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The 10 worst Premier League signings of the season

Updated: 27 May 2026 16:39 BST | 10 min read

Worst transfers, Premier League

Another Premier League season has come and gone, with plenty of players defining their legacies with historical campaigns...some for better or worse.

English teams have notoriously spent heavily in the transfer market and last summer was no exception, with more than €3 billion being splashed on a host of world class talent.

While a lot of deals worked out well, there were a large portion of moves that backfired tremendously and FootballTransfers takes a look at ten of the worst signings of the 2025/26 Premier League season.

Yoan Wissa – €57.7m to Newcastle from Brentford

If this was an assessment of ‘how to panic buy and blow almost all your newly found money on an overpriced asset’, Newcastle would get an A+ with the signing of Yoan Wissa.

Yoan Wissa

The 29-year-old was signed as a proven Premier League goalscorer who could immediately fill the void of Alexander Isak and allow record signing Nick Woltemade time to adapt.

Except Wissa picked up a three-month injury before even kicking a ball for the Magpies, having already been behind on fitness after going on strike while at Brentford in an ironic twist of fate.

Wissa never found fitness and finished the season with one goal in 19 Premier League matches and Newcastle are now ready to part ways with their Isak replacement at a huge loss, except nobody wants to pay the money for an unfit, out-of-form striker on high wages.

A sensationally poor deal that has set Newcastle back immensely and has become the proud winner of the worst transfer of the season award. Congratulations to all involved.

Alexander Isak – €145m to Liverpool (from Newcastle)

Liverpool learned last summer that breaking the British transfer record may not be quite as rewarding as it seems, first with the signing of Florian Wirtz and then the deadline day arrival of Alexander Isak from Newcastle.

Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak

What tips the scales against Isak is that Liverpool had quite literally paid €90m for a younger and potentially better version of him just six weeks earlier, making the Swede’s signing a complete luxury.

As Liverpool found out, you can’t get an instant impact from a player who spent the previous two months doing everything except playing football, which led to Isak scoring just three times in his first 16 appearances before suffering a leg break in December.

But to top it all off, it appears as though Arne Slot does not know exactly how to get the best out of his record signing and it would take a return to Isak’s peak fitness for the transfer to be worth anywhere near the outlay spent. Disaster.

Anthony Elanga – €61m to Newcastle (from Nottingham Forest)

Newcastle had, by all accounts, a terrible league campaign and it stemmed from a terrible summer that began with a terrible signing of Anthony Elanga from Nottingham Forest.

Although not a bad player by any means, Elanga thrived at Forest in a counter-attacking team where he was allowed to use his blistering pace to run past defenders into acres of space and cross the ball to a giant target man in the form of his life.

That was never going to translate well to a Newcastle team who opponents sat deep against, particularly with Elanga having proven his limited ability on the ball while at Manchester United.

Elanga’s season ended with zero goals and one assist in 32 league games. There is not much to add beyond that. No injury issues, plenty of game time, no adaptability issues…just a pure, old-fashioned bad transfer.

Jamie Gittens – €56m to Chelsea (from Dortmund)

If ‘I told you so’ had a face, it would be painted in Dortmund colours and brandishing Jamie Gittens’ shirt after his peculiar €56m move to Chelsea last summer.

Jamie Gittens

Gittens had shown glimpses of his potential at Dortmund and Chelsea thought they could make a shrewd deal by signing a 21-year-old English prospect who just needed to add consistency to his game. A tale as old as time.

Unsurprisingly to many Bundesliga fans, Gittens picked up where he left off at Dortmund by producing raw, mediocre displays that generated frustration rather than excitement.

There is plenty of time for Gittens to find his feet, particularly with six years left on his Chelsea contract, but, having already fallen out of favour at Stamford Bridge, there is also nothing to suggest that he will ever be worth the money spent barring a dramatic turnaround.

Mohammed Kudus – €63.8m to Tottenham (from West Ham)

The marquee €63.8m arrival of Mohammed Kudus last summer was always going to determine the outcome of Tottenham’s season, so Spurs finishing 17th for the second season running perhaps tells you all you need to know about the transfer.

Mohammed Kudus

Kudus was a mercurial figure at West Ham, often capable of the sublime, while also often displaying the complete opposite. Tottenham pinned their hopes on a royal flush only to find out they were playing with jokers all along.

