https://vocal.media/cleats/worst-defenders-in-premier-league-history The talented full back has made his City return in pre-season and is expected to play a major role at the Etihad this season.

Manchester United (Man United 1-6 Tottenham). In 2019, the team was able to keep it together long enough to win a pair of trophies. Three clubs, however, and that is a Laurent Charvet. Kromkamp had earned a decent reputation up until that point and was even involved in the international set up with the Nertherlands, yet all this ceased following his diabolical stint with the Reds.

Materazzi was sent off four times in just 27 games for the Toffees and was quickly sold back to Perugia ten months after arriving on Merseyside. Thiago Silva chose c) and Chelsea shipped three in one of the most 'Welcome to the Premier League' performances from any legend arriving on British shores, a match which also featured Bartley getting on the scoresheet after being the most unmarked anyone has ever been in the history of corners. The Danish international was considered to be the more promising signing, yet that opinion was quickly corrected once Fulham fans saw Andreasen in action. Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'JaJbZWGTQhxwMOCecyYOAQ',sig:'lkiZWWqQeGEMJhn96arkk-W_GgvzVcZ5jKL1wZuaZTk=',w:'594px',h:'397px',items:'1466171',caption: false ,tld:'com',is360: false })}); Has there ever been a more underwhelming signing in Arsenal history?

In terms of quality, he might have a case to be one of the best Premier League defenders of all-time. His biggest achievement in England was scoring a goal against Lincoln City in the League Cup!!! One of those, Jan Kromkamp, lacked so much pace that it was as if he was playing slow motion when up against a pacy winger. He became the most expensive defender in Premier League history in the 2018 January transfer market when Liverpool spent big to help sort out their shaky defence. A £4 million purchase from Italian side Cagliari, Spurs fans soon saw through the exciting transfer hype to Vega's real inability to defend in England's top tiered division. Read – Five of the most embarrassing own goals in Premier League history, Read Also – Five of the worst football ads ever: Owen, Rooney and Venkys chicken.

To make matters worse, on his first game back from injury, Degen broke a metatarsal in his foot. From Son Heung-min, to James Rodríguez, to Mo Salah, it's been brilliant to watch some of the most exciting attacking players in the world fill their boots, but what's been even better is witnessing one of football's greatest ever spectacles in match after match - some truly village defending. Everyone on the team was required to do their bit, and that included the club's most gifted attackers. Although after coming back from injury he wasn’t able to regain his place as a starter for City which lead to him playing a smaller role in the second half of the season. They actually tried to sign him in the summer window, but Southampton managed to keep hold of him for another 5-6 months.

De Boer subsequently fared even worse in England, as Mourinho so savagely pointed out, yet was still taken on by Atlanta United in December 2018. Tottenham Hotspur became known for signing some obscure foreign players in the 1990s and Paulo Tramezzani is a name that will have a lot of Spurs fans scratching their heads trying to remember. He’s made a fantastic start to his City career as he has made 32 league appearances for the club so far this season, and he’s been one of the key players in this Premier League winning season for the Manchester club. He moved on to Everton in 1996 to reinvigorate his Premier League career, but the move backfired with the right back enduring a torrid time on Merseyside.

John Stones, £47.5 million, From: Everton, To: Manchester City. As a youngster at West Bromwich Albion, he was once labelled the "next Laurent Blanc", a brand that Hodgkiss was never going to fulfil. BUT... some of those Villa goals were a little bit on the fortunate, deflection-y, weren't they. Show full articles without "Continue Reading" button for {0} hours. Embed from Getty Imageswindow.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'U6qf3KdoTXxZTk2ZWmJNHQ',sig:'qlVIMGM9cRamimw6HWprU9zhawqi3TH1EJ5Qbp9eDTk=',w:'594px',h:'473px',items:'864656186',caption: false ,tld:'com',is360: false })}); Benjamin Mendy, £52 million, From: Monaco, To: Manchester City.

His spell at San Siro lasted just 14 games and 84 days, though, brought to a premature end after a run of four losses in five Serie A games. Still in between jobs in March 2018, De Boer then says on television that it is a "pity" that Mourinho, as manager of Manchester United, is overseeing the development of promising young English striker Marcus Rashford. When it is broken it is usually by a big club trying to bring in a striker/winger who can get them 40-50 goals a season or a midfielder who can take games by the scruff of the neck or a superstar who can do both. The former right back had a good Euro 2008 playing at the back for the Swiss national side, as well as becoming a decent player for Borussia Dortmund, despite his injury record. Moving into the ridiculous foreign acquisitions and Aston Villa's Najwan Ghrayib epitomises that trend. The Portuguese, who has long railed against his reputation for overlooking academy players, was never going to let that slide. The former Swiss international is commonplace in these sorts of lists. Pablo Fornals being able to take a quick free-kick completely unopposed set the tone for an inauspicious evening for Wolves, and from then on in a usually solid back five had all the solidity of a Weetabix, with Michail Antonio alternating between bullying Romain Saïss and Conor Coady. I'm going to cut Manchester City a little bit of slack here, because Leicester are no slouches, and they did concede three penalties during that weird weekend when VAR gave a spot kick if you so much as looked at someone funny. The north London side’s decline from title contenders to mediocrity is a sad reality for one of English football’s grand old clubs, their fortunes not helped by a horrifying recruitment drive when it comes to strengthening their now renowned Achilles heel. At Leicester City, Sinclair then became a prolific goalscorer, but at the wrong end.

