World-Class Strikers Who Flopped In The Premier League

FourFourTwo

Why do so many of the world's best goalscorers unravel in the Premier League?

Transcript

00:00Much to the chagrin, excellent word, of fans of other divisions, the question, but can

00:09he do it in the Premier League, remains a pertinent one.

00:12While some of the game's greatest names have arrived in the division and thrived,

00:15I'm thinking like Makalele, Zlatan, and, I did have another one, Ivan Campo, he'll

00:21do, plenty of the giants of world football have had an absolute nightmare here.

00:25And of course, in no position is that more costly, or indeed more funny, than up front.

00:31I'm Adam Cleary, this is 442, and these are 10 amazing strikers who completely flopped

00:37in the Premier League.

00:38Number 10, Jared Borghetti, Bolton.

00:40For a player whose name sounds like a car, Jared Borghetti was the proverbial Rolls Royce

00:45of a footballer.

00:46He pitched up a Bolton in the twilight of a career that had made him a bigger Mexican

00:50institution than those enormous hats you get with the nice little lace patterns on them.

00:54He had scored absolutely loads of goals in his home country for Santos Laguna and became

00:59one of the most feared strikers in all of South America.

01:02However, under Sam Allardyce, he managed just two goals in 19 Premier League games, one

01:07against Man City and the other against Charlton.

01:10He was a lot better in the Cups, yes, but that's not what this list is about, is it?

01:14Rules are rules.

01:15Number nine, Roberto Saldardo, Tottenham.

01:17Now, I'm sorry, but I'm not having any comments here for referring to Saldardo as

01:21a great striker.

01:22The lad had just barred 30 goals in 46 appearances the previous season at Valencia and was genuinely

01:30being talked about as one of the hottest commodities in Europe.

01:32Now, you might not believe that, I might not even believe that, but it did happen.

01:36I was there.

01:37People were saying it.

01:38And as well, in his defence, Spurs were a little bit all over the place when he arrived,

01:42having just splurged all the Gareth Bale money on no less than seven, count them, seven highly

01:47rated new players.

01:49Still though, seven Premier League goals in 52 games is, well, crap.

01:54Number eight, Diego Forlan, Manchester United.

01:57It tells you absolutely everything about what a footballing monster truck Mourinho's Chelsea

02:02were that Man United had both Van Nistelrooy and Forlan on their books for those first

02:06two Premier League wins and could not get anywhere near them.

02:09Unlike his Dutch teammate though, the Uruguayans' time in the Premier League was a famous damn

02:13squib.

02:1417 goals in 98 appearances, the first not coming until his 34th game, did little to

02:20suggest that he would go on to, and let me just double check my notes here, ah yes, become

02:25one of the most feared goal scorers in all of Europe.

02:29155 goals in just seven years in La Liga, that is not the Diego Forlan you saw in the

02:35Premier League.

02:36Regardless though, Man United fans still seem to love him on account of his two very memorable

02:40strikes against Liverpool.

02:42Proof once more that banter remains undefeated as the true measure of footballing success.

02:48Number seven, Sergei Rebrov, Tottenham.

02:53The £11 million Ukrainian, then 25, had been one half of what was arguably Europe's most

02:58devastating strike partnership.

03:00Alongside Andrey Shevchenko and ho-ho-ho, more on him later, the duo had scored almost

03:06200 goals between them in five seasons at Dynamo Kiev.

03:10Recruited to become the prolific goal scorer that Spurs lacked, Rebrov ultimately struggled

03:14to perform at anywhere near the same level, and was even overlooked for the 2002 League

03:18Cup Final.

03:19Now don't get me wrong, there's no shame to getting benched behind Teddy Sheringham

03:22and Les Ferdinand, they're two great players, but they had a combined age at the time of

03:2770.

03:28But you know, score 10 goals in two seasons, and that's what you're gonna get.

03:32Number six, Gonzalo Higuain, Chelsea.

03:34Genuinely a sporting anomaly how so many strikers can bang in goals for fun in almost any other

03:39league in the world, and then get to England and look like some beige middle management

03:43type who's won a play on the pitch prize in a company raffle.

03:47Gonzalo Higuain, par exemple, was almost one goal every two games at Real Madrid and Juventus,

03:54one goal every game and a half at Napoli, and then got to Chelsea and looked about as

03:58much use as tits on a kipper.

04:00Five goals, the sum total of his loan spell in London, where afterwards he defended his

04:04record by pointing out the club did win the Europa League while he was there.

04:08And again, just let me check my notes here, ah yes, he played a grand total of 24 minutes

04:12in that competition and did not even get off the bench in the final.

04:16Worth a try.

04:18Number five, Claudio Pizarro, Chelsea.

