10 Premier League Flops Who Could Become World Cup 2014 Stars

8. Kostas Mitroglou - Greece

As Bryan Ruiz was on his way out of Craven Cottage, new manager Rene Meulensteen sought to recruit new players to bring the goals that Ruiz never could and keep Fulham in the Premier League. To that end the Cottagers broke their transfer record to spend £12 million bringing Greek striker Kostas Mitroglou to the club. Mitroglou seemed like the perfect goalscorer. In his time at Greek Super League club Olympiacos Mitroglou had netted 41 times in 92 games. Even against top class opposition in the Champions League Mitroglou was a regular scorer, with 3 in 5 Champions League games last season, 4 in 6 the year before. By the time Mitroglou got to play Meulensteen had already been replaced by another new manager, Felix Magath, and Fulham were on a downward slide. In four months at the club this season the £12 million man played a grand total of 3 games, staying on the pitch for all of 151 minutes (that's £80,000 for each minute he played). Mitroglou did not score once and Fulham only picked up one point from those three games (and they were winning that one when he came on) before getting relegated. Injuries and fitness worries have played their part in Mitroglou's failure in Fulham, but he has obviously been fit enough to take part in Greece's three recent World Cup warm up friendlies. If anybody is likely to get the goals that will allow the Greeks to progress to a potential Second Round match with England, the man that scored three in their 4-2 qualifying playoff victory over Romania is likely still to be the one.