Top 4 Bad Transfer Decisions In The Premier League History – Featuring Former Chelsea And Arsenal Stars

In the yester years, players were praised for being one-club merchants. Several players like Francesco Totti, Paul Scholes and Tony Adams donned the colours of only one club during their entire careers, but in modern day football, this is a rare commodity. Players are on the move like never before, some moving for better financial gains, whereas some move for better career opportunities.

Nevertheless, transferring from one football club to another can be a tough job for the players. Getting used to new faces, tactics and a new city in itself can be hard on a footballer. While some take to their new clubs like fish do to water, a few have found it very difficult and have even let a single transfer move ruin their careers. Here are a few players that ruined their blooming careers with one bad transfer –

Alexander Hleb; Arsenal to Barcelona

After joining Arsenal from Stuttgart, the Belarusian star dazzled onlookers at The Emirates for 3 seasons. Barcelona then came calling for him and he obviously could not refuse The Catalans. But in all fairness, it didn’t exactly turn out as he’d hoped for it to. He spent a lot of time on the bench as stars with more talent and potential flourished at his expense. Loan spells at Stuttgart and Birmingham City ensued for Hleb and he failed to reach his previous heights.

He spent last season playing at Turkish club Genclerbirligi. This term, he moved to BATE Barisov and featured in the Champions League. His career definitely didn’t turn out as he might have envisaged and the move to Barcelona is something he has said he regrets deeply. Things could’ve gone better for Hleb if he had stayed put at Arsenal.

Andriy Shevchenko; AC Milan to Chelsea

After early success at Dynamo Kyiv, Shevchenko signed for AC Milan and became a real cult figure at The San Siro. Following 6 successful years in Italy, he moved to Chelsea. This still remains one of the biggest failures in the Premier League era as Shevchenko failed to contribute anything noteworthy during his time at Chelsea.

3 drab years in London ensued for the Ukranian striker when he could muster up only a total of 22 goals in all competitions. That was quite a disappointment for him as he was viewed as the marquee striker signing to embark a new era at Stamford Bridge. Following the failed loan move with AC Milan, he moved back to Dynamo Kyiv where he features for 3 years before hanging up his boots.

Scott Sinclair; Swansea City to Manchester City

Sinclair started his career at Bristol City. As a 16-year-old, he was signed by Chelsea who at the time were very keen on signing up all the youngsters they could. Several loan spells followed as Sinclair failed to make a breakthrough at Chelsea. He was frustrated to be on the sidelines and got himself a permanent move to Swansea City, who were then in the Championship.

Sinclair immediately made an impact at The Liberty Stadium and earned Swansea promotion to the Premier League under Brendan Rodgers. On promotion to the Premier League, Sinclair’s good form did not stop as he scored 8 league goals in the Swans’ debut campaign. His affair with the club didn’t last for too much longer, though, as Roberto Mancini’s Manchester City came calling for his services. After moving, he failed to get a proper look-in and failed to score a single goal during his time with The Citizens.  Following a failed loan spell at West Brom, he moved to Aston Villa. Sinclair has again reunited with Brendan Rodgers at Celtic and seems to be atoning for a bad couple of years.

Fernando Torres; Liverpool to Chelsea

 Although Torres’ form in his last few months at Anfield was anything but spectacular, he could still kick a ball in a straight line. Sadly that ability deserted him during his time at Chelsea and he simply failed to live up to the billing of a 50 million pound footballer.

His stay at Stamford Bridge was marred with confidence issues and Torres never got back to the player he was at Liverpool. He was soon shipped out on loan to AC Milan, another failed move for Spaniard. He has now returned to Atletico Madrid where he seems to have regained some of his confidence.