Highlights

  • Clubs often overspend and make poor decisions in the January transfer window due to their short-term interests and desperation.
  • Many January transfers turn out to be flops, with more misses than hits in the winter window.
  • There is a whole catalogue of winter transfer flops, with each Premier League team having their own worst-ever January signing.

Not every club gets it right in the January transfer window. To sum it up best, for every Luis Suarez, there’s an Andy Carroll. The issue is that the winter market is very often used with a short-term interest in mind.

Clubs may be looking to add quality to fend off relegation, for example, or perhaps they want the boost of a new arrival to help secure a top-four spot. For whatever reason, teams are often in a compromised state when they arrive at the negotiation table during the first month of the new year.

This is why we regularly see January transfers turn out badly. In positions of desperation, clubs overspend on players they might have scouted more thoroughly if they'd had a whole summer to conduct their research. Of course, there are plenty of examples where good players have been brought in, but there tend to be more misses than hits in the winter window.

Consequently, we have a whole catalogue of winter transfer flops to select from. And here at GIVEMESPORT, we've decided to run through every team currently in the Premier League and name their worst-ever January transfer signing.

Related
Every Premier League club’s best January signing
From Martin Odegaard at Arsenal to Virgil van Dijk at Liverpool, Premier League clubs have made some great January transfers over the years.

Arsenal

Kaba Diawara (£2.5m)

Kaba Diawara of Arsenal in pain

Arsenal initially signed current club captain Martin Odegaard on loan during the January market, showing that great business can be done in the winter months. But when it comes to forgotten flop Kaba Diawara, we have a prime example of a bad bit of transfer activity.

Arsene Wenger must have hoped he had signed the next Nicolas Anelka when he paid a notable fee way back in 1999 of £2.5m for Bordeaux striker Kaba Diawara. Things did not go to plan, however. The Arsenal website describes his time with the Gunners as "brief and rather unremarkable" and it's not hard to see why, as he lasted just 14 games before returning to France.

Kaba Diawara at Arsenal

Games

14

Goals

0

Assists

0

Via Transfermarkt

Aston Villa

Jean Makoun (£6m)

Jean Makoun at Aston Villa looks on

Gerard Houllier thought Jean Makoun could be “a good asset because he is experienced” when Aston Villa signed the player from Lyon for £6m in 2011. That turned out to be false. The Cameroonian looked completely out of place in England, with his years in France not serving the then-27-year-old particularly well in this new environment.

Makoun was sent off just a month after signing following a lunge on Blackpool’s DJ Campbell and managed a total of just seven Premier League games for the Villans before leaving the club. In terms of Aston Villa flops, regardless of whether they were signed in the summer or the winter, he is right up there with the best of them.

Jean Makoun at Aston Villa

Games

8

Goals

0

Assists

0

Via Transfermarkt

Bournemouth

Lewis Grabban (£8m)

Bournemouth's Lewis Grabban on the bench

This one is still quite baffling. Bournemouth initially had Lewis Grabban from 2012 to 2014 and he was pretty decent for them. But they then told him to Norwich and after watching him score one goal in six Premier League games in the 2015/16 campaign, they oddly decided they'd seen enough to resign the striker. To make things worse, they sold him for £3m and then bought him back for £8m!

Perhaps they felt he would rediscover his best form in their black and red stripes but it didn't play out like that at all. He would end up playing 18 times in the Premier League for the Cherries before leaving again in 2018. To rub salt in the wounds, his only ever top-flight goal came for the Canaries.

Lewis Grabban at Bournemouth

Games

115

Goals

36

Assists

15

Via Transfermarkt

Brentford

Calum Willock (£200,000)

Calum Willock playing for Brentford

When it comes to the case of Calum Willock, the failure of his transfer isn't entirely his fault. Unfortunately, he arrived at Brentford in the winter of 2006 with big boots to fill. DJ Campbell had just bagged a memorable FA Cup brace, firing the Bees to a 2-1 victory over Premier League club Sunderland in the fourth round.

