In each club's quest to unearth the next hidden gem, or to recruit a superstar marquee signing, something has gone horribly wrong. For whatever reason, a number of players signed this summer have not had the desired effect, unless they were signed by Gareth Southgate, the genius who brought you the footballing revelation of Afonso Alves. For a club record of more than £10 million. And we let him. Here, we'll list the 5 players that have done their utmost to emulate former players who just couldn't cut the Premier League, such Veron, Reyes, Morientes and Shevchenko. And Afonso Alves. I really can't emphasise enough how awful he was. As usual, they're in no particular order.
1. Ivan Ramis (Wigan, 4.5 million*)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkVjaW5VG8M Lovely tackle. During the summer, West Ham battled hard with Wigan for Ramis, but ultimately lost out. Yet after paying over £4 million, and costing the Latics a penalty after an awful challenge in their first game against Chelsea, the Hammers must have been breathing a sigh of relief, who by the way now sit sixth in the table with 11 games gone. While his performances have marginally improved since then, it's more the fact that Hugo Rodallega, Mohamed Diame, and partially Victor Moses, were moved on to finance the signing of him and others. He has slightly improved of late, and even scored a goal at the right end a few weeks back, so credit where it's due. I'm yet to be convinced whether it's the start of a good run of form, or a footballing miracle.
Rating: 2 / 10 Makes David Luiz look reliable.
*Transfer fee courtesy of Sky Sports