Andy Carroll and the 8 Biggest Wastes of Money in the Premier League

The footballing world has been constantly criticised for overpaying players and forking out huge sums of money for transfer fees. However, some money, or most of it in some cases is paid back in success. An example? Cristiano Ronaldo. An €80 million price tag seems justifiable when the winger has emerged as arguably the best player in the world.

However, not all football players are so lucky. Some players have arrived at clubs with huge price tags on their heads, only to disappoint time and time again.

Here are my worst 10.

Andy Carroll

Newcastle to Liverpool. Transfer fee: £35 million

Andy Carroll's performances have been under the microscope following a surprising deadline day transfer. The towering forward endured a slow start to his career due to injury, a career that has still not come to life.

Only a handful of goals and some bizarre misses haven't looked good on Carroll's CV, so he must improve in order to pay Liverpool back.

However, it's not as bad as it seems for the Liverpool striker (who is being put on a strict diet) as he has plenty of time on his hands to improve.

Fernando Torres

Liverpool to Chelsea. £50 million pounds

Fernando Torres made a shock deadline day transfer from Merseyside to London last year in what was supposed to be a dream move for the Spaniard.

However, his career still hasn't kicked off and, nearly 12 months later, we are looking at potentially one of the biggest flops of all time.

However, things are looking up for the Spaniard as Torres seems to have regained a fraction of his old form. Better late than never.

Andriy Shevchenko

AC Milan to Chelsea. £30.8 million pounds

Andriy Shevchenko is one of the best strikers Ukraine has produced. Ever.

That was why all the hype of signing one of of the best strikers in the world was justified. However, like Torres, Shevchenko's form crumbled at Chelsea and never picked up. He was sold back to Dynamo Kyiv after an ultimately terrible period at Stamford Bridge.

Stan Collymore

Nottingham Forest to Liverpool. £8.5 million pounds

Stan Collymore broke the British transfer fee when his brilliant wing pay earned him a move to Liverpool. However, the move never materialised into a success and Collymore endured two painful years at Anfield. It is regarded as a huge disappointment by many Liverpool fans still today.

Adrian Mutu

Parma to Chelsea. £16 million pounds

The £16 million Romanian scored just six goals in 27 games for the Blues, but owes his place mainly to his being sacked for the eight-month ban he acquired for cocaine use.

El-Hadji Diouf

Lens to Liverpool. £10 million pounds

The striker was brought to Liverpool to try and score goals. Three goals in three years isn't a very good return on investment.

Albert Luque

Deportivo to Newcastle. £10 million pounds

Despite scoring against Sunderland early on, £10 million man Luque continued the noble Tyneside tradition of ill-fitting Latin recruits and left after just one league goal—that one.

Juan Sebastian Veron

Lazio to Manchester United, Manchester United to Chelsea. £28 million, £14 million.

Veron was a waste of cash not once, but twice. United broke their own record to get him from Lazio for £28 million before his halfhearted midfield displays earned him a move to Chelsea for half the price—a year later, he was back in Italy.