To top it off, Kudus only managed 19 appearances before a season-ending injury which could prove disastrous for a direct and pacy player and it remains to be seen if he can showcase his true talent with a fresh start under Roberto de Zerbi next season.

Harvey Elliott – loan to Aston Villa (from Liverpool)

Normally a loan deal wouldn’t be the end of the world but the saga of Harvey Elliott’s move to Aston Villa has caused such a stir that it essentially led to the departure of the director who sanctioned the deal in Monchi.

Villa agreed to loan Elliott for a nominal fee with the idea that it would become a permanent move for €40m after he made ten appearances – easy going for a young player that proved his worth for the Premier League champions.

But Villa’s financial issues meant that they were never going to trigger the permanent option and ultimately exiled Elliott through no fault of his own, with the 23-year-old playing just 110 minutes across four appearances.

It was a completely wasted year for Elliott, a terrible transfer for both Villa and Liverpool and a poor look for everyone involved, especially Monchi.

Tijjani Reijnders – €55m to Manchester City (from Milan)

Manchester City’s success in the Pep Guardiola era has effectively come from doing as they please financially, with a mindset of ‘spend the money now, ask questions later’ and the signing of Tijjani Reijnders epitomised that.

Tijjani Reijnders

Reijnders had impressed during two years at Milan so it wasn’t too surprising to see City sign a player who was named as Serie A’s best midfielder prior to his move.

And the Dutchman provided a goal and assist on his Premier League debut that made you think ‘they can’t keep getting away with it’…but, reader, they didn’t get away with it this time.

Reijnders proved to be useful and capable in the first half of the season but he fell out of favour under Guardiola during the second half of the campaign and City are now believed to be ready to cut their losses on a player who, while talented, will just come and go for a huge fee. Forgettable.

Jean-Clair Todibo – €40m to West Ham (from Nice)

A young defender previously coveted by top sides in Europe and who had a moderately successful loan spell that was made permanent, why would West Ham regret spending €40m on Jean-Clair Todibo?

Jean-Clair Todibo

Well, their relegation should explain some of it. Todibo was a huge reason as to why West Ham struggled, be it with injuries, poor form or an outrageously silly red card that halted all his momentum mid-season.

The 26-year-old was dropped by Graham Potter and eventually again by his successor Nuno Espirito Santo, with his humiliating 25th minute substitution against Newcastle in May proving to be the straw that broke the camel’s back.

Todibo has since claimed he will never play for Nuno again and refused to feature for the club in their eventual relegation run-in, leaving the Hammers with an expensive, overpaid player with a poor attitude and who wants no business being there. Now that’s a bad transfer.

Liam Delap – €35m to Chelsea (from Ipswich)

On the surface, a €35m move for a young English striker who netted 12 times for a relegated side could actually be seen as a rare sensible move by Chelsea, so is it fair to label Liam Delap as one of the worst signings of the year?

Liam Delap

If you’ve watched him play this season, the answer is a resounding ‘oh god, absolutely’. The 23-year-old finished with more yellow cards than goals (or goal, singular) and could have had more sending offs too had referees done their job properly.

The failure comes from Delap solving no issues for Chelsea and instead leaving them with more problems up front, having spent most his time on the pitch running into defenders with his head, shoulders, knees, toes, elbows and any other limb available.

Chelsea will look to sell the striker this summer, which should at least recover the fee they paid, but of all their poor signings last year (and there were a lot), Delap’s arrival represented the alarming drop in quality that has been all too common under the BlueCo hierarchy.

Tyler Dibling – €40m to Everton (from Southampton)

Tyler Dibling’s astonishing €40m move to Everton is a stark reminder that the ‘young English player’ tax is still alive and well, especially considering Southampton had initially been holding out for a €100m asking price.

Tyler Dibling

The 20-year-old only scored twice for Southampton last season but it was easy to brush off and say ‘hey, he’s a kid for a relegated side’ and only look at the glimpses of potential he showed in a poor team.

But it is now clear that Dibling is not ready for the Premier League, not by a long shot, as evidenced by just 353 minutes of football for Everton despite a number of injuries to key players.

Dibling is still young so he can improve but any development will likely be out of hope rather than expectation, knowing that it will take a lot of progress before the €40m outlay is seen as a good deal for a club with limited resources.