10 Most Expensive Newcastle Transfer Flops In History

2. Albert Luque

An "overpaid invisible Iberian space-waster" was the stinging description attributed to Luque by the Guardian in 2007 and quite frankly, they were being kind to a player that rarely moved quick enough to sweat during two excruciating years at Newcastle. Signed for an eye-watering £9.5 million from Deportivo, where he had groomed a reputation as an explosive left-sided attacker, he soon broke down with injury in only his second game for the club and ultimately failed to live up to his colossal price tag thereafter. My own lasting memory of Luque came during a home defeat to Blackburn in 2006 in which the idle Spaniard strolled through the 62 minutes he was on the field. It was only when he was substituted that he broke into a sprint towards the touchline before skipping down the tunnel. It was the fastest he'd moved all afternoon. 34 appearances in all competitions and just three goals in two years - a cost of £3.2m per goal - is a damning indictment of our recruitment policy under Souness and Shepherd.