Premier League's WORST Signing EVERY Season (1992-2022) 

Peter Crouch is going to be utterly devastated to find out he is in fact NOT the World's Lankiest Man.

"Michael Owen is a strange human being" is one of my favourite quotes from any video on RU-vid 😂😂

I don’t know how you missed Ali Dia for 96/97 literally the worst and most ridiculous transfer made in premier league history after pretending to be the cousin of George Weah to get signed for Southampton by Graeme Souness

'Graham Souness has an almost unique record for signing awful players.' Ali Dia. I need not say anymore! 😁

You could easily make a list of top 7 worst signings by Souness.

“Emerson Royal has looked royally hopeless” 😂😂😂

As a Derby fan £3million for Claude Davis (Clod) in 2007 sends shivers down my spine. A club record fee at the time for our worst ever player (which is saying a lot), who couldn't even foul successfully, yet alone defend

A documentary on Guy Roux would be great seeing as he served for one club 36 years- 7 years longer than any other professional manager

The worst PL performance I've seen was Bakayoko for Chelsea against Watford. Two yellow cards after 33 mins due to not being able to control the ball. Every second touch was an attempted tackle. Seven fouls.

Hargreaves played 36 games in 07/08 and helped United win the double for United for the first time in a decade. Shouldn't be anywhere near this list.

Glad to see you appreciating Joelinton's newer form. Agree that £40M is still a bit steep, but the man's young, so if he keeps performing as he is right now, he'll pay that fee off eventually.

The 50 strikers west ham have had since GSB took over and the lack of goals scored by them (21 of them scored nothing 😂)

Great video, brings back so many memories of some awful signings. One issue though is Taibi. He was awful, no question, but he wasn’t brought in to replace Schmichael. He was brought in as a backup as we had injuries and Mark Bosnich, who was actually brought in to replace the Great Dane and was arguably a worst signing given the role he was supposed to play, was doing so badly.

Bone of contention here... We signed diouf prior to the 2002 World Cup... I actually bunked off school to go watch him rip it up in that game vs France... I remember coming away from the game thinking we'd unearthed a gem... I was terribly wrong

Thanks for continued amazing football content. Especially during these dark times. It's a great distraction. 🤙

Joelinton actually seems to be looking more and like a 40 million quid player with every week that goes by, he's a beast in midfield and is partly responsible for Newcastle's change in fortunes. Your Michael Owen comment is however spot on :)

Calling Owen Hargreaves one of worst signings in the 07-08 season seems a bit harsh. He did do amazingly that season. Helping Utd winning both PL and CL. Even if he was plagued by injury later.

The fact LFC turned down Anelka for Diouf speaks volume of how bad the signing was 😂

Oh!!!I have fully agreed on all of those except for a few of those but you have given an extremely so right explanation on their flop transfers,good friend Alfie!!!🙏

Thanks for the video, HITC!

Think Nico Pepe is a bit harsh for the 19/20 season, he’s had patches of very good form at Arsenal - particularly last season. And whilst he’s flopped for the money, Ndombele has turned out to be a much worse signing that season

1. Harry Maguire being a better signing than Nicolas Pepe is a ridiculous claim. "He did well enough for England" is not an argument from the MUFC perspective. 2. No honorable mention for Torres to Chelsea? He scored 1 in 18 compared to Carroll's 1 in 12 that season, despite costing far more. Not to mention he was ruined by injuries *before* the transfer, which is more indicative of a terrible decision than a player like Carroll suffering most of his injuries *after* the transfer.

I enjoyed this. Thank you! It's very laconic.

