The XI Nobody Wants to Be In: This Season's Biggest Disappointments

The XI Nobody Wants to Be In: This Season's Biggest Disappointments

It has been a month since the summer transfer window slammed shut. After all the excitement, flashy new faces, new numbers and new kits, there will always be those who have not quite hit the ground running.

We are now well into the 2025/26 season, and what would football be if we didn't prematurely rank the season's biggest disappointments so far? Let's dive in.

GK - Andre Onana - Trabzonspor

Any avid follower of football will see no surprises here. Onana signed for Trabzonspor on loan from Manchester United in the summer, marking a premature end to his calamitous time at Old Trafford.

Things aren't really going smoothly for the Cameroonian thus far in Turkey. Just last weekend, Onana conceded a brace to Chelsea loanee David Datro Fofana, with the second coming just 53 seconds after the first. Both Fofana's goals were the fault of Onana, with the Ivorian slotting the ball through his legs on both occasions.

Chelsea loanee Datro Fofana scored a 53 seconds brace against Andre Onana. He's a gift that keeps on giving. pic.twitter.com/5AMaR1wkdw

— Chelsea_Metrics (@Chelsea_Metrics) September 29, 2025

RB - Trent Alexander-Arnold - Real Madrid

After the big move to Real Madrid in the summer, Trent was set to reinvent himself and head for the stars. This has not been the case at all so far however. Joining the side before the start of the FIFA Club World Cup, Alexander-Arnold put in a few lacklustre performanes for the Galacticos before they bowed out to PSG in the Semi-finals.

Going into the La Liga season, many fans of Real Madrid questioned Trent's ability to defend, suggesting that Xabi Alonso reintegrated Carvajal and utilised Trent in the midfield.

Real Madrid's first game of the Champions League was against Marseille. Trent started the game but was hauled off due to injury in the first half. A culmination of poor form leading to some really bad luck, but sorry Trent, you're not getting away from this list! The player is set to return from injury after the upcoming international break.

🚨 Trent Alexander-Arnold is set to be back after the International break. @marca ⏳ pic.twitter.com/z0YKujuVhI

— Madrid Zone (@theMadridZone) September 29, 2025

CB - Trevoh Chalobah - Chelsea

The first player on the list who wasn't a summer signing, Trevoh Chalobah has had a dismal start to the 2025/26 season. Despite entering the season off the back of a Club World Cup win, and scoring twice this season, Chalobah's performances in recent weeks at the back have been woeful.

Chalobah's form reached an all-time low in Chelsea's 3-1 loss at home to Brighton on the weekend. Early in the second half, the Blues were a goal up, but the tides changed when Chalobah made a calamitous last ditch challenge which saw him receive a straight red card. For the second game in a row, Chelsea were down to 10, and Chalobah's season went from bad to worse.

Trevoh Chalobah is shown a straight red for bringing down Diego when he was in on goal. 🔴 pic.twitter.com/qDQbnOWLlJ

— Brighton & Hove Albion (@OfficialBHAFC) September 27, 2025

CB - Calvin Bassey - Fulham

Staying in West London for the centre back paring, Fulham's Calvin Bassey has been ran ragged this season. Fulham sit in 11th position in the league, conceding 8 goals.

Perhaps the most embarrassing moment of Bassey's season so far (despite the wardrobe malfunctions) came against Chelsea when the player was made to look like a Non-League defender when trying to stop Chelsea's Estevao.

Estevão is too wicked 😭🔥 He saw Bassey running away, dragged the ball closer just to bait him… then made it disappear with one trick. Bassey looked stressed after that 🪄⚡️ pic.twitter.com/QK398B9pip

— SHAYEE 𒀭 (@tier_1st) September 1, 2025

Things can only get better from here, Calvin.

LB - Milos Kerkez - Liverpool

After signing from Bournemouth in the summer, Milos Kerkez was set to plug the defensive hole down the left hand side owing to Andy Robertson's decline. However, this has been far from the case thus far.

The season has started poorly for the Hungarian, who was subsituted after just 38 minutes in Liverpool's league game against Burnley. In those 38 minutes, the defender commited 2 fouls and was booked, forcing Slot to make an early change.

One may put Kerkez's early poor form down to tactical adjustments, but only time will tell.

Milos Kerkez vs Burnley:

38 minutes
2 fouls commited
1 yellow card
0 defensive contributions

Hooked. pic.twitter.com/RR2sNTnskx

— StatMuse FC (@statmusefc) September 14, 2025

CM - James Ward-Prowse - West Ham

West Ham have endured a dismal start to the season thus far and sit second-from-bottom after 6 games. Their terrible opening stretch culminated in the sacking of manager Graham Potter, who started James Ward-Prowse in every game he was in charge.

Ward-Prowse was nothing short of dire in his first 5 league games, contributing nothing in terms of attacking output, and playing his part in the side conceding 13 goals.

