10 big-money footballers who failed miserably

Kaka and Torres did not have the best of times at Real Madrid and Chelsea respectively
Kaka and Torres did not have the best of times at Real Madrid and Chelsea respectively

#4 Thomas Lemar

Thomas Lemar.
Thomas Lemar.

Thomas Lemar has to feature on this list because of the amount Atletico Madrid shelled out on him.

After impressing for Monaco in Ligue 1, Lemar was one of the hottest prospects in the world as Atletico won the race to sign him for £55 million.

However, in two seasons, Lemar has only scored four times in 72 games, and Atletico are actively looking to move him on, with coach Diego Simeone himself admitting that the move has been a flop.

At 24, the footballer has a chance to resurrect his career, but it is safe to say that Lemar's Madrid experience has set him back.

#3 Angel Di Maria

Angel Di Maria.
Angel Di Maria.

Angel Di Maria remains one of the best attackers in the world. His nightmare at Manchester United has not dented his reputation whatsoever as the Argentine rediscovered his class and touch for Paris Saint Germain.

But who can forget the disaster that was his £59.7 million move to Old Trafford? Bizarrely, Di Maria was disposed off by Real Madrid after helping them to win the La Decima. To be fair to him, Di Maria didn't even want to be at United.

That, however, did not stop him from showing his class in the first month where he became the club's player of the month. However, everything went downhill from there on as the then record signing entered an endless rut of poor form and injuries from which PSG rescued him.

#2 Alexis Sanchez

Alexis Sanchez.
Alexis Sanchez.

In what turned out to be possibly the most disappointing transfer in modern football, Manchester United expected that the world will be at their feet when Alexis Sanchez moved to Old Trafford. After all, he had established himself as one of the best attackers in the game at Arsenal.

However, what began was a constant nightmare for club and player with Sanchez never moving past first gear every time he put on a United shirt. United paid £59.3 million in wages to the Chilean, in return for which they got just three Premier League goals.

Now at Inter Milan, Sanchez said he wanted to go back to Arsenal after his first training session. This was clearly a match made in hell.

#1 Kaka

Kaka.
Kaka.

Kaka is the last footballer to win the Ballon D'Or before the Lionel Messi-Cristiano Ronaldo duopoly began. Yes, he was the greatest footballer of his time at his peak. Sadly, that peak was not at Real Madrid. He moved to the club after capturing the imagination of the world at AC Milan and was made the second-most expensive player in the world by Los Blancos.

Injuries, lack of form and the arrival of younger talents such as Mesut Ozil led to Kaka slowly becoming a fringe player at Los Blancos. He scored 29 times and assisted 32 goals in 132 appearances for the club.

One huge reason why he is included here is because Real Madrid actually sold him back to Milan for a huge loss. In four seasons at the Spanish club, he won the league with them only once, with Real also undergoing a barren spell in Europe.


Honourable mentions:

Andriy Shevchenko (Chelsea), Andy Caroll (Liverpool), Zlatan Ibrahimovic (Barcelona), Jackson Martinez (Atletico Madrid), Danny Drinkwater (Chelsea), Tiemoue Bakayoko (Chelsea), Leonardo Bonucci (AC Milan).

Note: Players such as Philippe Coutinho, Eden Hazard and Antoine Griezmann are not included as their spells are ongoing.

Quick Links

Edited by Bhargav
Sportskeeda logo
Close menu
WWE
WWE
NBA
NBA
NFL
NFL
MMA
MMA
Tennis
Tennis
NHL
NHL
Golf
Golf
MLB
MLB
Soccer
Soccer
F1
F1
WNBA
WNBA
More
More
bell-icon Manage notifications