I love your Videos ! Absolutely brilliant viewing

Pepe helped us do something no Spurs player had done in 14 years, win a trophy, including assisting in the quarters, semis, and the final

Selling Kevin Davies to Blackburn for £7.5 Million then getting him back in a swap for Egil Ostenstad was one of the best bits of transfer business Southampton have done

Enjoyed the video, you've clearly done your research - I don't even remember Forest signing Jerkan! - and made this a balanced video. As an LFC fan who'd enjoyed Hansen, Lawrensen and co so recently Piechnik left me aghast. I also remember he launched one shot that nearly took out the corner flag. According to Souness he was a good centre-half (as you say, he'd won the EUROs) who lost confidence and never recovered whilst at Liverpool. Aquilani was less box-to-box and more 'ward to ward', he was injured so much. And as for Diouf... it's fair to say that Jamie Carragher and he aren't bosom buddies. The former was probably our worst ever number 9 with a horrible attitude. It's fair to say the recruitment has picked up in recent years.

“This could well age badly” It did. Royal found some form while Lukaku… well…

This video must have taken you ages to put together Excellent video (and yes Souness was shyte as a manager and one of the main reasons for Lpool's demise back in the day) If I could give you two likes for the entire video, I would. From a Lpool fan

Can you do a video on Luton Town their progression through the football pyramid has been astonishing imo love watching them get better each season my favourite lower league side to watch

A lot of work and research here, well done 👏🏾👏🏾

Great video as always! Please could you do a video ranking the current 2nd choice Prem goalkeepers

seeing this video as a Liverpool fan, I'm massively grateful for where we stand right now

The fact that Liverpool had so many players in "worst signings " until recently, now they will have 5-6 players in "best ever "signings like salah vvd and Allison shows the turnaround they have made. No way pepe was worse than Ndombele

Top notch content Alfie

I will never get tired of watching your videos

Kepa came on in the final, saved ZERO and contributed to the only miss of the shootout.

The bit about Michael Owen not being particularly liked is hilarious and true👍

14:26 "The new Zidane." *spoiler alert* "He wasn't." Lmao I love those little bits of comic relief in your videos! 😀👍

Was really funny listening to you pronounce (or fail to pronounce) Ade Akinbiyi. Great video regardless tho!!!!!!

Julian Dicks was ahead of his time in regards to being an attacking full back(and he could actually defend) I wonder how far he could of gone without injuries or his disciplinary record. By the time of his 2nd stint at West Ham his knee was so bad he couldn't train or warm up properly. He would sit in a hot bath till kick off and then come straight out to play.

Owen Hargreaves was pretty instrumental in Man Utd winning the European Cup that season. By default that makes him a good signing, regardless of what happened afterwards.

Alfie bringing great content as always

Good enjoyable trip down memory lane 👍 as an Arsenal man I could add a couple of honourable mentions: John Jenson, Francis Jeffers and Gervinho 😅

Emerson over lukaku I get he’s not the best but lukaku cost 100m barely plays and has expressed his wish to leave multiple times. Oho and he’s was projected to be one of the top goal scorers and he’s barely scored a goal let alone his 7 touches which 2 were offside and one was from the kickoff so technically he had 4 touches. I duno maybe I’m trippin

Jack Rodwell..... remember him? First time I've heard his name since he left Everton. Also, the biggest shock of this video is that Kieran Dyer was ever on £83,000 a week

Great vid

Doiuf and Davies are Bolton legends. They both played in one of the best teams we've ever had and helped us qualify for Europe and 2 top 6 premier League finishes.

The Emerson royal one did age badly , as a spurs fan he’s been okay recently and his defensive ability is what keeps him a place in our squad , that could also be down to djed spence maybe not being totally ready to play in contes system and our purchase of destiny udogie for next season means Emerson will probably find it hard to start for us beyond this season

It’d be interesting to do this for other leagues. Spain seems to spring to mind first. Maybe do the last 20-25 years.

Just talking about Stoke as I watch this and I said I bet Imbula, Berahino and Wimmer make the list. One a mention, one on the list and I've not finished watching yet. Thanks (I guess) for highlighting our chronic business in our Premier League downfall. At least it didn't go unnoticed!

17:52 I was there when we played Villa away on the final day of the season, not Fulham. I seem to remember Fulham (H) was quite close to the end of the season though.

