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Updated: May 7, 2007
You paid how much?
Norman Hubbard
Archive
Make an inspired signing and there is a rush to claim the credit. Make an unsatisfactory buy and there is a doubt who was actually responsible: was it the manager, chairman, director of football or Pini Zahavi?
GettyImages
Robert Huth: A poor imitation of current boss Gareth Southgate the player.
The 2006-7 season has been, in common with its predecessors, notable for some recruits everyone regrets. There are enough that Soccernet's top 10 does not include Aston Villa's underwhelming Stilian Petrov or Newcastle's underachieving Damien Duff.
There wasn't room for all of Manchester City's goal-shy forwards or any of Watford's legion of nonentities. So, without further ado, the chosen 10 are:
10. Robert Huth (Middlesbrough, £6 million)
Does Gareth Southgate suffer from low self-esteem? It is one conclusion to be drawn from his repeated attempts by one of the most accomplished defenders of his generation to replace himself with Huth. After the saga of his eventual signing, the giant German has missed much of the season.
Meanwhile, Jonathan Woodgate and Emanuel Pogatetz have established themselves as an outstanding partnership, and Southgate now has himself a £6 million substitute.
9. Khalid Boulahrouz (Chelsea, £7 million)
Chelsea's No. 9 is also ours. If the sight of a defender wearing what once was Hernan Crespo, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Kerry Dixon's number, Boulahrouz's presence in the Chelsea rearguard is little less unusual. That Jose Mourinho preferred midfielder Michael Essien was instructive and his belated recall of Boulahrouz showed why.
His clumsiness resulted in the concession of a penalty to Arsenal on Sunday and his own dismissal. It explained why it was only the Dutchman's second Premiership start in four months. So, too, did his mauling at the hands of Everton's Victor Anichebe and Wigan's Emile Heskey before then. The consequence is that Chelsea have only had two specialist central defenders they could count upon.
8. Carlton Cole (West Ham, £2 million)
An average of around two Premiership goals a season is, if you are a striker, scarcely grounds for recruitment. Nevertheless, Alan Pardew opted for Cole's clear potential and ignored his regular droughts when taking him to Upton Park last summer. By Cole's standards, it has been an average season.
He opened his West Ham account a minute into his debut against Charlton, but since then a solitary goal has followed and his tendency towards ineffectiveness has surfaced, playing a minimal role in West Ham's bid to avert relegation. Alan Curbishley has criticised his predecessor's summer signings, and he presumably had Cole in mind.
7. Gabriel Paletta (Liverpool, £2 million)
Being part of a Liverpool defence that has conceded both five and six goals in one match is something of a rarity, yet Gabriel Paletta's performances mean it is no unwanted coincidence that he was present on both occasions.
The young Argentine's culpability in goals in his last two appearances - the defeats to Fulham and Portsmouth may be indicative of his unfortunate ability to spread panic in the Liverpool defence.
Proof came earlier with the 5-0 pre-season defeat to Mainz and the 6-3 loss to Arsenal. In Liverpool's Carling Cup elimination, he contrived to make Jeremie Aliadiere appear Thierry Henry's superior. Rafael Benitez has numerous reasons to be grateful for Jamie Carragher's dependability and fine fitness record. The prospect of Paletta deputising ranks high among them.
6. Javier Mascherano (West Ham, loan)
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GettyImages
Javier Mascherano: Not trusted by Pardew or Curbishley, but is by Benitez.
The arrival of one of the World Cup's finest midfielders presented successive West Ham managers with a dilemma. Should they a) pick him? Or b) not?. Both Alan Pardew and Alan Curbishley opted for the latter, preferring the lesser talents of Nigel Reo-Coker, Hayden Mullins and later Nigel Quashie.
Indeed, Curbishley scarcely seemed aware of the Argentine's existence. Admittedly, West Ham did not even score with Mascherano on the pitch, but that hardly amounted to a long period of time. To extend the tale of mismanagement, West Ham incurred a £5.5 million fine for fielding Mascherano while ineligible, in a case that could yet go to court.
5. Djimi Traore (Charlton, £2 million)
The most inauspicious of beginnings epitomised Traore's Charlton career.
Sent off, albeit unfortunately, in the derby defeat to West Ham, he was rapidly ushered out by Alan Pardew, his third manager in six months at The Valley at a loss of £1 million, or almost £100,000 per game.
Traore accounts for £2 million of the £11 million spent by Iain Dowie last summer and, given the inadequacy of Amdy Faye and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, plus the slow start Souleymane Diawara made, it says something that he ranks as the worst buy.
4. Bernardo Corradi (Manchester City, £1 million)
Goals outnumber red cards, but it is a close-run thing. In a season when Manchester City's strikers have become a laughing stock and where season-ticket holders have been unable to celebrate a goal since they were feeling the effects of their New Year hangover, Corradi has at least outscored Paul Dickov (largely because he hasn't found the net at all), but he and Georgios Samaras have become shorthand for City's failings.
