5 biggest transfer flops in Football history

Football is the most popular sport in the world. According to some reports football has almost 4 billion global viewers. The transfer window is a huge part of football, and the sport is incomplete without transfer windows. Football teams bought players in transfer windows. There are two transfer windows in a year, summer transfer window and winter transfer window respectively. Budget allocation is very crucial in football. Money makes the football world great but that does not mean spending huge money will guarantee success. 

In this article, we will discuss about top five biggest transfer flops in Football history:

5. James Rodriguez: Monaco to Real Madrid (2014)

Spanish club Real Madrid is a football club giant when it comes to trophies and budget. Colombian midfielder James Rodriguez was a great young prodigy in 2014. Colombia qualified for the quarter-finals in the 2014 World Cup. After the World Cup, Real Madrid president Florentino Perez bought him for 80 million euros. During his first season in Real Madrid, James Rodriguez scored 17 goals in all competitions. In 2016, Zinedine Zidane took charge of the Los Blancos. Under Zidane's coaching, James has played very few games for Real Madrid. Even James was asked to be left out of a match against Athletic Bilbao. He featured in only 85 matches for Real Madrid and scored 29 goals in his six years. Later on, he moved to Bayern Munich for a loan in 2017.

4. Paul Pogba: Juventus to Manchester United  (2016)

French footballer Paul Pogba is an absolute classy mid-fielder. In 2011, Pogba was playing for Manchester United. He played there for 1 year and featured in 3 matches. Unfortunately, Manchester United supporters did not like Pogba. Because of some bitter communication, Pogba moved to Juventas in 2012 and played there for 4 years. He played 124 games for Juventus and scored 28 goals. He was a midfield maestro for Juventus. In, 2016 Manchester United re-sign Pogba for 89.5 million euros. Meanwhile, in six seasons (2016-2022), Pogba has featured in 154 appearances and scored only 29 goals. In his six seasons, he won only one Europa Cup and one Carabao Cup. 

Also Read: 5 controversial VAR Decisions that changed the course of a Match

3. Philippe Coutinho: Liverpool to Barcelona (2018)

Brazilian attacking footballer Philippe Coutinho was one of the best-attacking midfielders for Brazil in 2018. It was one of the biggest transfers in Liverpool's history but one of the transfer upsets in Barcelona’s history too. Coutinho has joined Barcelona for a record transfer fee of 120 million euros. He played there for four years between 2018 to 2022.  He played 76 matches for Barcelona and scored only 17 goals. He has failed to mark his worth in Catalan Jersey. Later on, he joined English club Aston Villa for only 20 million euros.

2. Eden Hazard: Chelsea to Real Madrid (2019)

This was one of the worst transfers in football history. Belgian attacking mid-fielder cum winger Eden Hazard moved to Real Madrid in 2019 from Chelsea for 119 million euros. He is at his peak in Chelsea. He spent his 8 years in Chelsea Scoring 85 goals in 245 matches. After joining Real Madrid Hazard has suffered with so many injuries. In the last 4 years, he featured in only 54 matches and scored  4 goals for the Galacticos.

1. Osuman Dembele : Borussia Dortmund to Barcelona

This was one of the flop moves in football transfer history. Young winger of France Osuman Dembele joined Barcelona from German Club Borussia Dortmund for a record fee of 105 million euros in 2017. He has only featured in 127 games for Barcelona in his 6 years and scored only 24 goals. Finally, he moved to French club PSG in 2023.  He has also played 42 games for the France International team and scored only 5 goals in six years.