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This Season’s Worst Transfers: Premier League XI
Blogs

This Season’s Worst Transfers: Premier League XI

This Season’s Worst Transfers: Premier League XI

There has been a lot of talk recently about who the most impactful signings have been this season, with Dean Huijsen at Bournemouth, Mikel Merino at Arsenal and Marco Asensio at Aston Villa all up there, but who have been the worst signings?

GK - Filip Jorgensen (Chelsea)

The goalkeeping situation at Chelsea has been an issue for some time now, ever since Kepa fell out of favour at the club. The £20m signing of Filip Jorgensen in the summer from La Liga side Villarreal was supposed to fix these problems after the then 22-year-old had had a stellar breakout campaign in the Spanish top flight. His club had had a mediocre season, however he had managed to single handedly keep them in games that they should have lost, drawing the attention of clubs across Europe.

This season he has struggled for game time, stuck behind an unpopular Robert Sanchez in the pecking order. He has been the first choice keeper in the Conference League, however keeping clean sheets against the likes of Heidenheim and FC Noah should come as expected. In the Premier League he has kept just one clean sheet, against rock bottom of the league Southampton, and conceded nine in just five other games, including two against Ipswich.

LB - Ben Chilwell (Crystal Palace)

Chelsea are involved once again in the left back position as they sent Ben Chilwell out on loan to Crystal Palace in January, and the spell hasn’t been particularly useful for anyone. Chilwell has been out of favour at Stamford Bridge for a while now, so a move away on loan would have been a welcome change for him, having not played a single minute of football since coming off at half time in the third round of the EFL Cup against Barrow.

Since the move, he hasn’t managed to start a Premier League game, simply playing a handful of minutes late on. He hasn’t made a league appearance since Palace’s 5-2 defeat to Manchester City, and since then his side have been able to register two draws, against Bournemouth and Arsenal. He wasn’t even in the squad against the Gunners, as he was ill, but it is obvious that he isn’t that highly rated by Glasner, as Palace are able to do fine without him.

CBs - Jean-Clair Todibo (West Ham) and Abdukodir Khusanov (Manchester City)

There haven’t been too many horror signings at centre back this season, however Jean-Clair Todibo and Abdukodir Khusanov both stand out as players who could have done a bit more. Todibo joined West Ham from Nice on loan at the start of the season, having spent four years at the French club. While he has played quite a few matches, he isn’t a guaranteed starter yet, and with a few games left of the season, the club sit just above the drop zone. Obviously there is no fear that they will be relegated, however this season has been incredibly poor for West Ham. The loan deal for Todibo reportedly includes an obligation to buy at the end of the season for £40m, a ridiculous amount to spend on a player who has started just 16 games for them all season.

Khusanov’s start to life at the Etihad was a baptism by fire, however he seems to have stabilised a little bit now. He was initially brought in as a player for the future, but with the extensive injuries Manchester City have had at the back, he was forced to start a number of difficult games straight away. In his debut he made an error that led to Chelsea opening the scoring, and while City ended up winning the game, the Uzbek defender was substituted off early in the second half. It is clear that he is a talented individual, however his is still inexperienced and will need time to develop in the Premier League.

RB - Woyo Coulibaly (Leicester City)

Finding a right back who has underperformed since signing this season was more difficult than expected, as for some reason most teams haven’t bothered to go into the market to find such a player. Notable exceptions include Aaron Wan-Bissaka to West Ham and Julian Araujo to Bournemouth, both of whom haven’t stood out as having poor seasons. In January, Leicester signed Woyo Coulibaly from Parma for just £3m.

They signed him at a time when they were in desperate need of reinforcements, but were still in with a shot of survival. Since he has come in, he has managed just 107 minutes in the league, starting once and coming on as a sub on three other occasions. In half a year he has made no impact on the Leicester team, and while there is an argument that he could have been a signing for next season, Coulibaly isn’t exactly a ‘youngster’ as he is 25, and at the time of him signing, an experienced head might have made more of an impact in the dressing room for this season.

CDM - Kalvin Phillips (Ipswich Town)

Kalvin Phillips should have never left Leeds United, and if he did, it should have been to a squad that actually needed him. Joining Manchester City back in 2022 was only good for his bank account and nothing else, as since then he has played fewer than 50 league games. This summer he joined Ipswich on loan in an attempt to reignite his career, but a year on, he has started just 14 times in the league, making 21 appearances in all competitions.

Two separate injuries have caused him to miss a few games, but his performances have been poor when he has been on the pitch. Near the beginning of the season he got himself sent off in a crucial game against Leicester at home. His side were 1-0 at the time, but went on to concede late, drawing 1-1 and dropping two important points. Since then he has been out of favour at the club, making mostly substitute appearances. When his loan runs out in the summer, he will be back at Manchester City, with even fewer options following his dreadful form.

