da stake casino： Football transfers are a funny old thing. If a player signs for £40m-odd and shines, he’s considered a bargain, whilst others are considered a waste of money if they fail to impress following a £10m switch.
da brdice： That makes it difficult to predict the outcome of the majority of transfer deals that take place every season but there are always ones that leave you scratching your heads, the sell-outs that know they won’t be getting much playing opportunities but take the move anyway.
Usually, this involves the bigger clubs who pay higher wages and need a mediocre player to provide some depth to the squad or adhere to the Premier League’s home-grown guidelines. Whilst the clubs have reasons for the moves, the players often don’t.
The prime example of this is Fabian Delph, who sponsors our sell-out XI after his controversial transfer from Aston Villa to Manchester City last summer, which has led to just 19 Premier League appearances.
To keep it modern and fresh, we’ve gone with a 3-5-2 formation that Antonio Conte himself would be proud of…
GK: Asmir Begovic
One of the finest goalkeepers in the Premier League, Asmir Begovic decided to give up first-team football with Stoke City to warm Chelsea’s bench on a weekly basis. Still only 29, he could be a leading player for another side but instead chooses to be understudy to Thibaut Courtois.
Just 17 Premier League appearances have come his way in his 18 months at Stamford Bridge, with the Bosnian earning some opportunities due to Courtois’ injury issues.
CB: Tal Ben Haim
The Israeli became a leading defender with Bolton Wanderers, which caught the eye of suitors, and he decided to move to Chelsea in 2007. Ben Haim’s problem was William Carvalho, John Terry and Alex, which made him fourth-choice centre-back.
Failing to learn from his lesson, he left Chelsea after just 13 Premier League appearances to earn another nine with Manchester City. He’s now a bit of a journeyman, having represented five clubs in the past five years.
CB: Papy Djilobodji
In one of the most bizarre transfers in recent history, Papy Djilobodji swapped Nantes for Chelsea last summer and was immediately left-out of the Champions League squad just a day later. In the end, he played just one minute for the Blues before joining Sunderland permanently this summer- somehow earning Chelsea a profit.
CB: Stefan Savic
Big things were expected of the Serbian defender when he signed for Manchester City but he ended up spending just one-year at the club, with just 12 Premier League appearances, before moving to Fiorentina. His opportunities came amidst injuries to Vincent Kompany and Kolo Toure’s involvement in the African Cup of Nations but Savic made the wrong career move, as he was never going to become a regular starter.
RM: Scott Sinclair
Another player guilty of making two very wrong career moves, Scott Sinclar’s first mistake came when he joined Chelsea in 2005- where he made just five Premier League appearances in five years. In then got his career back-on-track with Swansea before joining Manchester City, where he made 13 appearances in three-years.
That amounts to eight years of the 27-year-old’s career rotting in the reserves of a big side.
CM: Steve Sidwell
A star with Reading, once voted the best player outside of the Premier League and then helping the Royals achieve promotion to the top-flight, Sidwell jumped ship in 2007 to join Chelsea.
With Frank Lampard and Michael Essien to contend with, both of whom were in their prime at the time, Sidwell was never going to earn regular football.
CM: Jack Rodwell
Having risen through the youth ranks at Everton to become a crucial part of the team, Jack Rodwell was lured to Manchester City in 2012 to make up the numbers. Competition in the squad and injuries played their part in Rodwell’s limited opportunities, which ended in 2014 with a switch to Sunderland.
CM: Yossi Benayoun
The former Israeli captain shone in the Premier League with West Ham and Liverpool before transferring to Chelsea, where he never really got a chance. To sum up how little he was valued by Chelsea, they actually loaned him to arch-rivals Arsenal for the 2011/12 season.
Overall, he made just 14 Premier League appearances in three years.
LM: Fabian Delph
A hero with Aston Villa, he became public enemy number one after his bizarre transfer last summer.
After previously stating in public he wouldn’t be joining Manchester City, he went and did exactly that. Now, he holds just 19 Premier League appearance s- only two of which have come this term.
ST: Demba Ba
Boasting an incredible record of 29 goals in 54 Premier League appearances for Newcastle United, Ba was tempted by Chelsea and only bolstered the numbers at Stamford Bridge.
He lasted only 18 months at Stamford Bridge and was almost loaned to Arsenal after half a season, before Jose Mourinho blocked the move following the Gunners capture of Mesut Ozil.
ST: Wilfried Bony
Optimising that the grass is not always greener elsewhere, Wilfried Bony swapped his starring role with Swansea for a year of misfortune at Manchester City. Don’t feel sorry for him though, was he ever going to shine with Sergio Aguero to contend with?
Still on the books with the Citizens, Bony is spending the campaign on-loan at Stoke City and has shown signs of promise having netted two goals in nine Premier League appearances.