Berahino is at Sheffield Wednesday now and I was actually quite surprised when we went for him seen as though we are in league 1 now (I think he came from zlute wargrem or some Swiss team ) but he’s been preeetttyy bad it’s safe to say. In fairness his last game has been good so I really do pray he finds a nice bit of form for the rest of the season but I guess we’ll have to wait and see

Add RONALDO 2021 to this list.

never been this early to a video, cheers ✌🏽

On the final day of 08/09 Newcastle played away to Aston Villa, not Fulham. I remember it well because I was at Villa Park and Newcastle were relegated. Love the channel.

As a Saints fan, I cannot believe you've not even mentioned Ali Dia or Guido Carrillo!

27:05 ah yes, the legendary post 2013 career of dani osvaldo

No dishonorable mention for Werner? 😮 He’s on 271k a week. He’s shocking 😅

Big shoutout the the legend Bogarde. Living everyone's dream of getting paid without having to work.

I Love how HITC Sevens is so Polite and calm and HITC Sport Irish guy is Full on Bollocks xD

Pepe over Ndombele and Maguire is wild. Pepe got us to the Europa league KO stages last season with his goals and we would have finished a lot lower than 8th in the past 2 seasons if not for his second half of the season form

I love theses videos 😂

Great entertainment. Forgotten / never heard of some of those players. What about Ali Dia? Souness signed him at Southampton about 20 years ago

Alfie Can you do a documentary on the afc Wimbledon on the nine promotions in eleven years, how they’re a fan own club and how they have a stadium in plough lane now. The story of they lost the club, how the F A allowed that and won’t allow that anymore. How they were very close to moving to ireland How they went up the English football leagues. It would be a good documentary video if you can do this. #thepeopleschannel

Loved Derek McGoverns quip about Andy Carroll when he was held up at gunpoint when playing for West ham. "It's the closest he's been to a shot in two years"

I went to see QPR play Newcastle near the end of the 2012-13 season and the level of vitriol from home fans towards Bosingwa was quite something. Though two errors that gifted Newcastle two goals didn't help his cause

Pepe 1st season: 2nd( most goal scorer in the club most assists with an Fa Cup) 2nd season: top goal scorer for arsenal with second most assists, played less than his first season 3rd: season is either coming of the bench or hasn’t played only stared 5 games this season yet more goals than Laca

I watched just to see if Winston Bogarde would make the list. Satisfied.

I can think of a few more failed Liverpool signings (Lambert, Benteke, Karius) but I guess other clubs need a go too. BTW thanks for mentioning that many of the bad signings are actually decent players, Benteke is a case in point - just not a good fit.

Graeme Souness, oh the memories.. He did it again, this time at Benfica: Michael Thomas (because he had big balls), Scott Minto, Gary Charles, Dean Saunders (old and weary). As a FC Porto fan i was delighted. Good memories. Thank you, HITC.

Class video

Take it back about Joelinton! 40m is a good deal, turns out he's a phenomenal centre mid and has become a talisman in the Howe era. He was played out of position by the hapless Steve Bruce, who hasn't won a game since last May. Sad.

In defence of Brolin: he was never a midfield player, he was a forward. He WAS played out of position.

As a Liverpool supporter this list feels :). However you are spot on and I cant argue about any of my clubs bad transfers. Andy Carroll is Liverpools worst buy during the Premier league era, imo:)

I always feel kinda bad for Andy Caroll. Regarded as one of the worst signings in PL history, but Liverpool sold Torres on deadline day meaning they were without a striker. Plus due to Torres' massive 50m fee, much like the Neymar deal, other clubs asking prices were inflated as they knew Liverpool had more cash to spend. He was a complete panic buy, and the style of football Liverpool played would never compliment Caroll's game. Liverpool have never really played to service a big man in the Premier League so it was definitely strange to sign a player who is just that

This has been an interesting browse through the hall of shame. Speaking of terrible transfers, granted the Ashley era's over, but it'd be bizarrely fun to see a worst XI of his signings, although that might only be to see how to you decide who the worst striker for NUFC was out of Nile Ranger, Doumbia, Riviere, Xisco and Luuk de Jong

This is the problem taking in so called foreign talent based on a few moments of brilliance. Most often fail to live up to the hype.