Off the back of that, the striker was sold to top-flight club Birmingham City and Willock was brought in as a replacement. He would fail to live up to the standards of his predecessor, scoring just once as his new side missed out on automatic promotion from League One by three points after drawing six and losing three of their last 11 games. They didn't manage to come up through the play-offs either.

Calum Willock at Brentford

Games

43

Goals

4

Assists

3

Via Transfermarkt

Brighton & Hove Albion

Jürgen Locadia (£14.1m)

Brighton's Jurgen Locadia reacts after his goal is disallowed by referee Kevin Friend

These days, Brighton are synonymous with being very adept in the transfer market. Take for instance Moisés Caicedo, who arrived from Independiente del Valle in the winter of 2021 for just £4.5m and was sold to Chelsea for £115m just two years later. But they don't get it right every time.

This is proven by the signing of Jürgen Locadia. He first caught the eye after bagging an 11-minute hat-trick on his debut as an 18-year-old substitute for PSV Venlo in 2012 and he ended up at Brighton six years later. Unfortunately, the £14.1m signing never settled in England and left in 2018 with just three league goals under his belt.

Jürgen Locadia at Brighton

Games

46

Goals

6

Assists

3

Via Transfermarkt

Burnley

Leon Cort (£1.5m)

Burnley's Leon Cort looks on

Burnley signed defender Leon Cort in January 2010 for £1.5m. At the time, selling club Stoke said the fee could rise to £2m but it's fair to assume they never got that extra chunk of change.

The defender was brought in to help keep the Clarets in the top flight but in his 15 games that term, they conceded 36 goals and failed to keep a single clean sheet. He then struggled for regular minutes in the Championship and so was loaned out to Preston North End and Charlton Athletic before leaving permanently in January 2012.

Leon Cort at Burnley

Games

20

Wins

4

Defeats

13

Draws

3

Via FootballDataBase

Chelsea

Fernando Torres (£50m)

Fernando Torres | Chelsea

Arriving in the winter of 2023 for £88.5m, Mykhailo Mudryk has struggled early on in his Chelsea career and could one day find himself as the Chelsea pick for this list but he's young and has plenty of time to prove himself. Juan Cuadrado is another shout after his £23.3 yielded zero goals or assists but there can only be one player named here.

That is, of course, Fernando Torres. Sure he scored that famous semi-final goal on the way to the club's 2012 Champions League win, but when you arrive for £50m, you need to deliver more than just a couple of memorable moments. Sadly, the Spaniard's January 2011 move has made him the poster boy for Premier League flops ever since.

Fernando Torres at Chelsea

Games

172

Goals

45

Assists

35

Via Transfermarkt

Crystal Palace

Alexander Sørloth (£9m)

Crystal Palace's Alexander Sorloth looks dejected

It seems Crystal Palace have had a couple of poor strikers arrive in the winter months during the Premier League era. Emmanuel Adebayor spent a short time on loan in 2016, scoring just once in 15 games but Alexander Sørloth gets the nod here as cost the club about £9m and performed just as poorly, if not worse.

Oddly enough, the striker has since proven himself to be a pretty handy player for the likes of Trabzonspor, Real Sociedad, and Villarreal but things never clicked for him at Selhurst Park as he failed to score once in 16 league outings.

Alexander Sørloth at Crystal Palace

Games

20

Goals

1

Assists

1

Via Transfermarkt

Everton

Cenk Tosun (£27m)

Cenk Tosun

The likes of John Stones, Steven Pienaar, Mikel Arteta and, of course, Seamus Coleman all arrived at Goodison Park in the winter months but when it comes to pure goalscoring players, they haven't had the same luck. This is perfectly summed up by the £27m blown on Cenk Tosun in January 2017.

Sam Allardyce raved about the Turkish striker when he joined from Besiktas, saying: "We looked at the qualities of the player, his talent and goalscoring, and his resilience, too. I do not think you can look any more than we have done." A return of nine goals in 50 Premier League league matches for the Toffees suggests they could have looked a bit harder.

