Fernando Torres, Alexis Sanchez and the five worst transfers between the Premier League big six
Cameron Smith
- 24 Jun 2022 17:30 BST
- 5 min read
Business between the elite clubs in England doesn't happen all-too-often, with clubs understandably wary of selling their players to a direct rival.
It's something that Chelsea took into consideration when selling Tammy Abraham to Roma in 2021 rather than to their London rivals Arsenal.
But, the Blues have now been heavily linked with a move for Manchester City forward Raheem Sterling. The Englishman is a success story of a move between the big six already after joining Man City from Liverpool in 2015. Now, he could be on the move again within the division, with Thomas Tuchel keen to add him to Chelsea's forward line.
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Transfers between the 'big six' in England do occur on occasion and while several have been successes, there are some notable examples of failed transfer between the best performing clubs in the country.
FootballTransfers takes a look at five failed transfers between the 'top six' in the Premier League.
Fernando Torres - Liverpool to Chelsea, 2011 (€59m)
The signing that was intended to take Chelsea to the next level, Fernando Torres sort of did that at Stamford Bridge, helping the Blues lift the Champions League for the first time ever in 2012 after his late semi-final strike against Barcelona at Camp Nou.
However, his overall time at Chelsea can't be deemed a success. Liverpool sold their talisman at the perfect time, receiving a British record fee at the time for a player on the decline due to injuries.
His 24-goal haul in his first Premier League season was the peak of Torres' goal-scoring power and while 18 and 14 strikes in the next two season represented an impressive tally, his injury issues began to build up.
That continued at Chelsea and his confidence looked shot to bits. His goal drought upon joining Chelsea dragged on and on until he finally netted against West Ham after over 700 minutes of action without finding the back of the net for his new club.
An open goal miss at Old Trafford against Manchester United didn't help things and Torres eventually ended his Chelsea spell in 2014 with 45 goals in 171 games.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain - Arsenal to Liverpool, 2017 (€40m)
Determined to play central midfield rather than as a wing-back, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain not only decided to leave Arsenal in 2017, but he also opted to reject Chelsea's advances.
He was initially seen as the perfect Victor Moses replacement as Antonio Conte's right-wing-back, but he chose to join Liverpool instead. Despite flashes of promise, including his wonder-strike against Manchester City at Anfield, and an impressive start to life at the club, injury issues and competition for places has stunted Oxlade-Chamberlain's growth in recent years.
In his five years at the club, he's broken the 20 appearance mark in the Premier League on just two occasions and has missed over 70 games through injury since moving to Anfield, including almost an entire year between April 2018 and March 2019 with a cruciate ligament rupture.
He started just nine Premier League games in the 2021/22 campaign, but his misfortunes can only be placed on his body.
Alexis Sanchez - Arsenal to Manchester United, 2018 (€35m)
Arguably the best player in the Premier League in the 18 months prior to his move to Man Utd, things quickly took a turn for the worse when Alexis Sanchez left Arsenal.
Involved in a swap deal with Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Alexis was expected to help bring the Old Trafford side back to their glory days alongside the likes of Paul Pogba.
However, the opposite happened and Alexis instead fell out of favour. He joined Inter Milan in 2019, initially on loan, after scoring just five goals in 45 appearances for Man Utd.
David Luiz - Chelsea to Arsenal, 2019 (€9m)
A key cog in Antonio Conte's title-winning side, David Luiz wasn't as favoured by Maurizio Sarri, who shipped him off to Arsenal as he switched to a back four.
An erratic defender at the best of times, Luiz wasn't a crowd favourite at Arsenal and his ill-discipline angered the fans greatly. In fact, in just two years at the club, Luiz received three red cards, two more than in the rest of his entire career combined.
He also failed to finish in the Champions League places during his time at the club and left to return to Brazil in 2021.
Willian - Chelsea to Arsenal, 2020 (Free Transfer)
Despite thriving under Frank Lampard in his first season in charge at Chelsea, Willian was deemed surplus to requirements with the additions of Hakim Ziyech, Timo Werner and Kai Havertz, and he followed Petr Cech and the aforementioned Luiz in joining Arsenal from Chelsea once his Blues career was over.
His wages at the Gunners were high as a result of the lack of transfer fee, and this didn't play into Arsenal's hands.
After grabbing a hat-trick of assists on his debut against Fulham, big things were expected from Willian, but that was as good as it got.
He left the club to return to Brazil after just one season, ending his time at The Emirates with one goal and seven assists in 36 games.
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