottage.
Cookie was constantly forced to sell while in charge of the club, while Sanchez was allowed to reap the benefits of his work by spending over £25 million in one summer. Most of it was spent on trying to re-unite all of Northern Ireland at the Cottage; a disastrous experiment that went horribly wrong.
Chris Baird in particular stood out as the white equivalent of Titus Bramble, for his consistent ability to make the worst of each and every situation.
However, the biggest money was splashed out on Diomansy Kamara—a man little more proven than Earnshaw, who cost almost twice as much—and he has failed to live up to his price tag.
Craig Bellamy (Liverpool to West Ham United)
If your budget can't quite buy consistency, that's one thing, but why anyone would willingly sign Craig 'nine iron' Bellamy given his track-record off the pitch, quite frankly beggards belief.
He is reported to have earned Liverpool an unbelievable £7.5 million—yes, they made a profit—despite enduring a hit-and-miss time at the top. Bellamy has always been erratic and inconsistent everywhere else. Bellamy has failed to pay back even a quarter of his transfer fee during his stay so far at Upton Park. He is the sole representative from the Hammers' summer signings, of which several were absolutely woeful.
Florent Malouda (Olympique Lyonnais to Chelsea)
On paper, it was logical. Chelsea offloaded Arjen Robben to Real Madrid, chaired by the eccentric Ramon Calderon, who had developed a fondness for the part-time Flying Dutchman.
They then brought in France international Malouda, who was a hero of the Lyon side that dominated Ligue 1. Though he is still a quality player in his own right, injuries, poor form and a rumoured distaste for the English appetite has made him be labeled a flop.
David Nugent (Preston North End to Portsmouth)
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