5 Worst Premier League Transfers This Summer (So Far)

3. Glen Johnson

Falcao Chelsea
stoke city

Ask any Liverpool fan: who in their opinion has been their weakest player over the last two or three seasons and they'll probably reply by saying that they never replaced Luis Suarez and no one will be able to replace Steven Gerrard. This is usually the case if you ask them any football or non-football related question, but once you snap them out of this Scouse Pavlovian conditioning the general consensus would be Glen Johnson.

The much maligned full back has been jettisoned by his club and country over the past season or so, but Mark Hughes has decided to come to the rescue and has thrown the 30 year old a rubber ring and for Johnson, it's all aboard HMS Britannia. It's a surprising move to say the least, Hughes has quietly been over-achieving at Stoke and has transformed the Premier League bully boys into a team with multiple facets to their game. Last seasons acquisitions of Bojan, Moses, Assaidi and Diouf improved their technical proficiencies and he has already signed Joselu, El Ourachi & Van Ginkel on loan.

On the surface it looks like a strange bit of business going for an ageing, declining, high wage player but Stoke have had their difficulties at right back, Phil Bardsley was often drafted in at left back and Geoff Cameron filled in, but even so, with the kinds of signings Hughes has made already, you would have thought the scouting team would have produced something more inspired than Glen Johnson.

Contributor
Contributor

Football; I write about it, to varying degrees of success. West Ham correspondent for What Culture.