04:20Yeah, I'll just, I'll level with you now, the rest of this list is mostly Chelsea.

04:24The Peruvian all-star hit 100 goals for Bayern Munich to establish a reputation as one of

04:29Germany and Europe's top marksmen, and his arrival at Chelsea on a free transfer no less

04:34looked like a genius piece of business.

04:36He started by missing a penalty in the Community Shield shootout against Manchester United

04:40on his debut, and things did not improve much thereafter.

04:45Pizarro notched just two goals in 21 matches before departing after one season.

04:51A stint so short in fact that we as a fanbase didn't ever quite decide if it was Pizarro

04:56or Pitzarro.

04:57You'd think Piz, as there's only one Z, so it's not like Pizza with two.

05:03Right?

05:04Pizarro?

05:05Pizarro.

05:06Pizarro?

05:07What was I talking about?

05:09Number four, Radamel Falcao, Manchester United.

05:13Easily, without question, one of the most complete centre-forwards in world football

05:17while at both Porto and Atletico Madrid, Falcao made cheese strings out of his anterior cruciate

05:23ligaments at Monaco, but his six million loan to Man United still felt like really good

05:28business.

05:29Nope, just four goals all season for Louis van Gaal's men, and that was the end of his

05:33time in England.

05:34Except, wait, no it wasn't, because…

05:37Number four, again, Radamel Falcao, Chelsea.

05:41Never a team you can accuse of letting their rivals hog the money-wasting spotlight, Chelsea

05:45seemingly took it as a personal challenge to somehow out-farce this farce and brought

05:51him in the following season.

05:53One goal in all competitions.

05:55Round of applause for everyone involved, please.

05:57Number three, Hernan Crespo.

05:59You guessed it, Chelsea.

06:00Now, yes, okay, a glance at Crespo's goals per game record in the Premier League suggests

06:04that maybe the flop tag is somewhat harsh in this case, he did net 20 times in 49 games,

06:10but according to the three Chelsea fans I know and I swear have asked, the former Parma,

06:15Lazio and Inter sharpshooter just never really convinced at Stamford Bridge.

06:20Ten goals in both seasons just felt like a massive letdown given how good he clearly

06:24was and could have been, and neither Ranieri nor Mourinho ever quite managed to extract

06:29a proper tune out of him.

06:30Number two, Fernando Morientes, Chelsea.

06:31Oh, no, it's Liverpool.

06:32Oh, do you know what?

06:34This one broke my heart.

06:35Liverpool appeared to have snared one of the deals of the century when they got Morientes

06:40still only 28 for 6.3 million.

06:43He wasn't getting minutes at Madrid, but being behind Ronaldo, Raul and Michael Owen in the

06:47pecking order hardly made that a red flag.

06:50But not only was it a red flag, it was a Reds flag, because they're the Reds.

06:56That joke does sort of work.

06:58The three-time Champions League winner showed flashes of his talent at Anfield, but ultimately

07:02found neither form nor fitness.

07:04A meagre 12 goals in 60 appearances followed, and the Reds loaned him back out to Valencia

07:09after just 18 months.

07:10Anyway, here's a pitch for any HBO types watching.

07:13Get a biopic in the works and have Pedro Pascal play him.

07:15Look at them side-by-sides.

07:16You can see it, can't you?

07:18Number one, Andriy Shevchenko, Chelsea.

07:21For a while, Shevchenko was basically the Michael Jordan of football.

07:25For Chelsea, though, he was the Michael Jordan of expensive footballing misadventure.

07:31A then-British record fee of £30.8 million in 2006 yielded a meagre nine Premier League

07:37goals in his three years at the club.

07:40The problem was, he was less a shrewd bit of transfer business and more… how can I

07:45put this without winding up on some sort of hit list?

07:48A gift.

07:49A lovely, generous goalscoring gift from Roman Abramovich to Jose Mourinho, despite Chelsea

07:56having no issue scoring goals and them just coming off the back of consecutive Premier

08:02League title wins.

08:03If you think about it, it's sort of like buying somebody a really nice, expensive beard

08:07trimmer for Christmas after they've already accidentally cut their own head off with their

08:12Gillette Mach 3.

08:13So, like, it fits their interests, yes, just not their circumstances.

08:17And that's it.

08:18That's the video.

08:19Thank you so very much for watching and making it all the way till the end.

08:22Somebody's keen.

08:23While you're here, please do consider subscribing to the 442 YouTube channel.

08:26We've got loads of awesome football content dropping all through the week, as well as

08:29an amazing library of documentaries, player interviews and performance guides as well.

08:34Until next time, though, thank you once again for watching.

08:36I do hope you enjoyed yourself and I'll see you soon.

08:39Goodbye.

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