Yet so much more was expected of an Italian international. Instead, Corradi marked his debut with a red card. If the abiding memory of his time at City is him 'knighting' Joey Barton after a rare goal, it suggests his judgment is as poor as Stuart Pearce's in the transfer market.
3. Matthew Upson (West Ham, £6 million)
Alan Curbishley appeared open-minded in January: he would consider signing absolutely anyone. It is an inclusive policy that may yet reap dividends if West Ham survive. That, however, will owe nothing to Matthew Upson's contribution.
His £6 million fee works out at around £150,000 per minute on the pitch, excluding generous wages estimated at £45,000 a week.
His two starts have amounted to 41 minutes, and Upson has twice limped off in defeats. It that appears unfortunate, it is worth remembering West Ham signed a player with only eight league starts in his last 11 months at Birmingham; his fitness was not to be assumed and he could yet swap divisions with his former club in the summer.
2. Michael Ballack (Chelsea, free)
Clive Rose/GettyImages
Ballack: Follow the Moskva, Down to Gorky Park, Listening to the wind of change.
Chelsea expected a midfield general. They discovered that there are anarchists who have exerted greater control than Michael Ballack. As his depreciating goal return, unusual anonymity and sluggishness when confronted by speedier opponents showed, this was not the Ballack of Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern Munich or Germany.
The anticipated battle with Frank Lampard to be regarded as Chelsea's premier attacking midfielder turned out to be depressingly one-sided, as statistics of 21 goals to 7 indicate. Only when eliminating Porto from the Champions League did Ballack make the expected impact. Otherwise, for £130,000 a week, he has proved the worst import from Germany since The Scorpions' Wind of Change.
1. Andriy Shevchenko (Chelsea, £30.7 million)
Carlos Bocanegra 5, Andriy Shevchenko 4. The West London shootout is being won by Fulham's American defender who, though not even a set-piece specialist, is outscoring Britain's costliest player in the Premiership. At Chelsea, the callow Salomon Kalou has struck almost twice as often.
Shevchenko's occasional high-class finishes - such as his FA Cup goal against Tottenham - only heighten the exasperation with a player of undoubted quality. Sublime in Serie A, he has been poor in the Premiership.
Missing the Champions League semi-final second leg, exactly the sort of match he was signed for, hardly helped but when Jose Mourinho referred, in his indictment of the players who had cost Chelsea a third successive title, of those who would fail to garner a single vote in the club's Player of the Year voting, he surely had their biggest buy in mind.
You paid how much?
Norman Hubbard
Archive
Make an inspired signing and there is a rush to claim the credit. Make an unsatisfactory buy and there is a doubt who was actually responsible: was it the manager, chairman, director of football or Pini Zahavi?
GettyImages
Robert Huth: A poor imitation of current boss Gareth Southgate the player.
The 2006-7 season has been, in common with its predecessors, notable for some recruits everyone regrets. There are enough that Soccernet's top 10 does not include Aston Villa's underwhelming Stilian Petrov or Newcastle's underachieving Damien Duff.
There wasn't room for all of Manchester City's goal-shy forwards or any of Watford's legion of nonentities. So, without further ado, the chosen 10 are:
10. Robert Huth (Middlesbrough, £6 million)
Does Gareth Southgate suffer from low self-esteem? It is one conclusion to be drawn from his repeated attempts by one of the most accomplished defenders of his generation to replace himself with Huth. After the saga of his eventual signing, the giant German has missed much of the season.
Meanwhile, Jonathan Woodgate and Emanuel Pogatetz have established themselves as an outstanding partnership, and Southgate now has himself a £6 million substitute.
9. Khalid Boulahrouz (Chelsea, £7 million)
Chelsea's No. 9 is also ours. If the sight of a defender wearing what once was Hernan Crespo, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Kerry Dixon's number, Boulahrouz's presence in the Chelsea rearguard is little less unusual. That Jose Mourinho preferred midfielder Michael Essien was instructive and his belated recall of Boulahrouz showed why.
His clumsiness resulted in the concession of a penalty to Arsenal on Sunday and his own dismissal. It explained why it was only the Dutchman's second Premiership start in four months. So, too, did his mauling at the hands of Everton's Victor Anichebe and Wigan's Emile Heskey before then. The consequence is that Chelsea have only had two specialist central defenders they could count upon.
8. Carlton Cole (West Ham, £2 million)
An average of around two Premiership goals a season is, if you are a striker, scarcely grounds for recruitment. Nevertheless, Alan Pardew opted for Cole's clear potential and ignored his regular droughts when taking him to Upton Park last summer. By Cole's standards, it has been an average season.
He opened his West Ham account a minute into his debut against Charlton, but since then a solitary goal has followed and his tendency towards ineffectiveness has surfaced, playing a minimal role in West Ham's bid to avert relegation. Alan Curbishley has criticised his predecessor's summer signings, and he presumably had Cole in mind.
