25 Stephane Guivarc’h, Auxerre to Newcastle United, £3.5m, June 1998
The World Cup winners’ medal that the striker collected with France needed to be seen to be believed by frustrated Newcastle fans.
24 Glen Johnson, West Ham United to Chelsea, £6m, July 2003
The first signing of the Roman Abramovich era has still to establish himself four years and one loan spell at Portsmouth later.
23 Corrado Grabbi, Ternana to Blackburn Rovers, £6.75m, June 2001
The Italian striker scored two goals in 30 Premier League appearances. That’s £3.38m per goal.
22 Adrian Mutu, Parma to Chelsea, £15.8m, August 2003
As if six goals in 27 league games was not bad enough, the Romania striker was sacked after failing a drugs test for cocaine.
21 Tore Andre Flo, Rangers to Sunderland, £6.75m, August 2002
Four goals in 29 league appearances by the Norway striker helped Sunderland towards an ignominious relegation.
20 Joey Beauchamp, Oxford United to West Ham United, £1m, June 1994
The Oxford-born winger was so homesick after joining West Ham that he left two months later without playing a competitive game. He returned closer to his roots with a move to Swindon Town.
19 Hugo Viana, Sporting Lisbon to Newcastle United, £8.5m, June 2002
The young Portuguese midfield player spent most of his two years at the club on the bench.
18 Andrea Silenzi, Torino to Nottingham Forest, £1.8m, August 1995
The Italian striker was so poor that Forest allowed him to leave for nothing.
17 Florin Raducioiu, Espanyol to West Ham United, £2.4m, July 1996
Lasted only six months after missing training to go shopping.
16 Sasa Curcic, Bolton Wanderers to Aston Villa, £4m, August 1996
Fell out with Brian Little, the manager, amid accusations of a wild lifestyle off the pitch.
15 Alex Nyarko, Lens to Everton, £4.5m, July 2000
Complained that the English league was too physical. Walter Smith, his manager, appeared to side with the Everton fan who ran onto the pitch at Highbury to confront the Ghanaian over a supposed lack of effort.
14 Ade Akinbiyi, Wolverhampton Wanderers to Leicester City, £5m, July 2000
Known to some Leicester supporters as Ade Abadbiyi, he was lampooned by fans across the country for his desperate misses.
13 Chris Sutton, Blackburn Rovers to Chelsea, £10m, July 1999
The striker was a regular goalscorer with Norwich City, Blackburn and Celtic but never recovered from missing a couple of sitters on his debut for Chelsea, for whom he scored once in
28 Premier League appearances.
12 Jean-Alain Boumsong, Rangers to Newcastle United, £8m, January 2005
Somehow made it into France’s World Cup finals squad last year but Newcastle fans were relieved when the error-prone central defender left for Juventus.
11 Juan Sebastian Veron, Lazio to Manchester United, £28.1m, July 2001; United to Chelsea, £15m, August 2003
To spare the Argentinian from appearing twice, these two moves have been placed together. If anything, Chelsea’s signing was worse, given that they knew Veron had failed to adjust to English football.
10 Darko Kovacevic, Red Star Belgrade to Sheffield Wednesday, £2m, December 1995
The forward made no impression at Hillsborough but promptly became a prolific goalscorer in the Spanish league with Real Sociedad when he left.
9 Robert Fleck, Norwich to Chelsea, £2.1m, August 1992
The Scottish striker was a cult hero at Carrow Road but a carthorse at Stamford Bridge, where he scored five times in 40 league appearances.
8 Bosko Balaban, Dynamo Zagreb to Aston Villa, £6m, August 2001
The Croatia forward did not start a league game in his two and a half years at the club.
7 Sergei Rebrov, Dynamo Kiev to Tottenham Hotspur, £11.5m, June 2000
The player who formed an outstanding attacking partnership with Andriy Shevchenko at Dynamo Kiev lost his radar after joining Tottenham.
6 Marcelino, Real Mallorca to Newcastle United, £5m, June 1999
Dubbed the “lesser-spotted Magpie”, he played just 17 Premier League games in three and a half years at St James’ Park.
5 Steve Marlet, Lyons to Fulham, £11.5m, August 2001
The Frenchman provided just one goal per five league games, fell out with Chris Coleman over his refusal to play out of position and spent two years on loan to Marseilles.
4 Tomas Brolin, Parma to Leeds United, £4.3m, November 1995
Injury had left Brolin overweight and over the hill but Leeds paid well over the odds for the Sweden striker. He left two dismal years later when his contract was cancelled.
3 Albert Luque, Deportivo La Coruna to Newcastle United, £9.5m, August 2005
One of a host of expensive signings by Newcastle to have disappeared down a black and white hole. The Stevens Inquiry placed a question mark over the transfer and the rest of the world placed a question mark over why Newcastle bought him at all.
2 Valerien Ismael, Strasbourg to Crystal Palace, £2.75m, January 1998
Hopeless in South London, the French central defender has since won the German league and cup double both with Werder Bremen and Bayern Munich.
1 Per Kroldrup, Udinese to Everton, £5m, June 2005
Everton paid a fortune for the Denmark central defender but then showed no interest in actually playing him amid suggestions they had suddenly discovered he couldn’t head the ball. Made one league appearance before returning to Italy.
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