Top most expensive flops in world football

As the most popular sport on the planet, football has caused a lot of money to flow in its direction. One of the largest clubs' investments is transferring high priced players. Some of them make a fortune for the team, but there are some that become nothing like the star they used to be. 

Top big-money transfer flops in football history are a concerning problem for football fans around the world. Since the price tags keep getting higher and higher, the number of money flops in football are rising with it.

Top big money flops in football history are usually talented players but injuries, lack of adaptation with the new team, or just bad luck brings the worst out of them. Here are the biggest transfer flops in football history:

Eden Hazard (Chelsea - Real Madrid, €100 million)

In his six years of playing for the Chelsea club, Hazard had 352 games and managed 110 goals and 92 assists. He was regarded as one of the best wingers in the world.

The Belgian star left Stamford Bridge at the end of the 2018-19 season after a highly successful time at the club and joined Real Madrid in a €100 million deal, which may arise to €146.1 million due to additional fees and will be earning an expected £400,000 per week. But since his transfer, he appeared only in 25 games and scored 2 goals and 7 assists.

In his stay in Spain, he gained weight and had lots of minor injuries and stress fractures. Some say he didn't take the move to Madrid seriously. And now he's probably one of the biggest football flops of all time.

Di Maria (Real Madrid - Manchester United, €75 million)

Angel Di Maria's performance in Real Madrid was remarkable. He was one of the most shining "galacticos". His pace and dribbling skills were so good that no one would believe that he might be one of the biggest transfer flops in football history.

In August 2014, Real Madrid won their tenth UCL in the final against local rival Atletico. Di Maria was a man of the match and received his award from Manchester United legend Sir Alex Ferguson.

Manchester United broke the highest-paid player ranking in premier league history that was held by Torres moving to Chelsea in 2011. His transfer cost €75 million.

Even though he had a good start in Manchester, he named the worst signing of the year, at the end of the season. Scoring only 3 goals in 27 premier league appearances was not what United fans wanted from their number 7. Di Maria was clearly unhappy in Manchester and accepted the PSG offer after one season in British football.

Thomas Lemar (Monaco - Atletico Madrid, €70 million)

Back in his Monaco days, he was believed to be one of the best wingers on the market. now he can be considered as one of the top big-money flops in football history.

Since swapping Monaco for Atletico Madrid in 2018 for £70 million, Thomas Lemar hasn't exactly justified the excessive fee. At the time, Atletico Madrid was the complete opposite of an exciting Monaco team.

Monaco's plan for attackers was to give them the license of creative freedom, while Atletico were asking forwards to sit deep, occasionally chase and scrap for every loose ball.

Lemar had an expressive role in Monaco, but under Simeone he was going to a more confined and disciplined one.  In 80 appearances, he managed just 3 goals and 7 assists in all competitions for the club.

Kaka (AC Milan - Real Madrid, €67 million)

After six years with Milan, Kaka joined Real Madrid in 2009 for a transfer fee of €67 million, which was the second-highest transfer fee at the time.

In his presence in Real Madrid, he had four injuries. Meanwhile, Ozil was becoming a crucial part of the team. In four years playing for the club, kaka scored 29 goals and had 32 assists in 120 games. Real lost out in La Liga, The Champions League, and the Copa del Ray to Barcelona throughout his time at the club. 

Fernando Torres (Liverpool - Chelsea, €58.5 million)

Chelsea had an unsuccessful attempt for Fernando Torres in his astonishing early days in Atletico Madrid. But two years later, in 2007, Torres chose Liverpool to join.

Given this was the highest transferring fee in Liverpool's history, it was an easy decision to make. With €38 million, this was a record for both Torres and Liverpool. For 4 seasons in Liverpool, he scored 65 goals in 105 matches.

That was good enough for Chelsea to pay €58.5 million for his transfer. He was the 6th expensive player in the world, yet he scored only one goal in the whole first premier league season in Chelsea.

His later performance was not any better.

In fact, he never made to 10 goals and made to top big-money flops in football history.

He ended up leaving with a £1 million transfer to Ac Milan. The fun fact is that after 10 matches and one goal in Serie A, he returned to his beloved Atletico, but this time in a free transfer.

In his home, he could do some magic tricks again and enjoy the rest of his career.