Every Premier League club’s flop of the season features Salah and top Man Utd target | OneFootball

The Premier League season is over and thus it’s time to reveal the flops of the season.

These guys haven’t necessarily been the worst performers at their clubs, nor did they have to be signed last summer to be considered; they’re the players we expected more of, often naively.

Arsenal: Gabriel Martinelli

Upon hearing rumours of multiple alternatives being linked with their position, any professional worth their salt would take an ‘I’ll show them’ attitude into their work to prove doubters wrong.

We don’t necessarily think Martinelli shirked the challenge put forward by Andrea Berta and Mikel Arteta as they scoured the transfer market a year ago for a new left winger, and he certainly proved his worth in the Champions League group stage with six goals in seven games.

But no further goals in the knockout stages and just five goal contributions in the Premier League this season suggests Berta and Arteta are right in their belief that a player good enough for the journey to the top doesn’t quite have the quality now they’ve got there.

Aston Villa: Harvey Elliott

Unai Emery insisted the clause which saw Elliott play 284 minutes this season as Villa would have had to pay £35m if he made ten appearances was “embarrassing” for everyone involved, though we’re not quite sure why Liverpool have been included in those recriminations. It was Villa who agreed to those terms. Just a stunning waste of a season.

Brentford: Reiss Nelson

“He’s at a different level right now,” Arteta said in March 2023 when Nelson came off the bench for Arsenal to score a 97th-minute winner against Bournemouth to keep them in the title race, proving that the Hale End graduate could “still be special” for the Gunners.

Less than three years later Nelson is still trying to find his level after featuring for just 339 minutes for Brentford. It’s hard to imagine another Premier League club taking a punt on him.

Bournemouth: Bafode Diakite

The second-most expensive signing in Bournemouth’s history at £30.3m, behind Evanilson (£31.7m), Diakite has started just 15 Premier League games this term and hasn’t featured in any of the last 14 having been mercilessly shoved down the pecking order by the brilliant James Hill.

This is less about Diakite flopping than Hill excelling, and the Frenchman looks set for his chance next season after Marcos Senesi jumps ship in the summer, as is the way with Bournemouth centre-backs.

Brighton: Carlos Baleba

The rumour mill is turning after Bruno Fernandes ‘had a chat’ with Baleba after Manchester United’s 3-0 win over Brighton on Sunday. It was ‘just like he did with Elliot Anderson’ according to the eagle-eyed social media transfer experts claiming the Red Devils skipper is earning extra peas as their on-pitch agent.

It was surely no coincidence that Baleba saved arguably his best display of the season after coming on in the second half against the Red Devils, but the consistency he showed last season has made way for sloppiness in the main this term.

United signing the midfielder the summer after he was good offers great hope for ongoing INEOS nonsense at Old Trafford.

Burnley: Marcus Edwards

Linked with Manchester United, Liverpool and a return to boyhood club Tottenham less than two years ago, Edwards moved to Burnley on loan in January 2025 to aid their promotion push before living his dream of playing in the Premier League after the move was made permanent in the summer. He got a goal and three assists and started just 11 games.

Chelsea: Liam Delap

Less a footballer; more a three-sheets-to-the-wind reveller looking for a fight after falling out of All Bar One at 2am on a Friday night. There may not be a greater drop off in quality in the Premier League than Joao Pedro to Liam Delap.

Crystal Palace: Brennan Johnson

Joined for a club-record £35m in January and is yet to score in 26 appearances, claiming just two assists. Would ironically have played more and been more useful for Tottenham had he stayed.

Everton: Tyler Dibling

We don’t wish to criticise a young and clearly talented footballer, and hope Dibling’s time will come as we love watching him play. But he can’t be anything other than a flop having failed to register a goal or an assist, playing just 520 minutes after arriving as the second-most expensive signing in Everton’s history at £35m.

Fulham: Oscar Bobb

£27m felt like a very decent price for a quality footballer but we failed to take into account the power of the Fulham talent vortex which has also claimed Emile Smith Rowe as a victim.

Leeds United: Dan James

Hailed as Manchester United’s “shining light” by Rio Ferdinand in September 2019 after a fast start to a Manchester United career which then faded to nothing, and it feels as though James has reached a similar point of no return at Leeds. He’s a Championship footballer.

Liverpool: Mohamed Salah

Plenty of candidates and we know what you’re thinking, but although Alexander Isak has indeed been a spectacular (and thoroughly enjoyable) flop, only starting eight Premier League games this season spares him the ignominy that’s thoroughly deserved by Salah in any case.

Fourteen goal contributions the season after signing a new contract on the back of 47 goals/assists the season before is a pathetic return from a footballer who will leave as club legend, but a sullied one after finding his voice to disparage his club and manager on two occasions because he wasn’t in the starting lineup. Childish nonsense from one of the greatest footballers ever to grace the Premier League.

Manchester City: Tijjani Reijnders

An outstanding debut which yielded a goal and an assist to suggest Reijnders might be the second coming of every great midfielder of the Abu Dhabi era, followed by a long line of unconvincing displays, culminating in Pep Guardiola putting the Dutchman in a headlock in the FA Cup semi-final for failing to listen to/follow his tactical instructions.

Manchester United: Leny Yoro

He’s not been terrible by any stretch but is firmly behind Harry Maguire and Lisandro Martinez in the centre-back pecking order, while Ayden Heaven has frequently been preferred to Yoro too. The return of Matthijs De Ligt may well make the £52m man Michael Carrick’s fifth-choice option at the start of next season.

Newcastle: Yoane Wissa

Newcastle are looking for a buyer for the 29-year-old less than a year on from a £55m transfer which has reaped the reward of three goals and two assists at a cost of roughly £60,000 per minute played.

Nottingham Forest: James McAtee

A £22m transfer which made little sense at the time because of Morgan Gibbs-White and even less now because of Morgan Gibbs-White. McAtee’s only and not unreasonable hope of a future at Forest after two Premier League starts this season is Gibbs-White being poached by a bigger boy this summer.

Sunderland: Simon Adingra

Fifteen unproductive and unconvincing displays following a £21m move from Brighton before a loan move to Monaco in January.

Tottenham: Randal Kolo Muani

The longer the season went on the more it felt as though Kolo Muani was a prank that had been played on Tottenham, to the point where Roberto De Zerbi snubbed him on the final day of the season in favour of full-back Djed Spence playing on the wing in his stead.

There may not be a player in Europe whose career has slumped quite so dramatically as that of Kolo Muani, who came on to change the game in the World Cup final in 2022, though ultimately in vain, before moving to PSG for £76m a year later. At that stage he was valued at £70m; he’s now worth £19m and we can’t imagine any team paying even that much.

West Ham: Lucas Paqueta

West Ham stuck by him when he was threatened with a lifetime ban for spot-fixing and he repaid their faith by not really trying in a relegation battle and forcing through a return to boyhood club Flamengo in January. While West Ham will spend this summer getting their ducks in a row for the Championship, Paqueta will be at the World Cup with Brazil. There’s no justice.

A £22m striker who always looks surprised and unprepared when the ball comes to him before it bounces several yards away following his first touch.