While Liverpool attacking midfielder Florian Wirtz clearly has not lived up to his 100 million pound price tag to this early point in the 2025/26 Premier League season, he’s been far from the worst new transfer in the English top flight.
To that end, here are five transfers from the summer 2025 window who have been significantly worse than Wirtz has to this point. And no, I did not include Alexander Isak, because it’s completely unfair to consider a player who hasn’t been able to get games because of injury issues. But he may be a candidate soon if this keeps up.
Everton ST Thierno Barry
We start with a forward from Merseyside rivals Everton, and whereas new winger Jack Grealish and the emerging Iliman Ndiaye have been huge bright spots for the Toffees, Thierno Barry has been a massive disappointment and just might be one of the worst strikers in the Premier League right now.
Barry looks totally overwhelmed at this level on the pitch, and I get that there’s an adjustment period to the Premier League, but there’s something about this flash in the pain Villarreal strikers that doesn’t seem to add up in the Prem.
Newcastle RW Anthony Elanga
Anthony Elanga is THE worst signing in the Premier League this season, and Newcastle paid a pretty ridiculous 55 million pounds for a guy who had one great year for Nottingham Forest (that really wasn’t even that great) and has been pretty much a nonfactor in the Premier League outside of that.
Nonfactor is definitely the best way to describe Elanga on the wings for Newcastle this season, and he’s dragging down his teammates with him with each horrible dribble at a time.
Elanga has offered no goal threat or ball progression for Newcastle. He’s been the worst player in the Premier League relative to his expectations, and he deserves way more criticism than Wirtz is getting.
Chelsea LW Jamie Bynoe-Gittens
Honestly, I feel for Jamie Bynoe-Gittens, and he’s actually been decent in the League Cup games. But when Florian Wirtz has been good in the Champions League games, decent in the Carabao Cup really doesn’t matter much now does it.
Gittens was talented but raw at Dortmund, broke out all of a sudden in the first half of the 2024/25 season, fell back down to earth when the incompetent Niko Kovac took over, and he’s been pretty mid (at best) since.
There are times when Gittens looks like he does not belong on a Premier League field at all, and while he is probably too athletic to fail long term, when you watch the way Estevao Willian is already clicking at Stamford Bridge, you really have to say Gittens has been a major disappointment for Chelsea.
Nottingham Forest ST Igor Jesus
What has Igor Jesus even done? I completely forgot Nottingham Forest even signed this guy up, that’s how invisible he’s been. There’s always going to be a huge adjustment period to the Premier League from outside Europe especially, I get that, but given Jesus isn’t exactly a prospect at the age of 24 and Estevao as been tearing it up at a much more pressurized club at the age of 18, I’m not buying this as an excuse for Jesus playing as poorly as he is.
Aston Villa FW Evann Guessand
Aston Villa needed an extra attacking boost to support striker Ollie Watkins and playmaker Morgan Rogers, so they went out and signed Evann Guessand after a highly underrated breakout 2024/25 season in Ligue 1 for Nice.
Well, Guessand has been a train wreck. Aston Villa are honestly a better team without Guessand on the pitch, because instead of supporting Watkins and Rogers, he’s actively holding him back. Wirtz is playing at a Ballon d’Or level compared to this guy.
Joe Soriano is the editor of The Trivela Effect and a FanSided Hall of Famer who has covered world football since 2010. He’s led top digital communities like The Real Champs (Real Madrid) and has run sites covering Tottenham, Liverpool, Juventus, and Schalke. He also helped manage NFL Spin Zone and Daily DDT, covering the NFL and pro wrestling.