10 Summer 2014 Transfers That Are Already Disappointing Fans
With the international break in force around European football, fans could be forgiven for thinking that time has been passing by extra slowly this week, so soon after the domestic football season has resumed across the continent.
Transfer deadline day was only just over a week ago, but with clubs having started recruiting players in July, the past two months have seen a flurry of activity across Europe. The Premier League has since reached an all-time transfer record high, with its clubs spending £835 million this summer, according to The Telegraph.
Yet not all transfers have been exciting nor ignited interest in fans of their new clubs. In fact, we are already starting to see signings who are disappointing fans.
Here are 10 transfers that took place in the summer of 2014 that already look disappointing (those disappointing on paper but have kept a first-team place at their clubs are by and large excluded). Let us know your thoughts and picks in the comments below.
10. Filipe Luis, Chelsea
1 of 10
We’ll start our list off with a more controversial nomination: £15.8 million left-back Filipe Luis, who signed for Chelsea from La Liga champions Atletico Madrid.
On paper, it looked the perfect signing for Chelsea—one of the most highly rated left-backs in Europe joining a host of accomplished and impressive signings by Jose Mourinho at Stamford Bridge this summer.
Yet a series of hesitant performances over preseason has failed to convince both Mourinho and Blues fans, and Filipe Luis has only seen seven minutes of Premier League action—as a substitute for Eden Hazard in the 6-3 win at Everton.
With Cesar Azpilicueta continuing to impress as a makeshift left-back, Luis will have to bide his time. His chances will come, with Mourinho inevitably rotating his squad across four competitions this season, but it’s safe to say Luis hasn’t made the impact most expected when he signed.
9. Amauri, Torino
2 of 10
At the time of writing, Amauri’s Wikipedia entry still has his current club listed as Parma a week after his move to Torino was officially confirmed (via Sky Sports), perhaps reflecting the unexciting nature of the signing.
With Alessio Cerci having joined Atletico Madrid this summer, Amauri’s addition will be to fill Cerci’s boots this season, yet an aging striker who plays in a different style to Cerci doesn’t look likely to be the best fit.
Amauri’s arrival means that Torino boss Giampiero Ventura now has five strikers at his disposal. Toro fans will be hoping that Ventura won’t be starting Amauri every week simply because of his bigger name.
8. Adrian Lopez, Porto
3 of 10
Porto have made a name as one of the shrewdest operators in the transfer market in recent years—this Guardian article by Harvey Taylor from January puts their net transfer profit since 2004 as £342 million.
So amid their stellar record of picking up exciting young prospects from South America and other continents and selling them off to bigger-name clubs for exorbitant fees, their signing of Adrian Lopez from Atletico Madrid this summer stands out like a sore thumb.
For a fee of €11 million, Adrian’s transfer fee is already significantly higher than Porto’s usual outlays, and his age (26) certainly doesn’t mark him out to be one for the longer term—Julen Lopetegui will surely be hoping Adrian makes a big enough impact soon if the club is to recoup a profit on him.
With Jackson Martinez established as their first-choice striker and the loan signing of Cristian Tello from Barcelona, Adrian faces plenty of competition to even get on the pitch this season.
7. Ross McCormack, Fulham
4 of 10
Ross McCormack’s name was always going to appear on this list and is probably the only name here that has kept a regular first-team place at his club but still qualifies as a disappointment.
To be fair, his jaw-dropping £11 million move from Leeds United to Fulham (according to BBC Sport) was always going to get a hefty price tag on his shoulders—one that perhaps will already have overshadowed his Fulham career, much like Andy Carroll’s £35 million move did to his stint at Liverpool.
Yet no goals in five league appearances for the Cottagers doesn’t exactly help his cause either, and as Fulham sit second from bottom in the Championship with just one point from their first five games, McCormack had better start delivering on his promise.
6. Robert Snodgrass, Hull City
5 of 10
Just a few months ago, Hull City’s capture of Robert Snodgrass for over £6 million from relegated Norwich City (via BBC Sport) laid a strong foundation for Steve Bruce to go on and complete an exciting transfer window for the Tigers.
