Is This Signing the WORST of the Summer? Premier League Signings That Haven't Hit the Ground Running

Is This Signing the WORST of the Summer? Premier League Signings That Haven't Hit the Ground Running

Today, we take a look at some of the latest summer signings who haven't quite lived up to their high expectations just yet in the Premier League.

It was yet again a big window for England's top-flight clubs, as the league broke records with £3.19bn spent over the course of the summer, which massively surpassed the original record of £2.46bn set back in 2023, the year of the Chelsea/Todd Boehly saga.

Some have succeeded, some are yet to succeed but are showing promising signs, and some have arguably failed to live up to their price tag already. We analyse the biggest flops in the Premier League so far.

Anthony Elanga

A player who had such an electric season at Nottingham Forest in the previous campaign, helping them secure a European place for the first time since 1995.

In the Premier League last campaign, the former Manchester United academy prodigy scored six goals and assisted 11, played all 38 matches, and churned out an average rating of 7.01 on FotMob. Those 11 final passes which led to a goal saw Elanga sit in third place for the most assists in the league; only Jacob Murphy and Mo Salah surpassed the Swedish Usain Bolt.

Speaking of Usain Bolt, Elanga clocked a top speed of 22.78 mph last season in the Prem, which was the third fastest in the entire season, as Nunes and Van De Ven just beat him. Speed plays a huge part in Elanga's game, but this season, he hasn't been able to turn his athleticism into goal contributions, or that many good performances for that matter.

Having started just four games in Newcastle's league campaign, Elanga hasn't registered a single goal contribution in 11 matches, seven off the bench, and for a substantial fee of £55 million pounds, those numbers are diabolical. Elanga has only managed to produce 7 chances in his time at Newcastle, compared to his 43 last season, which ranked him in the top 15% of wingers.

We're not here to diminish Elanga's Premier League legacy, as he's still only relatively young; however, whilst transferring to a team with a huge expectation on his shoulders of delivering the same form, it can make or break a player, and so far, Elanga is cracking.

Newcastle haven't had the greatest of campaigns either, so he isn't all to blame, and with only 413 minutes played in the league, it could just take a bit more time to gel with new teammates and a new environment in order to bring the best out of him as a player.

Matheus Cunha

After a stellar season at Wolves, scoring 15 goals and assisting six in just 33 league matches, with one of those goals actually being a direct corner against Manchester United, Cunha is finding life rather difficult in the North-West of England, representing the red side of Manchester.

The Brazilian forward has only provided one goal in 10 league matches, as Man United are often looking at other key players to provide the goods in attack, like Mbeumo, Amad, or sometimes even Maguire.

Although The Reds' new signing hasn't provided directly, his all-round play has not been something to mumble about, as he has created 10 chances so far, producing 15 successful dribbles as well, with a pretty solid work rate in his game.

The side that was formerly known as Newton Heath purchased Cunha from Wolves for £62.5 million in a summer that was quite the rebuild for Amorin's side, as they brought in Brentford's star man Mbeumo and RB Leipzig talisman Benjamin Sesko to accompany him in attack, with Mbeumo being the shining light of the forward line so far.

Cunha often operates in an attacking midfielder type of position, as this often sacrifices Bruno Fernandes' attacking qualities, leaving him to play pivot with Casemiro, who has a completely different playing style. Cunha's main role is to create from behind the front line with Amad surging down the line, and in a recent match against Liverpool, the former Atletico Madrid player had the second most passes completed, won the second most duels, won possession the most amount of times, and had the second most successful dribbles, alongside the most touches, all compared to the rest of the United squad.

We do believe Cunha will become good for the reds, as goals are like buses, and with United's recent excellent spell of form, it's only really a matter of time before Matheus can come alive again.

Florian Wirtz

For the final player, it has to be the 116 million Great British Pounds signing from Bayer Leverkusen, Florian Wirtz. He was absolutely exceptional for Leverkusen in their unbeaten title-winning season in the 23/24 campaign, scoring 11 goals and assisting 11 in 32 matches, and last season he provided 12 assists and 10 goals in 31 games, earning him his big-money move to Liverpool. The German also managed to score six Champions League goals in nine games for Bayer Leverkusen but really hasn't shown even a shadow of what he's capable of in the Premier League.

Where is it going wrong for Wirtz? Well, we don't truly know, as at times he has produced some great moments, which is expected of him. But players like Salah, Gakpo or Ekitike haven't been able to finish off his chances. Zero goal contributions in 11 games in the league is not a stat that shows the Leverkusen academy graduate in the best light, but he was so, so good in the Bundesliga, like, incredibly good, finishing 29th in the recent Ballon d'Or rankings, and arguably he could've been higher.

For such a young player at 22 years old, he has already produced some iconic moments, such as scoring a hat-trick in a thumping 5-0 victory to secure Leverkusen's first-ever Bundesliga title, and sending the BayArena into absolute pandemonium, as even the steward was getting amongst it!

Florian Wirtz asked the Leverkusen fans not to invade the pitch until the final whistle. 🏆

He scored in the 83rd minute and this was the scenes. 😂

That steward clearly forgot his job for a second. The power of football. 🤩⚽️ pic.twitter.com/3PMs9AhybM

— 𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐔𝐥𝐭𝐫𝐚 𝐎𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 (@thecasualultra) April 15, 2024

As a young player, having so many people criticising you and getting on your back, demanding better performances and hurling insults at you, it can be a struggle to adapt to your new surroundings. Wirtz had been at Leverkusen his entire professional career, and so he's never had a huge amount of pressure to succeed with no transfer fee over his head. Even as an Everton fan myself, although Liverpool are doing woefully in the league right now (which I'm obviously glad about), I would like to see an exciting player such as Florian Wirtz succeed more than he is currently - his confidence is clearly down in the dumps, which is sad to see after how good his career has been so far.

Potentially a move away from Liverpool could set alight a new fire in Wirtz's heart, but as long as Slot keeps trust in Florian to deliver with 100% of his ability, we believe that his Premier League career isn't over just yet, and after fully adapting to the new culture and lifestyle, the German starboy can still produce a good season, boosting his morale ahead of the World Cup in North America next year.