Expensive Premier League flops who returned to former clubs – from Balotelli to Werner
Club chiefs know splashing their cash on a highly-rated player doesn’t guarantee they will live up to expectations.
In fact, more often than not big-money moves don’t go to plan for one reason or another. But it’s a gamble the financial super powers of football are willing to take in their pursuit of silverware and to keep pace with their rivals.
The Premier League has proven to be a particularly tricky nut to crack for many stars arriving with expensive price tags. And the following six flops decided to cut their losses and go right back to where they started – their former club.
READ MORE: 8 Prem stars who played for more than 10 teams including Liverpool and Man Utd flops
Mario Balotelli
Mario Balotelli’s departure from Manchester City in January 2013 came as a disappointment to English football fans who couldn’t get enough of his enigmatic personality. But 18 months after he’d joined AC Milan, the striker was back.
Liverpool took an £18million punt on him, which four-goals-in-28-games later turned out to be a massive mistake. After just a year, Balotelli was returned to Milan on loan for the season.
The Italians decided to not sign him permanently as he failed to find his scoring boots there as well, leaving him to ultimately join Nice on a free transfer.
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Andriy Shevchenko
(Image: Getty Images)
You can’t knock the transfer plan at the San Siro, as Milan chiefs had pulled off the same move they did for Balotelli seven years earlier with Andriy Shevchenko. He’d left to join Chelsea in 2006 in a mega deal worth around £40m.
But the goal machine severely struggled at Stamford Bridge and after two seasons was deemed surplus to requirements. His former side were happy to welcome him back on loan with open arms, although he only managed two goals for them before re-joining his first club Dynamo Kyiv.
Tiemoue Bakayoko
(Image: X06540)
Chelsea midfielder Tiemoue Bakayoko has flip-flopped here, there and everywhere since joining the club in 2017. After an underwhelming first season he was sent to Milan (yes, them again) before he made his Monaco return.
It looked like the French outfit had pulled off a blinder having pocketed an eye-watering £36million for him just two years earlier, but Bakayoko failed to impress like before. He’s since spent time with Napoli and is now back in Milan for another loan spell.
Tanguy Ndombele
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One of the biggest Premier League flops in recent memory is French midfielder Tanguy Ndombele. Tottenham spent £54m to prise him from Lyon in 2019.
A lack of consistency and underwhelming performances left him out in the cold, prompting a loan move to his old club for the second half of last season. The deal included an option to buy, but the Ligue 1 club decided not to put Spurs out of their misery.
Romelu Lukaku
(Image: Getty Images)
It looked like Chelsea had found their difference-maker when they brought Romelu Lukaku back to west London last summer, seven years after he’d left. And he didn’t even seem overpriced at £97.5million, having torn it up for Inter Milan the previous two seasons.
Less than 12 months later, though, and Blues bosses have been left scratching their heads, with Lukaku returning to the San Siro on loan for the 2022/23 campaign following a dismal return. To add insult to injury, he netted in his second Serie A debut last weekend.
Timo Werner
(Image: Offside via Getty Images)
Chelsea should really re-evaluate their transfer business because not only is Timo Werner their fourth entry on this list, but he’s also their second flop of the summer to return to their former club after Lukaku.
The German striker never appeared suited to the English game and became a source of ridicule for opposition fans. Of course, he also netted in his first game back at RB Leipzig, who have brought him home for a cut-price fee on the £48m they sold him for in 2020.
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