Top 10 transfer flops of the season: Liverpool trio shamed as Premier League clubs waste £500m | OneFootball

Liverpool’s shocking season can be blamed on many, many things and their misfiring big-money signings are near the top of the list.

The Premier League champions feature three times in our ranking of the worst signings of the season.

Merseyside neighbours Everton also pop up, while Tottenham are the only other ‘Big Six’ club to contribute to this steaming pile of mediocrity.

=10) Armando Broja (Burnley)

Chelsea fleeced Burnley in the summer, didn’t they? Broja for £20m was a weird one, but Lesley Ugochukwu for £25m hasn’t been too shabby. Still, £45m for the pair of them is questionable business.

Broja’s last Premier League goal came in October 2023 for Chelsea against Fulham. We’re just not too sure what Burnley saw in Broja to think he was their man.

=10) Tyler Dibling (Everton)

It’s been the biggest debate of the season so far, hasn’t it? Who’s been a worse signing: Dibling or Broja? Well, we’re not brave enough to pick a definitive answer, so here we are.

And because it’s a draw, we’re keeping their sections short and sweet. Dibling is an incredibly exciting player and Everton know that, spending £35m to sign him from Southampton in the summer. But minutes have been very hard to come by. This season, the 19-year-old has only started once in the Premier League and played 88 out of a possible 180 minutes in the Carabao Cup.

We have no clue what’s going on, but it’s concerning.

9) Tolu Arokodare (Wolves)

They took a big punt on the even bigger man, obviously confident that he wouldn’t face the same fate as former target striker Sasa Kalajdzic. He hasn’t, in that he’s not crocked, but zero goal involvements in nine top-flight appearances is a pretty rubbish return, and there’s little to suggest Arokodare is capable of scoring the goals to keep Rob Edwards’ side in the top flight.

8) Thierno Barry (Everton)

After 13 appearances and seven starts in the Premier League, Barry managed his only shot on target from 15 attempts on Tuesday against Bournemouth, while accumulating an xG of 2.14. The worst of his misses undoubtedly came at Sunderland, when he blazed the ball over from close range. It was at that point that Everton fans realised they’d actually signed a younger, sh*tter version of Beto.

It’s important to emphasise that Barry is young, though. He’s only just turned 23, is playing in a brand-new country and league, and has scored goals at every other club. We think he will come good, and know that his first goal could open the floodgates, or at least give him the confidence to go on a run of five goals in 10 games or something. He just might want to get that first goal sooner rather than later.

Remember, guys, it took Thierry Henry nine games to score for Arsenal!

7) Xavi Simons (Spurs)

We’re not writing Simons off, but he has not been good enough this season. There’s definitely a player in there, as we’ve seen for the Dutch national team and RB Leipzig, but two assists in 18 appearances for Spurs is an alarming return for someone who joined with such high expectations and excitement.

It’s been surprising to see just how difficult Simons has found the transition from the Bundesliga to the Premier League. Still, some supposedly top players have struggled to shake the dreaded Bundesliga Tax, and he looks like being the latest.

Simons was linked with PSG, Chelsea and Arsenal in the summer, so it was seen as a massive coup when Spurs won the race as they quickly brushed off the pain of missing out on Ebere Eze to the Gunners. We tried to convince ourselves that Spurs had actually signed the better player. Sometimes we are wrong. Not very often. But sometimes.

6) Harvey Elliott (Aston Villa)

This was supposed to be the perfect transfer for Elliott, who was a bit-part player at Liverpool but clearly good enough to become the main man elsewhere. Yet, after three Premier League appearances under Unai Emery, the Spaniard has decided he doesn’t fancy the 22-year-old and has left him out of his previous five squads, albeit without having a choice when Villa travelled to his parent club, Liverpool, on November 1.

Elliott actually scored Villa’s first goal of the campaign in the Carabao Cup defeat to Brentford, in what was one of only two starts for his new club. But he clearly hasn’t convinced Emery with his performances on the pitch or in training. It’s anyone’s guess if he plays another game for the Villans. Back to Liverpool in the summer, it is then. Or January, if the loan terms allow it…

5) Mads Hermansen (West Ham)

It doesn’t get much worse than 11 goals conceded in your first four games, including an error leading to a goal on your second appearance after somehow getting away with one on your debut, getting dropped for the guy you were supposed to replace, and never being seen again.

