The Worst Transfers of All-Time

[les Habs]

I did not make this thread to just pile on the Coutinho transfer, but our discussion keeps coming back to it because you're trying to lessen the worst move of all time. There are a ton of mistakes in those articles, Pepe to Arsenal is absolutely one of those and deserves a top 10-15 place as well. However, that Pepe money didn't transform Lille into a powerhouse as Coutinho to Barca did for KFC.

I never thought nor suggested you made the thread to pile on the Coutinho transfer. I assume you got click-baited and have obviously taken the bait in addition to finding the topic interesting. Feel free to correct me if I’m wrong.

As for the Coutinho transfer, I’m not trying to lessen anything. I never said it wasn’t a horrible transfer from BEFORE it ever happened until now. In fact, in this very thread I said it was “awful” and that I wasn’t surprised it’d be argued as #1. It depends on what you consider when evaluating the transfers. That said I’d say it’s easily NOT the worst of all time and most certainly not the “unambiguous” worst as was suggested.

Again, irrelevant. And while I can understand an Arsenal inferiority complex, I’d suggest ditching it.

 

[luiginb]

Joao Felix is the fourth most expensive player in football history. Let that sink in. I can totally see him plying his trade at Galatasaray in 2026.

 

[hatterson]

Not sure how you can say Pogba was a bad transfer when United won an unprecedented treble with him playing a significant role.

 

[robertmac43]

Neymar played only 4 games in the Saudi league or something like that... Brutal.

At least some of the other signings got to double digit games lol.

Edit: I lied it was only 3 games.... he already has 2 appearances with Santos.

 

[hatterson]

Neymar played only 4 games in the Saudi league or something like that... Brutal.

At least some of the other signings got to double digit games lol.

I'm more inclined to ignore that one since it wasn't a real footballing transfer. It was a petro state trying to buy legitimacy.

 

[Wee Baby Seamus]

This might be hot take-y, but I would instinctively say that Pogba was better for Man United than Coutinho was for Liverpool...

Pogba did not end up being the best player in the world (despite a world record fee), but he is definitely not in my Top 10 worst transfers of all time.

I'm not even certain Pogba is a top 10 worst Man United transfer!

I'm not even certain Pogba is a top 10 worst Man United post-Ferguson transfer!

 

[robertmac43]

I'm more inclined to ignore that one since it wasn't a real footballing transfer. It was a petro state trying to buy legitimacy.

Fair - from a footballing perspective its terrible.

Looking ay Neymar's career stats and Al Hilal just doesn't look right

 

[hatterson]

This might be hot take-y, but I would instinctively say that Pogba was better for Man United than Coutinho was for Liverpool...

Pogba did not end up being the best player in the world (despite a world record fee), but he is definitely not in my Top 10 worst transfers of all time.

I'm not even certain Pogba is a top 10 worst Man United transfer!

I'm not even certain Pogba is a top 10 worst Man United post-Ferguson transfer!

I was obviously being facetious earlier about the treble, but in general I agree with this.

The biggest reasons why the Pogba transfer gets roasted is because they let him go on a free (or he forced his way out due to play time guarantees, whatever you want to say) 4 years earlier, then signed him for 100 mil, then let him go on a free 6 years after that.

If they had sold him for 40 or 50 mil to Juve in 2021 or something, it wouldn't even be very remarked on, especially, as you note, in comparison to United's other business in the last 15 years.

 

[Wee Baby Seamus]

I was obviously being facetious earlier about the treble, but in general I agree with this.

The biggest reasons why the Pogba transfer gets roasted is because they let him go on a free (or he forced his way out due to play time guarantees, whatever you want to say) 4 years earlier, then signed him for 100 mil, then let him go on a free 6 years after that.

If they had sold him for 40 or 50 mil to Juve in 2021 or something, it wouldn't even be very remarked on, especially, as you note, in comparison to United's other business in the last 15 years.

This is literally the only reason it's on these lists, I agree.

Off the top of my head just now, I've got:

Antony, van de Beek, Sancho, Wan-Bissaka, Fred, Mount (with jury out caveats), Hojlund (with jury out caveats), di Maria, Casemiro

All as worse transfers than Pogba, based on fee vs. contributions. And those are only post-Fergie!

 

[S E P H]

Off the top of my head just now, I've got:

Antony, van de Beek, Sancho, Wan-Bissaka, Fred, Mount (with jury out caveats), Hojlund (with jury out caveats), di Maria, Casemiro

All as worse transfers than Pogba, based on fee vs. contributions. And those are only post-Fergie!

Pogba is a top-ten worse transfer. No ifs or buts about it, he was only good for like two years and then all the problems came about.

The problem and why I don't consider the others worse is because when you have...like three managers in 5-7 years, you're going to have to change the players to fit the style that the manager wants. A lot of those are due to Chelsea-like trigger-happy fingers. Obviously Antony will go down as a top-10 transfer when some years come and go.

 

[hatterson]

Pogba is a top-ten worse transfer. No ifs or buts about it, he was only good for like two years and then all the problems came about.

The problem and why I don't consider the others worse is because when you have...like three managers in 5-7 years, you're going to have to change the players to fit the style that the manager wants. A lot of those are due to Chelsea-like trigger-happy fingers. Obviously Antony will go down as a top-10 transfer when some years come and go.

Antony is already a worse transfer than Pogba, not really sure how you could argue otherwise.

United overpaid heavily for Pogba, but he was still really good for 2-3 years. Antony hasn't even had 2-3 games in a row where he's been really good.