Swansea City: Iwan Roberts called QPR recruit "anonymous" - he was probably right | OneFootball

Leroy Fer came in for some harsh criticism when he signed for Swansea and those calls turned out to not be too wide of the mark

Leroy Fer was certainly a name that split opinion throughout his time in England, and although none of the English clubs he played for can say he was a roaring success there, he certainly did enough to make a name for himself.

It was Norwich City who gave him his first big break in the Premier League, signing Fer for a reported £4.4m back in 2013, and from there he went on to also play for QPR and Swansea City in the country.

Ultimately, his first season in the English top-flight ended in relegation with Norwich, although he did enough in that season to come out of it with some credit in the back - enough so that QPR stumped up £8m to sign him after the Canaries' relegation.

That only tells half the story of the 2013/14 season though, as some cynics felt that Norwich had simply been used as a shop window opportunity for Fer, who had eyes on going to the World Cup with the Netherlands in 2014.

That certainly left a huge mark against his name, and was ultimately held against him when he made his next career move.

Former Wales and Norwich City striker Iwan Roberts wasn't a fan of Leroy Fer

Fer was something of a bad luck charm where the Premier League was concerned, as he'd ultimately slumped to back-to-back relegations, after he couldn't help QPR beat the drop in 2014/15.

From there, he did play half a season in the Championship with QPR, where he certainly didn't rip any trees up, but his reputation as an international footballer earned him a move back into the Premier League with Swansea City.

That was concerning to Welshman Iwan Roberts, who was a former Norwich player, had seen first hand what Fer was like on the pitch, and he expressed his disappointment when Swansea brought Fer in midway through the 15/16 season to aid their battle against relegation.

Roberts pulled no punches when he said: "He was a big summer signing for Norwich a few years ago, had a great start and looked a good player.

"That was in the first half of the season, when things got tough, he went missing, he was anonymous.

"I don't think he's the kind of player you'd want to be in the trenches with, at Norwich (he seemed) more concerned with staying fully fit and playing in the World Cup, rather than keeping Norwich in the Premier League.

"He's one paced, not the quickest, it'll be interesting to see what Swansea are planning to do with him."

Although Roberts' concerns were initially wide of the mark, as Fer was finally in a side that stayed up in the Premier League, it didn't take too long for his claims to ultimately prove to be right.

Fer is the typical luxury player that most big clubs can afford to have, but those battling down the foot of the table, are often caught out if they're not up for the fight.

Swansea were relegated out of the Premier League in 2017/18, and although Fer missed a third of the season through injury, the time he did spend in the team, all whilst struggling near the foot of the table, he made a nominal impact.

He scored just two goals across 20 appearances that season, and cynics could argue that his dismal form that season coincided with the fact Netherlands weren't going to be at the 2018 World Cup, so impressing wasn't of any real benefit to him.

He did stay with Swansea across part of the 2018/19 season before another injury cut short his season and he departed for Feyenoord, while he now plays for Al-Nasr SC in the UAE Pro League.

While it would be unfair to look back at Fer's Swansea career and say it was a failure, Roberts' claims that he's not the sort of player you want in the trenches with you, although harsh, probably proved to be fairly accurate.