Big names who failed in the Premier League

Everyone is aware of how physical, aggressive and competitive the Premier League is. Because of that, we’ve seen a lot of players who were stars outside of England but failed to make the same impact in the Premier League. Fernando Torres, Alexis Sanchez are among the set of players who have been both stars and flops but there exists a certain group who will only be remembered poorly. Let’s see.

1. Falcao

Falcao was once called the most dangerous striker around. ‘El Tigre’ had a period of domination with Porto and Atletico Madrid between 2009 and 2013, and his time with Monaco in the 2013/14 season started off pretty well but then he got an injury.

Manchester United took a chance and gambled on Falcao, hoping that he’d rediscover himself but the player managed only four goals in 26 appearances with the club and that almost convinced the world that he wasn’t worthy signing anymore.

Chelsea somehow decided to sign Falcao on a big-money contract immediately but were rewarded with only a single goal in ten games and it was almost a repeat of what the clubs had seen with Juan Sebastian Veron.

2. Andriy Shevchenko

Shevchenko won the 2004 Ballon d’Or and was the Champions League top scorer in 1998/99 and 2005/06. He had also earned a spot in the FIFPro World XI in 2005. He was then brought by Roman Abramovich in 2006 but his inconsistent form at Stamford contributed to Jose’s first departure with the club. Shevchenko contributed with only nine goals across two seasons but it was nothing that the fans had dreamt of.

3. Angel Di Maria

When you join Manchester United from Real Madrid for an English-record £59.7m, everyone at the club expects great numbers but that was not the case with Angel Di Maria. The Argentine was given the number seven shirt, hoping that he would turn out like a Ronaldo or a Beckham but he just bagged three goals in 27 games and apart from that, injuries and other issues proved the Di Maria was not enough.

He was then sold to Paris Saint-Germain as early as they could and surprisingly the player did better there.

4. Juan Cuadrado

During his time with Fiorentina, Juan Cuadrado was seen as one of the most exciting midfielders in Serie A and his performances with Colombia at the 2014 World Cup only added more. Chelsea finally made a bi and got the player in early 2015 but things fell apart.

He was not up to the mark and made Chelsea struggle more when he was on the pitch. Cuadrado was then loaned to Juventus, where he found himself and then moved to Italy permanently.

5. Eliaquim Mangala

He became the league’s most expensive defender when he sealed a £42m move to the Citizens in 2014. The Frenchman was a beast with his former side Porto.  However, it took two seasons for Manchester City to realize that he was not worthy enough. He made more errors than the contributions.

After a few failed loan moves, he was sold to Valencia on a free transfer.

6. Jerome Boateng

It is very hard to recollect that Boateng even played in the Premier League. A £10m for Manchester City in 2010, the defender was most of the time played out of position in Manchester, spending a lot of time a right-back instead of a centre-back and that led to his downfall.

Boateng was just one move away, a move to Bayern Munich, where the German went on to become one of Europe’s best centre-backs. 

7. Filipe Luis

Left-back is a position where Chelsea have never managed a long-term player, fit enough or sometimes worthy enough of keeping his spot. After Ashley Cole left in 2014, the Blues never had a reliable option in this position and Filipe Luis is one of the players who failed to fit in.

He was brought to Stamford Bridge as a £16m move but just like all the previous stories, the defender failed miserably. Luis was eventually replaced by right-back Cesar Azpilicueta and when an out-of-position player becomes the first choice, it becomes quite evident that Luis was not doing what he was bought for. 

featured image credits- footballtransfertavern.com