Premier League 2011-12: Top 10 worst signings of the season

By Dan Ripley

It doesn’t matter whether a transfer is a pre-planned deal completed during June or a last minute panic buy on the eve of September – there will always be signings to forget.
This Premier League season has been no different. Some players have failed to justify their large price tags after moving with big reputations, while other young stars have struggled to adapt in new surroundings and the anchored investment placed on them.
With the campaign coming to a close, Sportsmail assesses the 10 biggest disappointments in the transfer market this season.


10. David Ngog Bolton (£4m from Liverpool)

Over his three-year Liverpool career, two thirds of Ngog’s 63 league games came from the substitute’s bench.

The Frenchman’s time at Anfield wasn’t a failure but neither was it a success as he never managed to get a decent run in the side. But Owen Coyle was willing to give the striker his first team chance last summer.

But 27 games later the 23-year-old has yet to score at the Reebok Stadium, netting just four times in all competitions. Ngog has scored just one league goal since January and has been found wanting playing for a team that doesn’t create many chances.

9. Romelu Lukaku
Chelsea (£18m from Anderlecht)

It looks harsh to judge a player who is yet to make his first league start for Chelsea and is still just 18-years-old, but the price tag attached to Lukaku suggested at least some sort of impact would be made.
The striker had been chased by top European clubs prior to arriving at Stamford Bridge, but in his 10 Blues games so far, Lukaku has failed to find the net and doesn’t look ready for the Premier League.
The Belgian international hasn’t played for over two months and although development time is on his side, he looks a long way off the finished article – and an £18milllion striker.

8. Samir Nasri
Man City (£24m from Arsenal)

According to Nasri, he joined Manchester City to win trophies and he may well achieve that by winning the league title this season.
But it will come at a personal price to the Frenchman. At Arsenal he was crucial to the midfield with his keen eye for goal and talent to display a defence splitting pass making him one of the Premier League’s most exciting stars.
Since joining City, the 24-year-old has become a bit-part player. The talent is still there but his displays are being far overshadowed by his team-mates and his stock has fallen.
Considering the relentless pursuit by Roberto Mancini, many expected Nasri to have a bigger impact.

7. Jay Bothroyd
QPR (Free from Cardiff)
Last season Bothroyd was playing in the Championship but such was his form he had already scored 15 goals by the time his shock England call-up came in November 2010.
Only five more goals followed for the rest of the term but QPR’s capture of the striker in the summer for free looked to be good business for the newly promoted Hoops.
But the 29-year-old has struggled badly on his return to the top flight. Just two goals in defeats against Tottenham and Manchester City are the only strikes he has managed in 23 games.
The arrival of Djibril Cisse and Bobby Zamora since means his Loftus Road days already look numbered.


6. Jordan Henderson
Liverpool (£16m from Sunderland)

After two promising seasons at Sunderland had done wonders for Henderson’s development. Before he had joined Liverpool he had already made his England debut.
But it’s his sole international appearance against France two years ago that showed the midfielder may have potential but is still a rough diamond.
Henderson still has much to learn about the game and being central to Liverpool’s midfield this term has been too much too soon for the 21-year-old.
More playing time alongside Steven Gerrard will see him improve, but right now he looks overpriced at £16m.

5. Wilson Palacios
Stoke (£8m from Tottenham Hotspur)

Especially during his first couple of seasons at Tottenham, Palacios was crucial to Harry Redknapp’s midfield, so the Honduran’s transfer to Stoke last summer looked smart business for Tony Pulis.
But unlike fellow arrival from White Hart Lane, Peter Crouch, Palacios has not nailed down a starting role at the Britannia Stadium and looks a shadow of the player he once was.
The 27-year-old has featured more in the second half of the season but where you could once guarantee he would be hassling the opposition’s playmaker, Palacios now looks much more conservative at a cost to his overall game.

4. Connor Wickham
Sunderland (£13m from Ipswich)

In fairness to Wickham, Sunderland has not been the ideal club this season to make the step up from the Championship into the Premier League.
A big turnover of players and a change of manager mark a transitional season for the Black Cats and the 19-year-old has suffered from it.
The striker has scored just once in an injury-hit campaign where he has featured 18 times, but his early struggles in a testing environment will be seen as a disappointment.
Wickham hasn’t started a league game since December.


3. Charles N'Zogbia
Aston Villa (£9.5m from Wigan)

Alex McLeish has struggled all season at Aston Villa, but he wasn’t helped last summer when the club sold their best creative players in Stewart Downing and Ashley Young before he arrived.
The Scot’s choice of a replacement winger wasn’t a bad one, on paper at least. N’Zogbia’s form and nine goals for Wigan last season, especially the latter half, played a big part in keeping the Latics up.
But the Frenchman has not hit the same standards at Villa Park. Almost anonymous in games and just two goals has led to the 25-year-old being dropped from the side in recent matches.

2. Roger Johnson
Wolves (£7m from Birmingham)

With Scott Dann alongside him in defence, Johnson was vital to Birmingham, and Wolves looked like they had secured a top signing by bringing in the 28-year-old last summer.
Mick McCarthy instantly made him his captain but it’s been a terrible season for the former Cardiff star.
A loss of form and off-pitch incidents have seen him feature just twice since McCarthy’s sacking two months ago but even before that he looked a liability in the Wolves backline.
Unfortunately for Johnson he now looks set to be relegated for the second season running with his Molineux future uncertain.

1. Stewart Downing
Liverpool (£20m from A.Villa)

Downing’s final season at Aston Villa was arguably his finest of his career. Seven league goals and nine assists for a club that was having a torturous time on the field was a decent record.
But that didn’t stop the eyebrows being raised when Liverpool paid a huge £20m for the winger. The 27-year-old has failed to become the key player he was at Villa Park and has had an average season at best.
Downing has still yet to score a league goal and looks like his confidence has taken a hit judging by his lack of runs into the penalty box to amend his lack of goals, with or without the ball.



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