Premier League Transfers: 15 Talented Imports Who Completely Flopped

14. Shinji Kagawa

Is this too soon? Maybe. But is it too harsh? No. Shinji Kagawa was one of the last big signings made by Sir Alex Ferguson, and a cynical person might argue that he was signed purely for commercial reasons; with Asian icon Park Ji-Sung having left Old Trafford the club was in need of a new poster boy for that part of the world. Kagawa is Japan€™s star player, having made a name for himself in the Bundesliga as part of Jürgen Klopp€™s resurgent Borussia Dortmund, and it would be naïve to suggest that Kagawa€™s star status in Asia played no role in the transfer - but make no mistake - he certainly has the talent to back it up. Or at least he did have. This is what makes his current predicament so hard to watch, he has rarely played a string of games and only occasionally shows flashes of brilliance that earned him the move to England. Some would make the argument that both of his United managers have failed to play him in his best position- usually farming him out on the wing where he has proven to be largely ineffective. Though this argument does have some merit, some of the responsibility must fall on the player himself. It is too much of a coincidence that both Alex Ferguson and David Moyes have largely ignored Kagawa- he simply isn€™t bringing it. There may very well be a free Shinji campaign still going on, but Shinji is going to do something himself or face being a United flop.