The Top Five Worst Strikers Of The Premier League Era

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4 years ago

Categories: Galleries, West Ham United News

Tags: Arsenal, aston villa, Chelsea, Everton, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Newcastle United, Sheffield United, Southampton, Spurs, West Ham, Wolves

Over the past couple of months, we have gone through the archives to look at some of the worst players that have played the Premier League.

We have looked at every position on the pitch to find the poorest signings that top-flight clubs have made over the past thirty years.

Today, we are going to look at some of the worst strikers that have played in the Premier League era. Some of these were just woeful buys while others were surprise flops considering their previous records abroad

Press the next page as we countdown our list of the five forwards who failed to make the grade in England.

5) Vincent Janssen (Tottenham)

Spurs paid £17m for the Dutchman in 2016 but, in his 43 appearances for the North London club, he managed to score just six goals (four of which came from the penalty spot).

Remarkably, Monterrey offered to pay £8m for Janssen to sign him on a permanent basis last summer, and he is currently still plying his trade in Mexico.

4) Jo (Manchester City and Everton)

The Brazilian cost City £18m in 2008 but he played just nine games, scoring one goal before he was shipped out on loan to Everton. He did fair a bit better at Goodison Park, scoring five goals in his first season for the Toffees.

City allowed him to move back to Everton in 2009 for a second loan spell but with an option to buy. By Christmas, though, he had scored just twice in 24 appearances before being suspended by the club for returning home to Brazil.

3) Jozy Altidore (Hull and Sunderland)

The American international played 70 games for both the Tigers and the Black Cats, and yet he managed to score just one goal for each club. Thankfully for Hull, it was only a loan spell but Sunderland coughed up $13m for the privilege.

Altidore spent two years at the Stadium of Light before leaving for an undisclosed fee in 2015. He has spent the last five years with Toronto FC.

2) Ricky van Wolfswinkel (Norwich)

The Dutchman scored on his debut for Norwich following an £8.5m move from Sporting Lisbon but he did not manage to hit the back of the net again during his debut season.

Van Wolfswinkel made 25 league appearances as the Canaries were relegated. He was loaned out to Saint-Etienne and Real Betis for subsequent campaigns before finally leaving on a permanent basis in 2016.

1) Ali Dia (Southampton)

This list wouldn’t have been complete without the Senegalese striker. He allegedly claimed he was George Weah’s cousin and he managed to get a trial with Southampton.

With the Saints suffering from an injury crisis, he was put on the bench for the game against Leeds and he came on in the second half for the injured Matt Le Tissier. He was so bad he was substituted himself and never played another game in the English top flight.