Unfortunately for managers with squads in desperate need of improvement (that’s you Moyes),successful signings in January have largely proved to be an exception to the rule. The month after Christmas has been a prime time for panic buying.
Here are some of the costliest January flops.
Christopher Samba (Anzhi Makhachkala to QPR, January 2013)
Samba had proved a formidable defender during his time at Blackburn Rovers and was signed up by rich Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala in 2012. Fighting desperately against relegation, Harry Redknapp’s QPR paid £12.5 million to bring him back to England the following year, but Samba struggled from the off, appearing badly off the pace and uninterested in a relegation scrap, despite being paid around £100,000 a week. He was sold back to Anzhi after just half a year.
Appearances: 10 Weekly wage: £100,000
Afonso Alves (Heerenveen to Middlesbrough, January 2008)
Alves was a £13 million signing from Dutch club Heerenveen, where he had enjoyed a phenomenally prolific season, netting 45 goals in just 39 appearances. Middlesbrough moved for the Brazilian in January 2008, but he was never able to adapt to the English game and was derided for being petulant and ponderous on the field. Middlesbrough were relegated at the end of his first and only full season at the club.
Appearances: 42 Goals: 10
Andy Carroll (Newcastle United to Liverpool, January 2005)
Liverpool seemed giddy to splash the cash following their £50 million sale of Fernando Torres (who, incidentally, could also have made it onto this list), deeming it sensible to fork out an incredible £35 million on Andy Carroll, a striker who had just one half decent season in the Premier League to his name. Carroll never fitted in with Kenny Dalglish’s style of play and left for West Ham having scored just six goals for the Anfield club.
Appearances: 44 Combined career transfer fees: £52 million
Savio (Brescia to West Ham, January 2009)
This little-known German forward arrived at West Ham for a bizarrely high fee of £9 million in 2009, inheriting the No.10 shirt from Craig Bellamy in the process. He made just 11 appearances for the Upton Park side, starting only one Premier League game. He has gone on to play for a strange selection of lower level clubs, including the catchily-named German side SpVgg Unterhaching. His signing has since been the subject of an investigation by the club.
Appearances: 11 Number of times arrested for making a false kidnap claim: 1
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