Transfer failures !

[wiw]

They were all bought as part of the re-building process. Does anyone seriously think Rafa would want any of them at the club now given the choice? (besides maybe Gonzalez and Paletta)

As others have said we made profit on Bellamy so if we're breaking even overall on temporary signings you can't complain can you? They were all a springboard for the team we have now

[BFG]

So 11 flops in 5 seasons, good record I'd say.

Bollocks article designed to do nothing but have a go and undermine what Rafa has/is doing with us.

They also fail to mention that we've lost very little money on most of those players when they've been moved on. Oh, and the fact that we only signed most of them because we couldn't afford better.

[ntto]

Shame about Gonzalez. I think we all had high hopes for him. How is he getting on these days?

he's been pretty awesome the last few weeks!

[Montana]

Every manager has good and bad signings. Not all on that list were total failures and the list can be countered by many positive signings see below ......... (obviously some more successful than others, but all made contributions and can be/were sold for more than we paid)

Reina
Agger
Skrtel
Insua
Arbeloa
Aurelio
Sissoko
Mascherano
Alonso
Benayoun
Riera
Torres
Kuyt
Crouch
Babel (?)
Garcia
Carson

[Fierce]

Isn't Pelegrino still on the coaching staff??

[dww]

Isn't Pelegrino still on the coaching staff??

He left, then he came back. He seemed to have improved things in terms of setpiece defense at the start of the season but we appear to have regressed. It might be the chopping and changing in the back four though I guess.

[Reece]

He left, then he came back. He seemed to have improved things in terms of setpiece defense at the start of the season but we appear to have regressed. It might be the chopping and changing in the back four though I guess.

No it's all down to the Zonal Marking Dave.

[dww]

No it's all down to the Zonal Marking Dave.

I knew I had missed some important, little talked of, factor out of my analysis

[Skillz]

Total cost = £28m
Total recevied in sales = £18.7m

Total Loss = £9.3m

Plus we could still get a few million for Voronin.

Thanks for that.

[MrMichael]

The single interesting in point in that article is that out of that extensive list of 'transfer failures', The club made a total loss of roughly 3 or 4 million pounds.

It is amazing how a good story to slur a top managers name can be turned on it's head using the facts stated in said article to prove that Rafa is actually extremely shrewd in the transfer market.

Add Keane into the mix if you like some reports state that we will take a 3 or 4 million hit on him, but he was a very bizarre case, very highly politically charged.

Absolutely

If that's an extensive list of his biggest failures, 11 players sold on for a total loss that's less than Chelsea lose on almost every player they sign, its not a bad record at all. The issue, if someone wants to make one out of Rafa's transfer dealings is not loss made on players, but arguably the simple number of those who've come and gone without doing much on the pitch.

[Woobus]

Not bad at all, when you look at Wengers list of players there are a lot of bad wastes of cash. 2001 he spent pretty much 28 million on the biggest load of crap

Edu - Corinthians, £6m
Francis Jeffers - Everton £8m
Giovanni Van Bronckhorst - Rangers, £8.5m
Richard Wright - Ipswich £6m
Efstathios Tavlaridis - Iraklis Salonika £600k

[dww]

Not bad at all, when you look at Wengers list of players there are a lot of bad wastes of cash. 2001 he spent pretty much 28 million on the biggest load of crap

Edu - Corinthians, £6m
Francis Jeffers - Everton £8m
Giovanni Van Bronckhorst - Rangers, £8.5m
Richard Wright - Ipswich £6m
Efstathios Tavlaridis - Iraklis Salonika £600k

Edu was good for them IMO. Took a while to settle but to claim he was 'a load of crap' is unjustifiable in my opinion. And I really don't get the point of putting a young player like Efstathios Tavlaridis on any such list all managers gamble on kids and I would imagine they lost very little as they sold him on.

[Tee]

Edu was good for them IMO. Took a while to settle but to claim he was 'a load of crap' is unjustifiable in my opinion. And I really don't get the point of putting a young player like Efstathios Tavlaridis on any such list all managers gamble on kids and I would imagine they lost very little as they sold him on.

[cled the red]

Edu was good for them IMO. Took a while to settle but to claim he was 'a load of crap' is unjustifiable in my opinion. And I really don't get the point of putting a young player like Efstathios Tavlaridis on any such list all managers gamble on kids and I would imagine they lost very little as they sold him on.

What would they give now to have Edu at the club to add a little bit of steel to their brittle midfield?

[Woobus]

Edu was good for them IMO. Took a while to settle but to claim he was 'a load of crap' is unjustifiable in my opinion. And I really don't get the point of putting a young player like Efstathios Tavlaridis on any such list all managers gamble on kids and I would imagine they lost very little as they sold him on.

He was in the list as that was who he bought in 2001, I just copied it from a website. Will agree that Edu wasnt "a load of crap" but for spending 28 million he didnt get much value for money that season. And doubt he would have managed to claim much back specially with Edu leaving on a free.