Cenk Tosun at Everton

Games

61

Goals

1

Assists

0

Via Transfermarkt

Fulham

Kostas Mitroglou (£12m)

Kostas Mitroglou for Fulham

It was never going to be an easy task to try and replace Dimitar Berbatov, but Fulham would have expected a little more from Kostas Mitroglou. The striker arrived for Olympiakos for £12m but by February had already been dropped from the squad due to a lack of fitness.

Even if would be unfair to expect him to be as good as Berbatov, but Mitroglou was expected to at least deliver something tenable for the club. Instead, he played just three league games and scored zero goals as Fulham were relegated at the end of the season. He didn't hang around to try his fortunes in the Championship.

Kostas Mitroglou at Fulham

Games

3

Goals

0

Assists

0

Via Transfermarkt

Liverpool

Andy Carroll

Andy Carroll at Liverpool

Torres’ £50m move in January 2011 wasn't only bad for Chelsea but it also prompted this terrible panic buy from Liverpool. Carroll had scored only 14 top-flight goals when the Reds spent £35m on him in January 2011 and it would take until April before he added to that tally.

He later revealed that he didn't actually want to leave Newcastle United but was forced into handing in a transfer request with Mike Ashley's heart well and truly set on the money. While he never delivered the goods, Suarez arrived from Ajax the same winter meaning Carroll's poor form was less significant.

Andy Carroll at Liverpool

Games

58

Goals

11

Assists

6

Via Transfermarkt

Luton Town

Micky Droy (loan)

Micky Droy once of Luton Town

Luton Town may been promoted to the Premier League for the first time in their history ahead of the 2023/24 season, but back in 1984, they were a First Division side. With that being the case, we'll go way back to name Micky Droy who arrived that winter to provide so much needed depth.

Droy was a fan-favourite at Chelsea, playing 166 times for the Blues, and was recruited by Luton to offer cover in defence after Paul Elliott suffered a broken leg. Ironically, after playing just one game – a defeat at Manchester United – he limped off early the next week with a hamstring injury. The Hatters then signed Steve Foster and Droy was never needed again.

Micky Droy at Luton Town

Games

2

Wins

0

Defeats

1

Losses

1

Via Transfermarkt

Manchester City

Wilfried Bony

Manchester City striker Wilfried Bony

There was some logic to Manchester City's move for Wilfried Bony in January 2015. After all, he was the Premier League’s top scorer in 2014 after bagging 20 goals for Swansea – finishing two goals above Sergio Aguero.

However, of the two, it quickly became apparent who was better suited for life at the Etihad, with the Argentine going from strength to strength while Bony never really found his rhythm. City blew £25m on the Ivorian making him one of the

most expensive African footballers in history. To put that in perspective, this deal cost more than what Man City paid for Yaya Toure, or what Chelsea paid for Didier Drogba and Michael Essien.

Wilfried Bony at Manchester City

Games

46

Goals

11

Assists

7

Via Transfermarkt

Manchester United

Alexis Sánchez (swapped for Henrikh Mkhitaryan)

Alexis Sanchez

Having lit up the Premier League with the Gunners, Alexis Sánchez's move to Manchester United was met with a great deal of fanfare and THAT piano video. But that was about as good as it got from the Chilean, who earned £300,000 a week during his disastrous time at Old Trafford.

He later admitted: “After the first training session, I realised many things and when I got back home, I told my agent if I could cancel the contract and go back to Arsenal." At least, from United's point of view, the swap deal didn't go much better for Arsenal with Henrikh Mkhitaryan also flopping at the Emirates.

Alexis Sánchez at Manchester United

Games

45

Goals

5

Assists

9

Via Transfermarkt

Newcastle United

Jean-Alain Boumsong

Newcastle defender Jean-Alain Boumsong

These days, Newcastle United are so rich you can expect them to spend big in future transfer windows. Arrivals such as Bruno Guimarães and Kieran Trippier in recent January markets speak to this. Not so long ago, though, life at St James' Park wasn't quite so extravagant.

Rangers signed Jean-Alain Boumsong on a free in the summer of 2004, so it was somewhat baffling to see Newcastle spend £8m on him just months later. The deal, tied in with his poor form, was so dubious that it was even looked into as part of the English football corruption investigation of 2006 – although no irregular payments were found.