Yet a cruel twist of fate means that Snodgrass has landed on this list not because of any disappointing performances but because of a potentially season-ending injury sustained in just his first game of the season.
The Daily Star is now reporting that Snodgrass has accepted the fact that he will be out for the entire season with a dislocated kneecap suffered in their opening-day fixture against Queens Park Rangers.
He’ll be hoping he stays clear of any such unwanted nominations when he returns to action next year.
5. Douglas, Barcelona
6 of 10
More than anything, Douglas’ potential £4.4 million signing from Sao Paulo to Barcelona (via BBC Sport) was just a head-scratcher, given the general lack of excitement over his previous performances even from football fans in Brazil.
Rupert Fryer of Goal.com has summarized the general feeling over Douglas’ transfer with his damning statement, “Not that the Sao Paulo fans care all that much,” even though he goes on to call it “one of the more curious deals of the transfer window.”
With Dani Alves and Martin Montoya ahead of the 24-year-old in the pecking order at right-back, it seems that only serious injury to his competitors will grant him minutes in the Barcelona first team—and he’ll be fervently hoping he doesn’t look out of place when he does get to play.
4. Nicklas Bendtner, Wolfsburg
7 of 10
After a career that has seen him turn out for Arsenal, Birmingham City, Sunderland and—bizarrely—Juventus, Nicklas Bendtner’s next port of call is Bundesliga side Wolfsburg, who will be witnessing his regular episodes of eccentricity.
He joins a side with Ivica Olic firmly instilled as a first-choice striker and with fellow new signing Aaron Hunt arriving from Werder Bremen, and Bendtner will need to prove his worth as a top-level striker in the Bundesliga.
He has once again made the headlines with a comical miss from an audacious flicked finish on national team duty for Denmark against Turkey this week.
It is safe to say Bendtner still has a long way to go if he’s to fulfill his self-proclaimed potential.
3. Ji Dong-Won, Borussia Dortmund
8 of 10
When Ji Dong-won scored an equalizer in his second spell with FC Augsburg against Borussia Dortmund just over a week after his new employers confirmed he would sign six months later, his stock briefly rose again.
But that goal proved to be Ji’s only contribution in his 12-game stint for Augsburg from January to May last season, and he arrived at Dortmund with widespread confusion over Jurgen Klopp’s decision to even consider him in the first place.
Any hopes of Ji truly launching his career in Europe in typical Klopp and Dortmund style have already been dashed with his exclusion from the club’s Champions League squad list, and he looks to stay on the sidelines and in the stands as his club looks to compete with Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga.
He has formidable competition ahead of him in the striking positions.
2. Saphir Taider, Southampton
9 of 10
How do you define a disappointing or failed transfer? Well, if you join a club on loan, only for your new employers to terminate it and send you back to your parent club, then that comes pretty close to being the worst kind of transfer failure.
And that’s exactly what happened to Saphir Taider, who joined Southampton on a season-long loan from Internazionale in August only for the Saints to send him back to Italy, saying that “he failed to live up to the high levels of commitment expected of Southampton players,” via BBC Sport.
Taider managed to disappoint his new manager Ronald Koeman in just a matter of weeks, enough for the Dutchman to terminate the deal. Inter have since sent him back out on loan, this time to Serie A side Sassuolo.
In any other summer, Taider would top the lot in a list of disappointing transfers, yet he’s outdone by our No. 1 this time…
1. Brandao, Bastia
10 of 10
That title goes to Brandao, who at 34 years of age made the move from Saint-Etienne to Bastia this summer after a relatively successful two seasons with "Les Verts."
Any chance of Brandao replicating his goal-scoring feats with Bastia quickly disappeared after his bizarre moment of madness resulted in a temporary ban until September 18, when the Ligue de Football Professionnel make a decision on his punishment, according to the Press Association (via The Guardian).
Brandao waited for Thiago Motta in the tunnel after Bastia’s 0-2 defeat by Paris Saint-Germain and head-butted the midfielder, reportedly breaking his nose and immediately running away towards his team’s dressing room, according to ESPN FC.
It was a criminal act that goes far beyond any footballing disappointment that the rest of our list has shown.
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