7. Gabriel Paletta (Liverpool, £2 million)
Being part of a Liverpool defence that has conceded both five and six goals in one match is something of a rarity, yet Gabriel Paletta's performances mean it is no unwanted coincidence that he was present on both occasions.
The young Argentine's culpability in goals in his last two appearances - the defeats to Fulham and Portsmouth may be indicative of his unfortunate ability to spread panic in the Liverpool defence.
Proof came earlier with the 5-0 pre-season defeat to Mainz and the 6-3 loss to Arsenal. In Liverpool's Carling Cup elimination, he contrived to make Jeremie Aliadiere appear Thierry Henry's superior. Rafael Benitez has numerous reasons to be grateful for Jamie Carragher's dependability and fine fitness record. The prospect of Paletta deputising ranks high among them.
6. Javier Mascherano (West Ham, loan)
GettyImages
Javier Mascherano: Not trusted by Pardew or Curbishley, but is by Benitez.
The arrival of one of the World Cup's finest midfielders presented successive West Ham managers with a dilemma. Should they a) pick him? Or b) not?. Both Alan Pardew and Alan Curbishley opted for the latter, preferring the lesser talents of Nigel Reo-Coker, Hayden Mullins and later Nigel Quashie.
Indeed, Curbishley scarcely seemed aware of the Argentine's existence. Admittedly, West Ham did not even score with Mascherano on the pitch, but that hardly amounted to a long period of time. To extend the tale of mismanagement, West Ham incurred a £5.5 million fine for fielding Mascherano while ineligible, in a case that could yet go to court.
5. Djimi Traore (Charlton, £2 million)
The most inauspicious of beginnings epitomised Traore's Charlton career.
Sent off, albeit unfortunately, in the derby defeat to West Ham, he was rapidly ushered out by Alan Pardew, his third manager in six months at The Valley at a loss of £1 million, or almost £100,000 per game.
Traore accounts for £2 million of the £11 million spent by Iain Dowie last summer and, given the inadequacy of Amdy Faye and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, plus the slow start Souleymane Diawara made, it says something that he ranks as the worst buy.
4. Bernardo Corradi (Manchester City, £1 million)
Goals outnumber red cards, but it is a close-run thing. In a season when Manchester City's strikers have become a laughing stock and where season-ticket holders have been unable to celebrate a goal since they were feeling the effects of their New Year hangover, Corradi has at least outscored Paul Dickov (largely because he hasn't found the net at all), but he and Georgios Samaras have become shorthand for City's failings.
Yet so much more was expected of an Italian international. Instead, Corradi marked his debut with a red card. If the abiding memory of his time at City is him 'knighting' Joey Barton after a rare goal, it suggests his judgment is as poor as Stuart Pearce's in the transfer market.
3. Matthew Upson (West Ham, £6 million)
Alan Curbishley appeared open-minded in January: he would consider signing absolutely anyone. It is an inclusive policy that may yet reap dividends if West Ham survive. That, however, will owe nothing to Matthew Upson's contribution.
His £6 million fee works out at around £150,000 per minute on the pitch, excluding generous wages estimated at £45,000 a week.
His two starts have amounted to 41 minutes, and Upson has twice limped off in defeats. It that appears unfortunate, it is worth remembering West Ham signed a player with only eight league starts in his last 11 months at Birmingham; his fitness was not to be assumed and he could yet swap divisions with his former club in the summer.
2. Michael Ballack (Chelsea, free)
Clive Rose/GettyImages
Ballack: Follow the Moskva, Down to Gorky Park, Listening to the wind of change.
Chelsea expected a midfield general. They discovered that there are anarchists who have exerted greater control than Michael Ballack. As his depreciating goal return, unusual anonymity and sluggishness when confronted by speedier opponents showed, this was not the Ballack of Bayer Leverkusen, Bayern Munich or Germany.
The anticipated battle with Frank Lampard to be regarded as Chelsea's premier attacking midfielder turned out to be depressingly one-sided, as statistics of 21 goals to 7 indicate. Only when eliminating Porto from the Champions League did Ballack make the expected impact. Otherwise, for £130,000 a week, he has proved the worst import from Germany since The Scorpions' Wind of Change.
1. Andriy Shevchenko (Chelsea, £30.7 million)
Carlos Bocanegra 5, Andriy Shevchenko 4. The West London shootout is being won by Fulham's American defender who, though not even a set-piece specialist, is outscoring Britain's costliest player in the Premiership. At Chelsea, the callow Salomon Kalou has struck almost twice as often.
Shevchenko's occasional high-class finishes - such as his FA Cup goal against Tottenham - only heighten the exasperation with a player of undoubted quality. Sublime in Serie A, he has been poor in the Premiership.
Missing the Champions League semi-final second leg, exactly the sort of match he was signed for, hardly helped but when Jose Mourinho referred, in his indictment of the players who had cost Chelsea a third successive title, of those who would fail to garner a single vote in the club's Player of the Year voting, he surely had their biggest buy in mind.
