The Premier League is no stranger to loan deals in its history. Some loaned players turn out to be excellent whereas some turn out to be the worst! Loans are a move considered by clubs to be low-risk and high-return moves for a temporary period in a season in order to elevate their team’s performances or positioning in the league. Today, BestofBets take a look at 10 worst loan deals in Premier League history!
10 worst loan deals in Premier League history
- Saul Niguez (Chelsea):
Many fans thought Chelsea hit a jackpot of a loan deal when they brought in Saul Niguez from Atletico Madrid on loan in August 2021 as they were depleted in midfield.
However, the move was a full-blown disaster. He made just five appearances for the Blues in the Premier League, from which he was substituted off at half-time in two games.
Chelsea paid a £3.4million loan fee and wages of almost £200,000 a week for this nightmare. - Denis Suarez (Arsenal):
Spanish midfielder Denis Suarez spent the second half of the 2018-19 season with Arsenal, following a high profile loan move from Barcelona in January.
He made just four appearances for the Gunners, and we are pretty sure many fans remember his spell at the club at all. - Radamel Falcao (Manchester United & Chelsea):
Failing at one loan spell is understandable, but managing to fail twice with two top clubs takes a whole new level of confidence.
Manchester United signed Radamel Falcao from Monaco for £6million loan fee plus wages of £265,000 a week in 2014. He made just 15 starts for the Red Devils, scoring five goals.
Despite this disaster, for some reason, Chelsea wanted to burn their hands and they signed Falcao on a loan in 2015.
At Chelsea, Falcao played 228 minutes of league football, scoring one goal.
- Alexandre Pato (Chelsea):
The second player from Chelsea on this list is Alexandre Pato. The Brazilian was touted to be the best in the world “on his day”. However, his “day” came just a few times in his career, and it was definitely not during his stint at Stamford Bridge.
He played just twice for the Blues, scoring his solitary Premier League goal from the penalty spot against Aston Villa in the first of those two games. - Simone Zaza (West Ham):
West Ham paid a €5 million loan fee to Juventus for Italian striker Simone Zaza in 2016. Zaza made just 11 appearances for the Hammers which included eight in the Premier League and three in the EFL Cup, having failed to score in each of those games.
Yes, you have guessed it right. He became a meme!
- Gonzalo Higuain (Chelsea):
Chelsea brought in Gonzalo Higuain on loan from Juventus in January 2019. He made 14 appearances for the club, scoring nine goals in a series of underwhelming performances causing the London club to not attempt at making his deal permanent.
The Argentine joined Inter Miami in the MLS in 2020.
- Renato Sanches (Swansea):
Former Golden Boy award winner, Portuguese star Renato Sanches joined Swansea City on loan in his prime from Bayern Munich in the 2017-18 season.
Fair to say that he was a total failure for the Welsh club and later, in an interview with L’Equipe, he openly stated, “It was not my choice to go to Swansea. I was forced to go there. I didn’t want to go. I have respect for the club, the players, all the people I met there. I appreciated their humility.”
Sanches since then, joined Lille in 2019 before joining PSG in 2022. - Arthur (Liverpool):
A typical example of panic buying, Arthur joined Liverpool from Juventus on loan in September 2022. Juventus specified that Liverpool had paid €4.5 million in loan fees, with an option to purchase the player for €37.5 million at the end of the one-year loan.
He made his Liverpool debut in a 4–1 Champions League defeat to Napoli on 7 September 2022.
Believe it or not, at the time of writing this article on March 30, 2023, Arthur still hasn’t played a single game for the Reds since Napoli! - Jese Rodriguez (Stoke City):
Former Real Madrid star Jese Rodriguez arrived in England at Stoke City from PSG in 2017, and after just one training session with the team, he scored against Arsenal on his debut.
In December that year, then Stoke manager Mark Hughes made him sit on the bench and didn’t elect him as one of his three substitutes in the game, causing Rodriguez to storm out of the stadium.
The Potters were relegated at the end of that season and Jese returned back to PSG.
In June 2022, he told TuttoSport that the time in Staffordshire was “the worst adventure” of his career. - Kim Kallstrom (Arsenal):
Arsenal signed Kim Kallstrom in January 2014 as Arsene Wenger thought he is exactly the type of midfielder who could help the Gunners’ title charge in the second half of the season.
However, just a few days before signing for the Gunners, Kallstrom was in Abu Dhabi and fell over while playing football on a concrete pitch.
“I fell badly on a small rock. I hit my back and had some pain,” he said later, as quoted by the Star.
“Obviously we were due to go back to Moscow the day after so we didn’t do any medical check-up there because it wasn’t too bad at the time. We informed Arsenal straight away that I had a problem with my back and that I had no idea what it was, so they just told me to come along anyway.
“It was a bit of a blur because the deal had to be done quickly. I came to London, we had the medical and we found out there were some problems but we arranged the deal anyway.”
He was out injured for two months between January and the end of the season in May, making just three Premier League appearances. Guess where Arsenal finished that season? Fourth!For more engaging and informative content like this, visit the BestofBets’ Insights section.