CMs - Ilkay Gundogan (Manchester City) and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall (Chelsea)

Two very different signings complete the midfield for this ‘Worst Transfers’ XI. Ilkay Gundogan rejoined Manchester City for free in the summer, having spent a year out in Spain with Barcelona. When he left City nearly two years ago, there wasn’t any bad blood, but it did look as if he had been pushing for a move for some time, not renewing his contract at the club and instead heading out of the door. That is why he has made the list, because surely if he had wanted to stay at City then he would’ve just signed a new contract. Either that or City never offered him a renewal, but if that was the case, why would they want him back. City have been below par this season, and the issues have been in defense and midfield. The team looks as if it needs new legs, but instead City went out to get an old pair.

Possibly the worst signing this season, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall joined Chelsea from Leicester in the summer for around £35m. The English midfielder had impressed in the Championship with the Foxes, scoring 12 league goals in 44 games from central-midfield, and when manager Enzo Maresca moved to Chelsea, he took Dewsbury-Hall with him. Since then, he has managed a total of 254 minutes in the league, meaning Chelsea have spent over £130,000 per minute of Premier League football. He has made a few good appearances in the Conference League, however he is already looking at moving on this season, meaning that Chelsea will likely make a significant loss.

LW - Joao Felix (Chelsea)

Surprise, surprise, there is another Chelsea player in this XI. Once one of the most expensive signings of all time, Joao Felix joined Chelsea in the summer for £42m, making him one of the most expensive signings in the world in that transfer window. Last season he had performed well at Barcelona on loan, but certainly not well enough to demand a fee that big. Conor Gallagher moved in the other direction as part of that deal and it looks as if he has gotten the better end of it.

Since joining Chelsea, Felix has already been shipped out on loan to AC Milan, after making just once in the Premier League. Like a lot of Chelsea’s fringe signings, he has done well in the Conference League this season, but that should be expected from a player of his calibre. Since joining AC Milan is yet to score in the league, as the side sit in ninth in Serie A, having had a terrible season. Felix makes this list over the likes of Tottenham’s Wilson Odobert and Southampton’s Ryan Fraser simply because of how much he cost and the fact that he is already at another club. Don’t get me wrong though, Ryan Fraser has been dreadful since signing permanently for the Saints.

ST - Eddie Nketiah (Crystal Palace)

Eddie Nketiah obviously wanted a move away from the Emirates in the summer, because he simply wasn’t getting enough game time. The 25-year-old had scored six times the previous season as Arsenal's backup striker, but had managed nine and 10 goals in the two seasons prior. While he wasn’t prolific, he was certainly good enough for someone to take a £15m punt on, while still having the quality in attack to make it work if he didn’t perform.

Instead, Palace decided that he was worth £25m plus £5m in add ons, signing him to compete with Jean-Philipp Mateta up top. Unfortunately for the former Gunner, there hasn’t been much competition, as he has managed just one goal in 25 league appearances, and has spent most of the campaign coming off the bench, much like he did at Arsenal. The ironic thing is, Arsenal could do with Nketiah right now with both Gabriel Jesus and Kai Havertz injured, and Nketiah is in desperate need of game time.

RW - Raheem Sterling (Arsenal)

Raheem Sterling’s Premier League career has fallen off a cliff in recent years. After leaving Manchester City in 2022, he had two mediocre seasons at Chelsea before being told he was surplus to requirements in the summer. He decided to join Arsenal on loan on transfer deadline day, but has since not done much to revive his career. The 30-year-old has struggled to get into the Arsenal team for the majority of this season, despite the injuries to Bukayo Saka, instead getting stuck behind teenager Ethan Nwaneri in the pecking order.

His only goal for Arsenal came back in September as the Gunners faced Bolton in the League Cup. Since then he has played 14 times for Arsenal in the league but has only managed two assists and zero goals. With Saka being the first choice at right wing, and Nwaneri being such a talented youngster, it is unlikely that Sterling will remain at the Emirates beyond this summer.

Manager - Ruud van Nistelrooy (Leicester)

Ruud van Nistelrooy came in to replace Steve Cooper at Leicester in November, while the club were sat outside of the relegation zone. Since he has come in he has managed to win a total of two matches, drawing another two. The last time Leicester managed to score at home was in his second game in charge on the 8th of December, making their goalless run at home nine games and counting. On top of that, they have scored just twice in their last 11 games, with both of those goals coming in the same 2-2 draw against Brighton.

Recruitment Team - West Ham

Of all of the players that West Ham have signed this season, 13 in total, only Wan-Bissaka and Max Kilman have actually made a positive impact on the squad. A lot of their signings have been poor, or injured, or both this season In the case Crysensio Summerville and Niclas Fullkrug, they were massively overhyped when they joined, only to disappoint both West Ham fans and neutrals.

Many thought at the end of the summer transfer window that West Ham had done the best business, however now with the benefit of hindsight, we can see that it was clearly a false dawn. On top of that, West Ham sacked David Moyes this season and replaced him with Graham Potter, who is already receiving boos from the home fans. It’s not looking too good in East London.

Benji Kosartiyer
Journalist
Jake Martin

Website Editor

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