The five worst summer signings in Europe so far

FT Desk

• Updated: 23 May 2023 08:46 CDT
• 5 min read

Erling Haaland has returned 11 goals in just seven Premier League starts for Manchester City's €60 million outlay, but there are plenty of players at the other end of the spectrum.

Liverpool were City's nearest league challengers last season, and they spent €40m more on that for a goal and a headbutt out of Darwin Nunez, but there have been flops from beyond English football.

Football Transfers looks at five of the most head-scratching transfers made around Europe this summer…

5) Casemiro - Real Madrid to Man Utd for €80m

— Football Transfers (@Transfersdotcom) September 4, 2022

Casemiro certainly has an impressive pedigree. The Brazilian defensive midfielder has been one of the best in the world in his position for most of the last decade, and arrived at Manchester United from Real Madrid with five Champions Leagues under his belt.

But he also cost a cool €80m, which is a lot of money for any player, let alone one who turns 31 halfway through the season. On top of that, Erik ten Hag seems to have sculpted Scott McTominay into the player he hoped Frenkie de Jong would be at Old Trafford, the Scot completing 100 per cent of his passes when United beat Arsenal 3-1 in Game Week 6.

4) Franck Kessie - AC Milan to Barcelona on a free transfer

Another central midfielder, Franck Kessie may not have cost Barcelona a transfer fee but there was certainly significant excitement when they acquired the €42m-rated Ivorian from AC Milan on a free in July.

But the De Jong transfer to Man Utd that wasn't means that competition in Barcelona's engine room could hardly be fiercer. As well as the Dutchman, Barca have two of the most promising young midfielders in world football in Pedri and Gavi - both of whom have been handed new deals with €1 billion release clauses in recent weeks.

Kessie has played 83 of a possible 540 La Liga minutes.

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3) Sadio Mane - Liverpool to Bayern Munich for €41m

Sadio Mane left Liverpool to replace the Barca-bound Robert Lewandowski at Bayern Munich, setting the German champions back €41m, and he started well enough, scoring on his Bundesliga debut against Eintracht Frankfurt.

But Mane is as much winger as striker, and the 30-year-old has only scored two more goals in the six games since. Bayern have dropped nine of the last 12 possible points and with the perennial German champions sitting fifth in the table, Julian Nagelsmann's job as manager is under pressure.

2) Paul Pogba - Man Utd to Juventus on a free transfer

— Football Transfers (@Transfersdotcom) April 30, 2022

Another free transfer, but surely the highest-profile one of the summer, Paul Pogba returned to Juventus from Manchester United after an abject second spell with the Red Devils.

The Frenchman might well go down as United's worst ever transfer business - this is the second time they have lost Pogba on a free to Juve having bought him back for €105m in 2016 - but his return to Turin has already been disastrous.

Pogba tore the meniscus in his right knee weeks after joining, could miss the World Cup with France, and is now under police protection after his brother Mathias's attempts to extort him.

1) Darwin Nunez - Benfica to Liverpool for €100m

Haaland has cost City €5.5m per Premier League goal - a number shrinking by the game - while Darwin has set Liverpool back the full €100m for his, a close-range strike against Fulham in the Reds' 2-2 draw on the opening day of the season.

There may be a player in there - Darwin did score six Champions League goals last season, two of them against Liverpool - but so far his most headline-grabbing contribution has been a headbutt on Crystal Palace's Joachim Andersen and subsequent three-game suspension.

Darwin has fired seven big chances off target, and his temperament and technique are both causes for concern, especially given the significant outlay.