The 50 Most Overrated Footballers Right Now

What makes a player overrated?

Well, the short version is this: It depends.

The long version appears over the next 50 slides. As we'll see, players can be overrated because they make too much money.

Or because they think they should make more money.

Or because their team paid an outrageous transfer fee for them.

Or because they perform below expectations.

Or just because fans are a little too giddy about them.

Whatever the reason is, these 50 players are overrated in one way or another. Disagree? Post the requisite angry comments below.

Fernando Torres

Where else would we start?

Spanish striker Fernando Torres joined Chelsea from Liverpool in a £50 million transfer last winter.

Since then, he has scored five goals in all competitions.

Hey, that's only £10 million per goal!

Andy Carroll

After Liverpool sold Torres, they "reinvested" some of the profits in English forward Andy Carroll.

Carroll reportedly cost £35 million from Newcastle. So far he's scored seven goals for the Reds in all competitions.

For all the math majors out there, that works out to around £5 million per strike.

Congrats, Andy! You're half as overrated as Fernando Torres.

Hulk

Hulk is a Brazilian forward/winger whose real name is the much less awesome-sounding Givanildo Vieira de Souza.

The way things are going, Givanildo could become the next Torres or Carroll.

That's because Hulk's contract reportedly has a buyout clause worth £83 million. But that hasn't stopped Chelsea from showing strong interest in signing him.

Eden Hazard

Eden Hazard, a 21-year-old Belgian winger who currently plays for Lille, may be Europe's hottest transfer prospect.

Hazard has reportedly said he wants a transfer this summer, and top European clubs are apparently lining up for his services.

He can't possibly live up to the hype. Can he?

Hugo Rodallega

Wigan forward Hugo Rodallega reportedly wants his next contract to be worth £60,000 per week.

The Colombian has already said he'll be leaving Wigan this summer to find a willing victim.

Just to be clear, though, Rodallega has scored two goals this season. And his highest yearly tally since joining Wigan had been the 10 he scored in 2009-10.

Mateo Kovacic

Manchester United reportedly ended their pursuit of 17-year-old Croatian starlet Mateo Kovacic after his club, Dinamo Zagreb, slapped a £10 million pricetag on him.

We don't blame United for backing out.

Charles N'Zogbia

French winger Charles Insomnia—er, N'Zogbia—joined Aston Villa from Wigan Athletic last summer in a deal reportedly worth £9.5 million.

Mr. Insomnia has scored once this season.

In fairness, though, he has created two assists as well.

Bryan Ruiz

Fulham spent a reported £10.6 million last summer to sign Costa Rican international winger/forward Bryan Ruiz from FC Twente.

So far that £10.6 million has brought Fulham a return of two goals and four assists.

Clint Dempsey

Sorry, my fellow Americans, but it's true.

As a group we tend to overstate Clint Dempsey's talents, often going so far as insisting that he's a superstar.

In fairness, Dempsey is having a pretty nice season.

But he is not a superstar.

Dempsey is a solid Premiership player.

That's all.

Samuel Eto'o

When Cameroon striker Samuel Eto'o signed with Anzhi Makhachkala last year, he reportedly became the highest-paid player in the world.

Really? Not someone else? Not anybody else?

Carlos Tevez

For the past several months, the rumor mill has been consumed by the Carlos Tevez saga.

During that time a funny thing happened.

Manchester City moved on without Tevez. With 14 matches left in the season, City sit atop the Premiership.

Coincidence? Maybe.

Mario Balotelli

Sticking with Manchester City for a moment, let's consider the case of Mario Balotelli.

Balotelli signed for City in August 2010 for a reported £22.5 million. Since then, he's been involved in more controversies than goals.

Why always you, Mario?

Probably because you're overrated.

Gareth Barry

The thing about Manchester City is that they have owners who don't care one bit about losing money.

Thus, good players make outrageous money.

Case in point: Gareth Barry, who signed a deal 2009 that gave him £90,000. Per week.

James Milner

Here's another great example.

England international James Milner reportedly makes more than £100,000 per week at City.

Does anyone besides Milner think he's worth it?

