Sheva and Nine Other Reputation Ruining Transfers

So Shevchenko has finally ended his Chelsea nightmare and rejoined Dynamo Kiev. Once the most feared striker in the world, he never really made an impact at Chelsea, which is a shame because it has tainted his once fearsome reputation, and he seemed to deal with the whole situation with some dignity.

Regardless, there is no doubt it might be on the minds of Ronaldo, Ibrahimovic, Kaká and Benzema as they take to the field this weekend (Monday in Barca’s case) after big money transfers. So in celebration, here are nine other players whose reputation was in tatters after they made a big money transfer and couldn’t deliver the goods.

1 Denilson (Sao Paulo to Real Betis £22m 1998)

After a blistering performance in Le Tournoi (basically a warm up to the 1998 World Cup, remembered primarilly for Roberto Carlos free kick, and England actually winning) Denilson was the most sought after player in the World. Amazingly, it was Betis who broke the world transfer record in bringing Denilson to Spain, although they’d wish they hadn’t. He did absolute nothing for them, and Betis got relegated. He stayed untill 2005, but is currently a free agent.

2 Rodney Marsh (Queens Park Rangers to Manchester City, £200k, 1972)

Big money transfers aren’t as new a thing for Man City as you might think. They might learn a lesson from this one. Man City were walking away with the league back in 1972, and this being the pre-transfer window days, in March they decided, unfathomably to spend £200k (alot of money in them days) on the skilful Rodney Marsh from QPR. Top of the league in March when he joined, they managed just 8 points from their last 8 games, and finished fourth. Marsh was blamed (even by his teamates) for his fancy dan style unbalancing the side.

3 Juan Sebastian Veron (Lazio to Manchester United, £28m 2001)

The toast of Sven Goran Eriksson’s title winning Lazio side, Veron got a big money move to Manchester United in 2001, where curiously Fergie thought him that last bit of the jigsaw so that he could dominate Europe. Strange, considering that in Giggs-Keane-Scholes-Beckham they had one of the best starting midfields on the planet, and even stranger because, well that midfield had already helped deliver the Champions League back in 1999. Veron failed to cope with the fast paced game in the Premier League, and ultimately only ever looked good in the Champions League. Bizzarely Chelsea bought him from Man United, thinking they could get something out of him that United could not. He flopped in West London too.

4 Stan Collymore (Nottingham Forest to Liverpool, £8.5m 1995)

Hard to think now, but at Forest, Stan Collymore was one of the most feared strikers in England. As the lone striker in a team built entirely around him, Collymore thrived as the centre of attention. He got his big money move in 1995 and he blew it. An infuriating talent, he appeared not to be able to cope at the bigger club – where he was paired with an in-his-prime Robbie Fowler and was utterly uninspired for two seasons, before being shipped out to Villa, where he failed to impress again, and was sold to Leicester for just £500,000 just four years after his big move to Liverpool.

5 Edwin van der Saar (Ajax to Juventus, 1999)

There is hope for Sheva and anyone else currently failing to live up to potential, you can turn it around. VDS looked brilliant in goal for Ajax as they waltzed to glory at home and in Europe, and so in 1999 Juventus made him the first non-Italian to keep goal for them. He wasn’t impressive, and as Juve lost the title to Roma, he was replaced by Gigi Buffon and he left to play at Fulham of all places. A couple of good seasons there provided Alex Ferguson with the confidence to bring him in, and now he’s European Goalkeeper of the Year.

6 Ricardo Quaresma (FC Porto to Inter, 2008)

An intriguing if tempremental talent (his stay at Barca ended with him saying he wouldn’t play for them under Frank Rijkaard any more) Quaresma had a chance to show he could make the step up to the top level when he joined Inter last year. Except he didn’t step up, Jose Mourinho complaining about his lack of tactical discipline. After half a season he was loaned out to Chelsea. He’s now back at Inter, but the future is hardly as bright as it once was.

7 Tomas Brolin (Parma to Leeds United, £4.5m, 1992)

England were sunk in 1992 by a goal by a brilliant looking Swedish striker. Without asking any questions, Leeds paid £4.5m for his services. He turned up on the training park looking out of shape, and set about constantly falling out with Leeds manager George Graham, who ended up playing him only 19 times in two years before paying the rest of his contract and telling him to be on his way. He turned up at Crystal Palace in 1999 and played 13 matches before being told he was too overweight to play. Amazingly after Palace manager Steve Coppell was sacked, Brolin became Palace’s assistant manager. They got relegated.

8 Luther Blissett (Watford to AC Milan, £1m, 1982)

Blissett was a legend at Watford, where he scored a shade under 100 goals and helped establish Graham Taylor’s team in the top league. One team that were watching, curiously were Milan, who paid £1m to bring Blissett to Italy. He stayed for just one season (where he scored just 5 goals) as the Italian press lambasted him for constantly missing sitters. He was sold back to Watford for £55k. Ouch.

9 Titus Bramble (Ipswich Town to Newcastle United £5m 2002)

Its genuinely hard to believe now, but Bramble was considered a future England talent when he played for Ipswich. Newcastle, however is where defenders go to die (just ask Boumsong or Fabricio Coloccini). Bramble was no exception and his concentration-less displays at Newcastle made his name a byword for Poor Defending. When Alan Hansen picked him out on Match of the Day week in week out the entire country almost fell sorry for him. Almost, because they then saw the appalling piece of defending he’d been responsible for.

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Category: Europe, Transfer Talk, World Football