The best one I can remember (it was only on loan). Ferdinand Coly Birmingham 2003. Successful World Cup for Senegal. Played one game - was no where near good enough. Successful afterwards- couldn’t cope with the Premier League

0:34 looks like half the recruits off the FIFA scouting report with that hair and beard

Graham Souness is unique. Appalling footballer, appalling manager and an appalling pundit. What a man.

Thought Vincent Janssen and Claudio Bravo deserved at least an honorable mention

I’m not sure if it’s just a face saving excuse but the word around Arsenal regarding Park was his signing was all about Asian merchandising and opening doors with the continent. Following his signing we had a few preseason friendlies out there in Korea and China (I believe). Apparently his transfer fee was recouped. I can believe it with how tight Arsenal we’re back then!!

As a Wycombe fan it's always sad to see what happened to Roger Johnson. He was always brilliant for Wycombe as a youngster.

Pepe won an FA Cup with Arsenal?? Harry Maguire has been consistently lacking for Manchester United and Tanguy Ndombele contributed nothing over his entire time with Tottenham and has now left?? Never normally disagree with you but I can't see Pepe as a worse signing than either Maguire or Ndombele lol

Everton could have featured on this list so much more we are on another level of bad when it comes to transfers that helped no one. Shoutout’s to Andy Van Der Meyde, Jean-Philippe Gbamin, Davy Klaassen and Moise Kean.

Surprised Ali Dia did not get a mention. Or Newcastle's Asprilla even if that was a Jan signing. Derailed what could have been a title-winning season

Owen reportedly refused to play against Aston Villa not Fulham Alfie!! Love the content Btw!!

How Souness managed to convince the world he was a football manager is beyond me. Made some horrible signings no matter where he went

Liverpool got some big goals out of Andy Carroll, particularly in the FA Cup and League Cup. Not great in the league though, but certainly better than he's been for any other team since.

I remember The Blind Venetian! It was like he'd discovered the game of football only 24 hours before hitting the pitch at Old Trafford.

Love to see Blackburn rovers getting a rare mention, after this and Ben Bereton Diaz they’re getting more frequent

Pepe scored 10 goals in his first 2 seasons playing as a RM for Arsenal. Maguire has been at fault for most of United's defeats in the last 2 years and he costed more than Pepe.

I'm not a Arsenal fan but Ndombele is worse than Pepe in my opinion. Pepe has done more for Arsenal than Ndombele did for Spurs

Thought this would be a non stop dissection of all of the transfers my club Everton has put through lol

Nice to see a couple of Bolton legends in there

Maybe Kepa will be featured on the updated version of this, after being subbed on for penalty shoot out in the carabao cup final.. Failing to save a single penalty out of 11 and then loosing them the game by shooting his penalty 4m over the bar :)

This list is missing Davy Klaasen. A truly terrible signing for Everton, even worse than the likes of Samuel Eto’o, Oumar Niasse & Cenk Tosun.

Borja Baston signing halfway through the 19'20 season for aston villa would of been a good call the man played 10 mins and bugged off

What's funny when I've been abroad it is only then I realise how incredible and unique the Premier League is. It's so distinct. I'd watch la liga or Serie A and even when such leagues have been better quality per say they've never been as thoroughly entertaining or engrossing in style, visually or passionately. The variety of clubs big and small is just outstandingly a feast for the eyes from old fashioned small stadiums to giant modern arenas. The punditry is also miles ahead of anywhere else.. it's so good it's got a global following itself.. something uniquely British about it makes it so damn fun to watch in a similar way to Top Gear back in the day. The pace, intensity and passionate close up to the pitch crowds makes it untouchably engaging.