With Milner making that much, it's no wonder this next guy wanted to join City so badly…

Samir Nasri

Samir Nasri held Arsenal ransom last summer, probably because he knew he was going to get more than £100,000 per week by joining City.

Nasri is a good player, but that's a little excessive.

Aleksandar Kolarov

And then there's the £16 million Manchester City spent on fullback Aleksandar Kolarov.

Other sources claim it was £17 million. But what's £1 million to Manchester City?

Actually, the next slide may answer that…

Yaya Toure

If this report is correct, for Manchester City £1 million means five weeks' wages paid to midfielder Yaya Toure.

Holy moley.

Wayne Bridge

Wayne Bridge is finally on the pitch again after securing a loan move from Manchester City to Sunderland.

So how is he overrated?

Because Sunderland only took him after Manchester City reportedly agreed to pay 75 percent of Bridge's £90,000 per week salary.

Per Mertesacker

Arsenal signed 6'6" German defender Per Mertesacker for about £10 million last summer.

Since then, Arsenal's defense has managed to not improve against aerial balls into the box.

Go figure.

Mario Gomez

German striker Mario Gomez is an excellent player. This season alone, he has scored 27 goals for Bayern Munich.

But is he the second-best player in the world? The Castrol Rankings say so (screenshot from Feb. 14).

We think they're crazy.

Karim Benzema

Speaking of those Castrol Rankings, Real Madrid's Karim Benzema comes in at No. 3.

For real?

We'll have some of whatever the Castrol Rankings people are smoking.

Luis Suarez

Pay attention, kids, because this is what's called a nuanced argument.

Luis Suarez is a world-class player. On talent alone, he's not overrated at all.

Got that? Good. Now, here's the other shoe.

Suarez is not worth all the trouble.

Charlie Adam

While we're on the subject of Suarez, let's give Liverpool their due.

The Reds, somehow, find themselves in seventh place despite a summer spending spree in excess of £100 million.

First up is Charlie Adam, who joined Liverpool from Blackpool last summer for a modest fee. But while the transfer fee wasn't steep, Adam's arrival was hailed as a game-changer for the Reds.

It hasn't really worked out that way.

Jordan Henderson

Midfielder Jordan Henderson reportedly cost Liverpool £20 million.

Henderson is a solid player, but £20 million was too much.

Stewart Downing

Liverpool also reportedly paid Aston Villa £20 million for winger Stewart Downing last summer.

So far, Downing has scored one goal—none in the league—with zero assists.

Ashley Young

Ashley Young is another winger who left Aston Villa in a high-profile move last summer.

And after his £16 million transfer to Manchester United, Young started strongly with two goals and three assists in the Red Devils' famous 8-2 win over Arsenal.

Since then, though, Young has tallied just one goal and one assist for United.

Pepe

Pepe is basically a dirty, sneaky fouling machine.

Every now and then, he whines a little, just to keep things fresh.

Isn't that all, though?

Raul Meireles

Raul Meireles covers a lot of ground in a match.

That's about all he does.

Peter Crouch

Peter Crouch turned himself into an England international by being really, really tall and being pretty good in the air.

Yawn.

If we were 6'7" we could score twice as many goals.

Still not sure how he bagged Abbey Clancy, though.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Don't misunderstand: Ibra has tons of talent.

But he was a massive flop at Barcelona, and like Suarez, he's really not worth all the trouble.

Victor Valdes

Victor Valdes plays goalkeeper for the best team in the world.

He doesn't always quite live up to the standard.

Olivier Giroud

Olivier Giroud is tearing up France's Ligue 1 this season.

So far he has scored 20 goals as Montpellier have stormed to second place in the table.

That's led to a lot of transfer speculation involving big-name clubs. But let's see Giroud experience sustained success before we anoint him a world-class player.

David De Gea

We've called out Liverpool and Manchester City for their over-spending, so we have to give equal time.

As of right now, not many people would rate Manchester United keeper David De Gea too highly. But he did cost the Red Devils a reported £17 million last year.

That sounds a bit overrated to us.

