Football Transfer Flops - The hall of shame, football's worst signings

Please send us any other players you want to appear in Transfer flops from any league with a reason why we should add them.

Bosko Balaban - Aston Villa

Signed by John Gregory for 6.5 million from Zagreb, played 40 minutes for the first team in a uefa cup tie and 5 minutes in the carling cup scoring 0 goals.

Marco Boogers - West Ham

Harry Redknapp wasn't always the streetwise London gaffer he is today. The arrival of 'Mad' Marco Boogers for £1m from Sparta Rotterdam in July 1995 was just one of a number of misjudged West Ham imports. Coming on as a substitute against Manchester United in only his second appearance for the club, Boogers was almost immediately red carded for 'a sickening horror tackle' (The Sun) on Gary Neville. He promptly disappeared, discovered several weeks later hiding in a mobile home in a Dutch caravan park. The Boogers debacle, which ended in a loan deal and subsequent free transfer to Groningen despite his protestations - 'I'm not mental' - was the worst of a dreadful Redknapp collection: Florin Raducioiu arrived for £2.4m in July 96 and was sold at a £600,000 loss six months later after missing training for a Harvey Nichols shopping trip; Portuguese supermodel Dani lasted five months before being thrown out for excessive nightclubbing; and £2m star Javier Margas went missing in February last year, turning up later at home in Chile. He, unlike Boogers, did come back.

Massimo Taibi - Manchester United

Sir Alex signed him to replace Peter Schmeichel? In 1999, with Raimond van der Gouw always wearing his bridesmaid’s outfit and Mark Bosnich too cocky by half, Sir Alex Ferguson splashed out £4.5m on Venezia journeyman Massimo Taibi. The omnipresent tracksuit bottoms should have caused Ferguson to pause for thought. Instead, Taibi conceded two sloppy goals at Liverpool on his debut and one to Wimbledon the following week. Then the fun began: Southampton scored three at Old Trafford, including a Matthew Le Tissier “shot” that trickled through Taibi’s legs and was so soft, it barely crossed the line. Eight days later, Chelsea put five past him at Stamford Bridge and this Italian’s job was over, little more than a month after it had began. Taibi rotted in the reserves until Reggina took him on loan before a £2.5m purchase at season’s end. He was, noted a generous Roy Keane, “clearly a good keeper”. Clearly.

Juan Sebastian Veron - Manchester United

signed for 28.1 million from lazio on a five year deal and lasted just 2 years before being sold onto Chelsea for less than half man utd payed. The strange thing is he was touted as one of the best midfielders in the world and seem to lose all talent the minute he steped off the plane at Manchester Airport.

Winston Bogarde - Chelsea

His career at Chelsea is notable because, only weeks after signing his contract with the club, the newly-appointed manager Claudio Ranieri wanted him to leave. According to Bogarde it would be next to impossible to find a team that would offer him a contract comparable to the one he had at Chelsea . Bogarde demanded that his contract at Chelsea be respected; as a result Bogarde never played for Chelsea again. In the end, he only appeared eleven times during his four-year contract, reportedly earning £40,000 a week during this period. His contract ended in 2004.

Corrado Grabbi - Blackburn Rovers

How the Italians chuckled in 2001 when Graeme Souness, manager of Blackburn Rovers, paid £6.75m for Juventus cast-off Corrado Grabbi, who had just scored 19 goals in 34 Serie B (not to be confused with Serie A) games for Ternana. Grabbi’s work ethic was never in doubt, but two goals in 30 Premiership games suggested Souness might have been better buying a Serie A player. After an especially profligate performance in the 2003 Uefa Cup against Genclerbirgli, Souness lost patience. Grabbi was bought by Ancona. The fee was undisclosed, but it wasn’t £6.75m.

Sergi Rebrov - Spurs

In June 2000 he was transferred to Tottenham Hotspur for a then-club record £11 million but after the sacking of George Graham in March 2001, he was unable to establish himself under new manager Glenn Hoddle. He went out on loan first to Fenerbahce and subsequently to West Ham United.