A member of the Netherlands squad for the 1994 World Cup after starring for Feyenoord, van Gobbel's star started to descend from that point onwards and by the time he reached Southampton in 1996, he was already a shadow of the uncompromising defender of two years earlier. Happy to take home his reported £50,000-a-week for completing laps of the club’s training ground, Squillaci ranks as arguably the biggest pieces of deadwood in an era of deadwood in north London. Josef Martinez and Pity Martinez also walked out of training on separate occasions, frustrated by the coach's training methods. Shortly after that, he was given the top job at Ajax, whom he led to four Eredivisie titles. Microsoft may earn an Affiliate Commission if you purchase something through recommended links in this article. Degen continued to be plagued with injuries and was out early on in his Liverpool, puncturing a lung when colliding with his own team-mate! We’ve decided to look back at some of the most dreadful defenders to head to the Emirates in the Premier League era, here are five of Arsenal’s worst centre-back signings: The Latvian defender actually signed in an era when Arsenal were amongst the finest sides in the land, but soon exposed himself as a player horribly out of his depth at the highest level. The defender first became a Premier League player following his emergence at Chelsea in 1991. Luckily for Fulham, they only had to suffer the former Werder Bremen defender for just twelve months as he was soon shipped back to Germany. A lot of eyebrows were raised when he made the move as he was seen as far from the finished article. However, with the addition of Alex Telles, he has now competition. Now, more than two years on from that embarrassing moment, De Boer is fresh off another unsuccessful coaching spell, this time at Atlanta United. These are the five most expensive in the league’s history…. "If he was coached by Frank, he would learn how to lose because he lost every game.". Laporte came over to Man City in the 2018 January transfer window to bolster the centre back depth of Guardiola’s squad following some injury problems with John Stones and Vincent Kompany. The blonde defender looked more like a male model than a robust defender and his reluctance to tackle opponents probably added to this theory. Conceding four = bad. However, when Inter came calling after his Ajax exit, he made the move to Milan. It feels like I see a 5-2 scoreline in the Premier League more often than I see my family these days, and this was yet another bizarre one - what if I told you that Southampton were seconds away from going into half time as the comfortably superior side? When the time came round for Sébastien Haller's goal, he looked positively bored at how listless Wolves' marking was, in what could have been a severe case of delayed Europa League hangover. Frank's men fought back, but Silva must have had an inkling of what it would've been like if he wasn't suspended for the 2014 World Cup semi-final.

Since Van Dijk has come into the team Liverpool have been much stronger defensively, with his performances an integral part of the Reds finishing in the top four and reaching the final of the Champions League last season. He was equally as unimpressive for the Hammers and although injuries did not help the former England under 21 international, his performances at the top level were nothing short of awful. Akshay Pai FOLLOW. Atlanta is widely expected to return to South America for its next head coach, an attempt to return to the attacking foundations that Martino laid and De Boer subsequently destroyed. The arrival of Squillaci actually looked like shrewd business on paper for Wenger, the centre-back a full international with France and having won major honours with both Lyon and Sevilla before heading to the Emirates. He played a total of 17 times in a miserable four year spell at Highbury and is infamous for his 'performance' in the 6-1 drubbing to Manchester United, in which he looked so out of depth that even Arsenal fans found it slightly hilarious. … Never a first team regular, Arsenal fans grew worried every time they saw the Ukrainian drafted into the team to replace an injured defender. Consequently, he frequently clashed with stars Josef Martinez and Gonzalo 'Pity' Martinez, and Atlanta played like a team that was trying to fight every attacking instinct it had in an attempt to do the coach's bidding. Every year, football players get more and more expensive with the highest transfer record getting broken every few seasons (although the Neymar one will be tough to match).

To fool one Premier League side that you are a worthwhile signing is impressive, to do it to two clubs is phenomenal. The Whites were obviously brilliant going forward in this game, one of the most thrilling opening weekend matches in years, but even the most rudimentary combination play was capable of carving them apart as Kalvin Phillips struggled to contain a flood of red shirts.