The sacking of Graham Potter saw the Hammers snap up former Nottingham Forest boss Nuno Espirito Santo, who excluded Ward-Prowse from his first matchday squad against Everton.

🚨 EXCLUSIVE: £30m star 'told he has no future' at West Ham under new boss Nuno Espirito Santo

✍️ @andydillon70 https://t.co/UjRLWZcaEN

— GiveMeSport (@GiveMeSport) September 30, 2025

CM - Lesley Ugochukwu - Burnley

Newly promoted Burnley acquired a host of new faces this summer, including the acquisition of 21-year-old French midfielder Lesley Ugochukwu for over £20 million.

BREAKING: Burnley have signed Lesley Ugochukwu from Chelsea on a five-year contract 🚨 pic.twitter.com/xMCkADVBIZ

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) August 6, 2025

After only making a handful of appearances for Chelsea during his tenure at the club, and spending a year on loan at Southampton, many questioned why Burnley paid so much for him. These questions are now being justified, with the French midfielder having a poor start to life at Turf Moor.

Ugochukwu was sent off in the side's loss to Liverpool at home after making a foolish challenge which led to a second yellow card. Things definitely have not started brightly for him.

CM - Florian Wirz - Liverpool

Florian Wirtz signed for Liverpool in the summer for a fee of around £120 million. As always, when you sign for big money, then there are big expectations.

Early showings from Wirtz have been poor, with the player looking very much out of his depth in the Premier League. The adjustment for Bundesliga stars into the Premier League is always tough, with many big names failing to make a name for themselves in England. Recent years have seen the likes of Timo Werner, Christopher Nkunku, Kai Havertz, Andre Schurrle, Bastian Schweinsteiger and Marko Marin all struggle with the move to the Premier League.

❌ 0 goals.
❌ 0 assists.
❌ 8 games.

Describe the start to Florian Wirtz's Liverpool career in ONE word? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/7Df6pVL8SA

— Transfer News Live (@DeadlineDayLive) September 30, 2025

The current signs are showing that Wirtz will be joining the long list of failed Bundesliga talents in their move to the Premier League.

RW - Matheus Cunha - Man United

You didn't really think this XI wouldn't include any current United players did you?

Cunha signed in the summer from Wolves, and is yet to register a goal contribution for the Red Devils in 5 matches.

🚨 Manchester United confirm Matheus Cunha signing 5 year deal plus options until June 2031.

£62.5m deal completed from Wolves. pic.twitter.com/fMrncPc9Vd

— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) June 12, 2025

Joining Benjamin Sesko and Bryan Mbeumo as part of the new-look attack for Ruben Amorim's side, Cunha has put in a few hopeless displays. This may be down to the team's poor form in general, but there is no escaping the big chances Cunha has missed so far this season.

They say it's always risky signing players from lower clubs in the Premier League, and this may just ring true.

ST - Viktor Gyökeres - Arsenal

The Swede signed for the Gunners in the summer after racking up some impressive numbers in Portugal with Sporting. Many clubs in Europe expressed interest in Gyokeres, with Arsenal being the ones to land his signature.

BREAKING: Arsenal complete the signing of Viktor Gyokeres from Sporting ✍️ pic.twitter.com/KYHdsY4Ndd

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) July 26, 2025

The final piece of the jigsaw for Mikel Arteta's side right? They finally have their number 9? Perhaps not.

Gyokeres has struggled to adapt to the pace of the league thus far, and whilst Arsenal's start to the season has been somewhat decent, Gyokeres' contributions to this have been minimal.

The striker has scored 3 goals this season, 2 goals against newly promoted Leeds United, and 1 goal against the struggling Nottingham Forest. Despite this, it has been against the bigger sides where Gyokeres has gone missing.

Misplaced passes, lack of touches, lack of precision, and lack of mobility are just some of the words many have used to describe Gyokeres' time at Arsenal so far.

LW - Jamie Gittens - Chelsea

Jamie Gittens signed for Chelsea in the summer after a long transfer saga with Borussia Dortmund. Gittens joins the likes of Jadon Sancho and Jude Bellingham as young talents who sought to make a name for themselves in Germany.

After completing the £55 million move to West London, Gittens has looked completely out of his depth. Thus far, Gittens has started twice. His first start came in Chelsea's Premier League opener against Crystal Palace which saw him substituted after just 54 minutes. His second start came against Lincoln in the Carabao Cup, where Chelsea narrowly escaped a Manchester United-esque exit from the Cup against a lower-league side.

Does Jamie Gittens look like a €55million player? pic.twitter.com/PMtZb6uuHf

— ChelsTransfer (@ChelsTransfer) September 13, 2025

Gittens has been reduced to substitute appearances for the side, with each cameo proving to be more lacklustre than the last. Time will tell of course, but the early showings are not promising at all.

Closing Remarks

Were we too harsh? Too quick to judge? We'll let this one unravel.

With another round of fixtures coming this weekend and the second week of European fixtures, all these players will hope to change their fates before the upcoming international break.