Hugo Viana - Newcastle

signed for 12 million-played 39 times in his first season (mostly as a sub), then went on loan to Sporting Lisbon ,then came back to Newcastle to fight for his place and never made the subs bench

Ali Dia -Southampton

Ali Dia is a former Senegalese footballer who once played for English FA Premier League club Southampton, after falsely claiming to be a Senegalese international.
Having already had a failed trial at Rotherham United, Dia was signed by Southampton manager Graeme Souness in 1996, after Souness received a phone call purporting to be from Liberian international and former FIFA World Player of the Year George Weah. "Weah" told Souness that Dia was his cousin, had played for Paris Saint-Germain and had played 13 times for his country. In actual fact, none of this was true, and the phone call was from Dia's agent. However, Souness was convinced, and signed Dia on a one-month contract.
Dia played just one game for Southampton, against Leeds United on November 21, 1996. He came on for Matthew Le Tissier who was substituted after 32 minutes but his performance was spectacularly below Premier League quality; many would say that Dia was the worst player to ever play for Southampton. He himself suffered a substitution after playing for 53 minutes. Leeds won the match 2-0.
Dia was released by Southampton two weeks into his contract. He briefly played for non-league Gateshead F.C., before fading into obscurity. He has achieved a notorious status amongst English football fans for his lack of ability, and is regularly featured in lists of bad players or bad transfers.

Tomas Brolin

In Euro 92, England fell to a superb goal from a hugely promising young Swedish striker. Eight years on, the scorer, now a vacuum-cleaner salesman based in Stockholm, could only reflect on a career which went grindingly wrong. Tomas Brolin at his peak was graceful, skillful and captivating. Past it, he was one of the most limited players in world football. The decline set in soon after Euro 92, but apparently went unnoticed by then Leeds boss George Graham, who paid Parma £4.5m for him in 1995. When Brolin arrived looking like Keith Chegwin's tubby twin, Graham was panic-stricken. Brolin made just 19 appearances in two years before his career collapsed amidst a series of training ground walk-outs and dietary rumours. Leeds paid out the remainder of his contract. He returned to England for a final Premiership fling at Crystal Palace in 1998, but, after 13 appearances, was deemed too fat to play, and made assistant manager to Attilio Lombardo when Steve Coppell was moved aside. Palace were instantly relegated - Brolin hasn't been seen in this country since.

Sean Dundee - Liverpool

In 1998, Karlsruhe were relegated from the Bundesliga. Their tubby star forward, Sean “Crocodile” Dundee, scored just three times. These facts did not deter Liverpool manager Roy Evans from splashing out £2m for the German international who claimed to be as fast as Michael Owen. In fact, he wasn’t as fast as Liverpool fan Michael Howard. Liverpool’s official website raised the notion that Dundee was “possibly the worst player to have donned the red of Liverpool

Wim Jonk - Sheffield Wednesday

Not only did Jonk look like Michael Palin, but he was as tough in the tackle as him. The Dutchman, signed for £2.5m from PSV Eindhoven in 1998, lolloped anonymously around Wednesday’s midfield for two seasons, the second of which saw them relegated. After experiencing the hurly burly of two First Division games, he sat out the remaining year of his contract, citing a tummy ache. At the end of that season, he retired to concentrate on his poetry. Wednesday fans had their own rhymes for him.

Andrea Silenzi - Nottingham Forest

Signed for £1.8m by Frank Clark for Nottingham Forest in 1995, 6'3" Silenzi took just seven full appearances to prove his worth. One of the first 'big name' Italian imports, Silenzi, known as 'the Big Brush', was a picture of disinterest. Earning a then-enormous £30,000 a month, his laid-back control, finishing and approach play soon had management and supporters worried. His only excess was in the length of his first touch. It took just weeks for the deal to look suspect, a month for it to look plain wrong and another to collapse. Half way through his first season, he had lost his place to Jason Lee, was loaned to Venezia, and when told to return by Dave Bassett, refused. Forest tore up his contract - meaning the whole deal, including wages and bonuses, had cost the club £2.75m. He scored twice - one against Oxford in the FA Cup and the other against Bradford in the Coca Cola cup. 'The whole business turned into a complete fiasco,' said Bassett.

Ivo Stas - aston villa

Signed by Josef Venglos for £750.000 in 1990 from Banik Ostrava, got injured in his first training session and never played again although he was at the club for 2 years