Jean-Alain Boumsong at Newcastle

Games

59

Wins

24

Losses

24

Draws

11

Via FootballDataBase

Nottingham Forest

Jonjo Shelvey

Jonjo Shelvey at Nottingham Forest

The problem when you make so many transfers, as Nottingham Forest have done under Evangelos Marinakis (124 to be exact), is that you run the risk of signing some pretty big duds. Jonjo Shelvey arrived in January 2022 from Newcastle United and should have brought with him proven Premier League experience to help the newly-promoted Midlands club.

He fell out of favour so quickly, however, that his last appearance in a squad came months later on 8 April. He was sent to Caykur Rizespor, supposedly on loan, but Forest had to cancel his contract instead and let him leave permanently after realising they'd exceeded the number of players they are permitted to have out on loan. It was a suitably messy ending to a terrible transfer.

Jonjo Shelvey at Nottingham Forest

Games

8

Wins

0

Losses

6

Draws

2

Via FootballDataBase

Sheffield United

Geoff Horsfield (£1.2m)

Sheffield United's Geoff Horsfield

Neil Warnock signed Geoff Horsfield on loan from West Brom in 2006 but it went so badly that Sheffield United quickly wanted to terminate the move. The Baggies, however, insisted that they fulfilled the obligation to sign the player at the end of the season.

A £1.2m deal was completed but Horsfield never played for the Blades again and was loaned out to Leeds United, Leicester City and Scunthorpe before being released in 2009. Speaking about his manager not long after arriving, the striker told the press: "Warnock wants to get rid of me. He told me that he cannot see me getting into the team now or next season. Then he told me he didn’t want me near his club and to train at home.” He added: ''I just can't believe I was signed on this basis and it's all blown up in my face for no reason.''

Geoff Horsfield at Sheffield United

Games

5

Goals

1

Assists

0

Via Transfermarkt

Tottenham Hotspur

Bongani Khumalo ( £1.5m)

Bongani Khumalo at Tottenham

The name Bongani Khumalo likely won't ring a bell for most Premier League fans and there's a good reason for that. He arrived at Tottenham Hotspur in the winter of 2011 from Supersport having never played outside of South Africa before.

For a reported £1.5m fee, Spurs must have felt it was worth the gamble but it's safe to say that never paid off. He spent four years with the north London outfit – albeit mostly out on loan – but never did enough to convince the club he was good enough to play in the first team. He was released in 2015 and ended up back at Supersport.

Bongani Khumalo at Tottenham

Games

0

Wins

0

Losses

0

Draws

0

Via Transfermarkt

West Ham United

Savio Nsereko (£9m)

Savio Nsereko

Savio Nsereko looked to be a massively exciting prospect as a teenager and after he was named in the 2008 Under-19 Euros Team of the Tournament, West Ham United made their move. They probably thought they were doing well when they paid £9m to sign him from Brescia in January 2009. Boy were they wrong.

The German made just one start in the Premier League before being sold to Fiorentina six months after arriving. An anonymous former teammate told The Athletic in 2020: "One minute he would show moments of brilliance and then the next day he would just be absolutely useless. Honestly, it felt like he had won a competition to play for West Ham.”

Savio Nsereko at West Ham

Games

11

Goals

0

Assists

2

Via Transfermarkt

Wolves

Willian José

Willian Jose at Wolves

It never looks particularly good on a player's CV when they head to a club on loan and then leave with that team rejecting their option to turn the move into a permanent transfer. But you can't really blame Wolves for letting Willian José swiftly head back to Real Sociedad in this instance.

He'd scored 62 goals in 170 appearances for the Spanish club and moved to England in January 2021 looking like he might be quite the coup. What followed was mediocrity at best as the striker found the back of the net just once in the Premier League for Wolves. Unsurprisingly, he returned to La Liga that summer having failed to make a lasting impression on English football.

Willian José at Wolves

Games

18

Goals

1

Assists

1

Via Transfermarkt