Which signing has suprised you the most?

[Darkon]

A while back I did a vote on which player disappointed you the most, and the general feeling seemed to fall on Morientes or Kewell, because of the expectations we had to them.

So I wan't to do the same thing again, but from the opposite. Basically the question is, which player did positively suprise you the most? Which player did far surpass the expectations you had when he signed for us. It can be a player you expected to be a flop, or just someone you never heard of.

I have given a list of players from the 90's upwards, so if that does not satisfy, please state some other, from further back or someone I just plain forgot.

And try and give a reason to why you selected this player...

My choice is Sami Hyypia, our commanding centerback. Reason is that I never heard much of him when he joined us from Willem II 10 years ago, and he has turned out to be one of the best CD for us. He was never a big profile in dutch football, and he could hardly do anything but suprise.!

[Sarb]

Sami hyypia is one of the best buys in the last 15 years

[Le Chef]

Lil Luis - I know some won't agree, but I thought who is this wee fella -I'd never heard of him, but for me he remains a classy player.

[MrMichael]

Aldridge?

Barnes and Beardsley were possibly our two best ever simultaneous purchases, but they were class players before they arrived. Aldridge was a bit random, but actually managed to fill Rushie's boots in '88, when we played some amazing football.

Hyppia obviously, £2.6m wasn't it?

Or Rob Jones maybe?

Edit - ****, yeah magicalbarnes, Gary Mac, good call

[magicalbarnes]

Gary Mcallister by a country mile

[Dirk07]

slappy mac

[Darkon]

Lil Luis - I know some won't agree, but I thought who is this wee fella -I'd never heard of him, but for me he remains a classy player.

That is actually quite a good choice as well, I had seen him play for Barca a few times on the telly before we signed him, and he looked like one of those players that could go either way.

He def gave us some memorable moments and some frustrations as well

[Assassin]

Grobelaar

Fantastic purchase

[Darkon]

Unfortunatly I can't edit a poll, but I meant to add a "other" option... can a mod do that?

[MrMichael]

Done.

I reckon that might be a popular choice, of those there nowCamara, Smicer and Riise probably shouldn't be; Riise was rated when he arrived, Camara was ****, and Smicer actually only ever had one good game for us... even if it was the game that really mattered

[Mike]

Barnes

[RedReet]

Nando. Although I expected him to prove a good signing, I never expected him to make such an immediate impact. Having previously watched him a fair few times for Atletico and Spain, I didn’t realise just how fast the boy was, and didn’t think he was as strong in the air. He’s close to the perfect player.

[breffniboy]

You could go on for ages about best signings overall, but in terms of the signing that surprised me the most, it has to be big Sami for the following reasons.

In the cost-to-contribution ratio, he delivered in multiples, far outstripped his fee

Came into defence at a time when we were totally clueless at the back and together with Henchoz - who shouldn't be forgotten either - sorted the whole sorry business out

Was not on the radar of any other club when we bought him, literally came out of nowhere for me.

[Tee]

Pepe - never realised we were signing a keeper who would become arguably the best in the world.

[bobbyfallon]

torres even though its early days