Premier League transfers in the 2023/2024 season usually involve great sums of money and big expectations. Not all of these players have fared as well as expected, while a small minority have even exceeded predictions.
With a view to statistics and fantasy football stats, we look at the best and the worst transfers in the EPL. To keep things fair, we’ve looked at transfer over roughly the last 12 months, a decent enough time for footballers to settle in at their new clubs.
The Worst Premier League Transfers in the 2023/2024 Season
Note that the section has been updated with stats corresponding to the end of the 2023/24 season. Also, note that this doesn’t mean Antony Santos has done enough to warrant being taken off the list.
The “What Were They Thinking” List
Antony Santos – Manchester United –£85.6m
Antony is technically a signing of the 2022/23 season. But criticizing him last season would’ve felt unfair. We needed some time to get adjusted to what he can do. Only now can we safely call Antony one of the poorest transfers of the Premier League era.
This is not entirely a matter of the price tag associated with his transfer. It has more to do with the fact that the Brazilian is capable of losing the ball seemingly in the exact same scenarios time and time again. It’s because Antony has not scored or assisted this entire season and that he has managed -0.4 in his last FootballCoin contest appearance.
Update: Antony looked set to redeem his reputation after scoring a vital goal against Liverpool in the FA Cup quarter-finals. Alas, he followed it up with a woeful performance against Coventry in the semis, as well as tasteless goading of the opposition.
I stick to my original verdict! Manchester United will struggle to move him on, if they even bother to.
Mykhaylo Mudryk– €70.00m
Mykhaylo Mudryk may be on the verge of finally coming good on his promise. If he does, his performances will need to be spectacular to merit his incredible price tag. Across the past year, the Ukrainian has dreadful stats related to shots, shot-creating actions, or assists.
In FootballCoin, Mudryk has managed 165 points, and it’s hard to see Chelsea managing to cut their losses anytime soon.
Update: To his credit Mudryk looked to, at least, work to change fans’ opinion of him, unlike others on the list. He even made a late-season callback of sorts, scoring 5 goals. Still, considering the fee and the nickname of “The Ukrainian Mbappe” I’ll need to him on the list.
Moises Caicedo – Chelsea – €116.00m
Moises Caicedo was part of a fierce transfer war involving Liverpool and Chelsea. In the end, Chelsea won his signature, but Liverpool won by avoiding signing him, it seems.
The 22-year-old has eight largely poor performances for the London side. He has earned a respectable 267 points in FootballCoin. But his price tag still makes us wonder if the Chelsea hierarchy did not jump to conclusions about Caicedo’s world-class status.
Update: Chelsea have spent carelessly over the past two years. Sure, Caicedo is a victim of this. The Ecuadorian played most of the team’s games this season and was one of the better players toward the final part of the season.
Enough to warrant €116.00m? Mauricio Pochettino didn’t think so. The manager quit questioning if a midfield partnership between Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez was good enough.
Mason Mount – Manchester United – €64.2m
Mason Mount was one of the most heralded young English players. But unlike Jude Bellingham or Declan Rice, his career has stalled. Manchester United overpaid to get him to Old Trafford in a classic panic buy. We expect Mount’s performances to get better. But, still, United ought to do better business.
Update: Mount was injured for much of the season. In fact, he was part of a large group of Manchester United players that was out of contention.
Sure, this affected our judgment of the player. Still, when available, Mount failed to impress or warrant the price tag of his transfer. He’ll likely have time next season to prove himself. By then, however, the Red Devils may move to create greater competition in the midfield area.
Romeo Lavia – Chelsea – €62.2m
Romeo Lavia looked like Liverpool’s alternative to failing to sign Moises Caicedo. But then, Chelsea swooped in for both players. Yes, yes, Lavia has not featured in any of Chelsea’s games due to injury. But this may be the point. Do rich clubs that can avoid buying players really need to get every player that is made available to them?
Update: Lavia remained unavailable for the entire season. Yes, that leaves us with little on-field performances to judge his Chelsea career. However, the board’s decision to spend this amount of money on a player that, turns out, wasn’t vital to the team, still feels misinformed.
The “Could’ve Done Better” List
Marc Cucurella – Chelsea – £55m
Chelsea is the only club that rivals Manchester United for dubious, expensive transfers. Cucurella is a fine player. However, he was brought in from Brighton mainly at the request of the long-departed Graham Potter. This season, the Spaniard has made 4 appearances for the Blues but failed to make much of an impact.
Update: To his credit, and through grit, Cucurella partly turned his season around. He ended it with two assists, an 86% passing success rate and an average rating in most of his 21 EPL games.
It’s been enough to warrant him a place in Spain’s squad for Euro 2024. But The Blues’ fans won’t be singing his name just yet. Still’ we’ve upgraded his transfer to a “Could’ve Done Better” since our initial posting.
Kai Havertz – Arsenal – €75m
Kai Havertz has been a frustrating transfer to Arsenal. While clearly a gifted player, the German has struggled since arriving in the EPL; Many believe Arsenal overpaid for Havertz. While his performances are improving, he is yet to look like a €75m.
Update: While Havertz hasn’t been successful, his performances toward the latter part of the season have partly changed our initial verdict. Arsenal nearly won the EPL title and the German attacked contributed 13 goals to that campaign. It’s hard to label Havertz as a “superstar signing” just yet. But, suffice it to say, he has partly proven us wrong. Another season like this and we may need to remove him off the list completely.
Jorginho – Arsenal – €11.30m
Jorginho wasn’t an expensive transfer per se. But, given his incredible passing abilities, it has been surprising how much the Brazilian-born player’s performances have declined over the past few months. At the moment, he does not offer the kind of cover Mikel Arteta hoped that he would.
Update: Jorginho seemed to accept his status as a “luxury substitute” and… did just enough to avoid criticism. While his performances have been average, it can be argued that Arteta got the Brazilian-born player to add some depth to the squad.
Dishonorable Mentions
Lesley Ugochukwu (Chelsea)
In fairness, injuries didn’t make Ugochukwu‘s settling period in England easy. When he did play, he looked shaky. But, like most decisions made by Chelsea lately, it feels that the worst culprits are the board members making their transfer decisions.
Matheus Nunes (Manchester City)
Manchester City rarely get their midfield transfers wrong. Matheus Nunes may have been an exception.
The great thing about clubs having extraordinary wealth is that they can go and change their minds. Since the start of 2024, the Portuguese have made only three 90-minute appearances. Still, Guardiola has been known to revive some of his transfers.
Sandro Tonali (Newcastle United)
Players nowadays are not judged simply by their on-field performances. Tonali was someone that Newcastle relied on thoroughly. That’s why his betting ban affected his reputation and the club’s chances of reaching European football next season.
Kalvin Phillips (West Ham)
I still believe in Kalvin Phillips. So does Marcelo Bielsa. And so do many of England’s fans.
But Phillips may have taken a hit to his confidence ever since Pep Guardiola anxiously moved him on. West Ham certainly needed a player like him, but Phillips didn’t quite deliver. A permanent transfer looks unlikely now. And Phillips fails to make England’s squad for Euro 2024. Everton next?
James Trafford (Burnley)
Trafford left Manchester City in search of first-team football. He found that at Burnley but also a wealth of trouble. The club conceded 74 goals and went down to the Championship, and it’s unlikely that manager Vincent Kompany will try to renew their partnership at Bayern Munchen.