Tim Tebow

What? Tim Tebow plays the other kind of football?

But we thought he was the best football player ever. EVAR!

Oh. Silly us.

He's only a so-so American football player. Right, then.

Diego Milito

Admittedly, Diego Milito has scored more than 50 goals since joining Inter Milan in 2009. He always seems to pop up at the right time.

But something always feels off with him.

And it has to do with all that popping up.

Does anybody else get the impression that Milito disappears completely for long, long, long periods of most matches?

Kaka

Kaka is not the player he once was.

But he still draws the attention of big clubs normally reserved for the world's best.

Gervinho

Gervinho made a splash with his £10.5 million move to Arsenal last summer.

And since joining the Gunners, he has scored four league goals.

But if you've seen Arsenal play this season, you know Gervinho would have at least twice that number if he could finish at even a below-average level.

Theo Walcott

Theo Walcott has been overrated since Sven-Goran Eriksson selected him as a 17-year-old for England's 2006 World Cup squad.

And while Theo may be the league's fastest player, that doesn't necessarily mean he's one of the best.

Andrei Arshavin

Sure, Arsenal fans hate him.

Arsene Wenger, on the other hand, thinks Andrei Arshavin is swell.

That qualifies as overrated.

Marouane Chamakh

Much like Andrei Arshavin, Moroccan forward Marouane Chamakh is generally considered a laughingstock by most Arsenal fans.

But someone in Paris reportedly thinks he's worth £10 million.

Hint: That's about £9.99 million too much.

Joey Barton

Joey Barton was named QPR captain approximately 37 seconds after he signed with the London club. To this day, no one knows why.

Without his big mouth, Barton would be unknown.

Adel Taarabt

Overrated by himself, that is.

Make no mistake: Adel Taarabt is a legend in his own mind.

Barton only became QPR captain after Taarabt stuck his foot in his mouth. But unlike Barton, Taarabt doesn't seek to tear others down with his words.

He just uses them to let everyone know how much he thinks of himself.

Shaun Wright-Phillips

Wasn't the Shaun Wright-Phillips signing supposed to be "big" for QPR?

So far, the diminutive winger has contributed to the QPR cause with a whopping four assists and zero goals.

Dimitar Berbatov

Dimitar Berbatov scores a lot of goals.

But take a look at his goal chart (scroll down to the bottom of the page).

All his goals come from inside the box, and almost half can be classified as tap-ins.

Fox in the box? Please.

Come on. Who couldn't do that?

OK, not everyone.

Julio Cesar

Inter Milan's Julio Cesar was named Serie A's top goalkeeper in 2009 and 2010.

To this day, he still features regularly in best-of lists.

And while he is a good keeper, Julio Cesar tends to make costly errors at bad times.

That's why he's overrated.

John Terry

As you'll recall, the whole England manager mess goes back to one—John Terry.

And that's funny, because while Fabio Capello was right to be upset at the FA for undermining his authority, John Terry hardly seems worthy of all the fuss.

Of all the players Capello could have lost his job supporting, Terry is probably the least morally sound.

And besides, he's not the player he once was.

Rio Ferdinand

Much like John Terry, his former partner at the heart of England's defense, Manchester United's Rio Ferdinand isn't the player he used to be.

And he's been on the downward slope for some time.

Ricardo Carvalho

Ricardo Carvalho was a world-class player when he helped Jose Mourinho's Chelsea win a pair of Premier League titles in the mid 2000s.

These days at Real Madrid, he's somewhat less than that.

Not that Mourinho seems to know it.

Steve Mandanda

French keeper Steve Mandanda is a flashy player who regularly makes spectacular-looking plays in goal.

Some people think that makes him world-class.

We think it makes him a bit of a show-off.

David Beckham

Underwear model/footballer David Beckham used to be a world-class player.

These days, though, he's more about crossing over into the mainstream while moonlighting with the Los Angeles Galaxy.

Thing is, some people Stateside still think he's the bomb.

And while he did have an excellent 2011, Beckham is nowhere near the player he once was.

Ignorance is bliss.

Follow Mike on Twitter: @MikeCummings37