The worst 10 players to grace the Premier League

The beautiful game has produced some rather beautiful calamities over the years – from big-money flops to cases of mistaken identity.

After 20 years of the Premier League, we take a look at 10 of the worst offenders.

Not many goalkeepers have had as unsavoury a time as Taibi did in the Premier League.

The former Manchester United goalkeeper conceded a remarkable 11 goals in just four games, meaning Sir Alex Ferguson hardly had time to plug his hairdryer in and turn it on before Taibi departed.

It’s remarkable how Titus Bramble has remained in the top tier of English football for a decade.

Newcastle United, Wigan and Sunderland have kept faith in surely one of the most calamitous footballers of all time.

Regarded as one of Newcastle’s worst signings, Marcelino never once justified his £6.7 million price tag.

Funnily enough, he went on to seek out the top talent from the Med as the Spanish scout for Everton – hopefully not using himself as a benchmark.

Veron is undoubtedly one of the most expensive flops in English football history as he struggled first at Manchester United and then at Chelsea.

United broke the domestic transfer record and paid £28.1 million for the Argentine in 2001 – and 28.1 million football fans will agree that it was a complete waste of money.

Veron’s replacement at Old Trafford came from Brazil in 2003 when United signed Kléberson for £6.5 million – only for the central midfielder to get injured in his second game.

Two years later, Kléberson had made just 20 appearances, had failed to build on his World Cup success in 2002 and was consequently shipped off to Beşiktaş.

Eyed as a potential replacement for Roy Keane, Djemba-Djemba seemed to have the ability, he just failed to become a United regular.

The Cameroon international also struggled at Aston Villa and ended his disastrous spell in England on loan at Burnley.

Bébé has so far proved to be anything but the fairy-tale footballer that some had hoped he would be for the Red Devils.

Sir Alex Ferguson signed him in August 2010 without having seen Bébé in action after he impressed United scouts playing for Portugal in the homeless World Cup. Not Fergie’s finest hour!

The name may have promised sheer brilliance, but, alas, the Honduran didn’t deliver.

Probably because then-Sunderland manager Peter Reid apparently signed the wrong striker. Legend has it that he was chasing the signature of Núñez’s partner in crime, Adolfo Valencia. Easily done.

Former Newcastle manager Kenny Dalglish snapped up this World Cup winner in the 1998 close-season.
Three months, four appearances and one goal later, the Magpies sold him off to Rangers. Terrible. There’s no other way to describe him.

Ali Dia

Last – and most definitely the worst – is George Weah’s ‘cousin’ Dia, who managed just 53 minutes of Premier League action in total for Southampton before being hauled off by manager Graeme Souness.

Souness was conned into signing the striker, albeit on a one-month contract, after being told he was a relative of the former World Player of the Year. It was a lie – and a whooper of a lie at that!