Hermansen was supposed to be West Ham’s new long-term No.1 and Graham Potter put all of his faith in him at the start of the season, but quickly realised it was time to bring back Alphonse Areola. Between then and his sacking, things didn’t improve under Potter, but Areola was certainly more convincing than his new team-mate. Saying that, he’s recorded fewer clean sheets – but only five more goals conceded – than Hermansen in eight more games.

Hermansen just needs to keep performing in training and take his chance when it comes, because it should come at some point again this season.

4) Anthony Elanga (Newcastle United)

Newcastle were desperate to sign a right-winger in the summer and decided fairly early in the window that Elanga was their man. That was after it became clear they wouldn’t get Bryan Mbeumo, and a year after they didn’t come close to getting Michael Olise. Oh, what could have been.

Elanga, after two extremely productive years at Nottingham Forest, has only registered one assist in 14 league appearances for the Magpies, and is looking more and more like a pace merchant every passing week. His end product, as underlined by his poor numbers (or number), has been pretty abysmal.

Elanga’s poor form has seen Eddie Howe turn back to the ol’ faithful, Jacob Murphy. Despite an impressive eight goals and 12 assists in 35 games in 2024/25, Murphy was always going to become a back-up player this term. Luckily for him, his replacement has struggled to make an impact and he’s again Howe’s first choice on the right.

December is a big month for players like Elanga, who will get plenty of opportunities as Newcastle look forward to another seven games before the New Year after Tuesday’s 2-2 draw against Tottenham, including Sunderland on the 13th, which is where Howe’s side sit in the Premier League after 14 games.

3) Milos Kerkez (Liverpool)

It’s time for the Liverpool trifecta.

The podium made of cardboard boxes that all three Liverpool players will fall through begins with Kerkez, who was brought in to solve one of the Reds’ only problem positions. Andy Robertson looked past his best last term and was probably the only weakness in Arne Slot’s starting XI, and the Dutchman was always going to sign a left-back in the summer. Kerkez was rightly his top choice after two excellent years at Bournemouth, yet we’ve not seen that player in a Liverpool shirt.

Slot has largely stuck with what he perceives as his strongest team despite almost every starter underperforming, so Kerkez remains above Robertson in the pecking order. That’s probably not the right call, but it is what it is, and it’s probably the best way to get the Hungarian confident and playing well.

Nobody could have predicted Liverpool’s horrendous start to 2025/26, which has been as surprising as the poor performances of their new, big-money signings. Kerkez might actually be the worst performer of the lot, but he only cost £40million, so…

2) Florian Wirtz (Liverpool)

Wirtz joined Liverpool in a £100million club-record deal in July and was the first sign that the champions were willing to go all out to win title after title, while the German was praised and deemed ambitious for rejecting Bayern Munich and the easiest of titles every single year for the more physical Premier League.

Unlike with Kerkez and the man who occupies top spot here, Wirtz has had to adapt to a new country and league, so we have some level of sympathy, especially considering he’s only 22 years old. But when you cost a nine-figure sum, there’s little room for adaptation and every single touch will be heavily scrutinised. That’s just the nature of the beast, and so far, the pressure has swallowed Wirtz up.

After registering 10 goals and 13 assists in the Bundesliga last season, Wirtz is still waiting for his first goal involvement in the Premier League after 12 games. There has been some wasteful finishing from the chances he’s created, but his expected assisted goals is only 1.2 in 763 minutes. He’s been nowhere near good enough. And plenty in the Mailbox saw it coming.

1) Alexander Isak (Liverpool)

We move on to potentially the floppiest flop of all Premier League flops. Pound for pound, he has to be, doesn’t he? One goal against West Ham doesn’t change anything.

That strike at the London Stadium was Isak’s first league goal since becoming the most expensive player in Premier League history and Liverpool’s second £100m+ addition of a record-breaking summer window.

After the manner of his Newcastle United exit, he wasn’t allowed a settling-in period, even after having no pre-season, let alone only one goal in his first 10 appearances. The lack of a pre-season will be a contributing factor to Isak looking off the pace all campaign, but again, that was his fault. He’s also not been helped by Slot’s poor management and the woes of almost every player around him. Still, there’s no sympathy from us. The guy became the first Liverpool player to lose his first four starts in the Premier League, and he’s their most expensive player ever!

Sunday’s goal at West Ham could very well open the floodgates for the Swedish striker. Let’s wait and see, shall we?