I can see the shout for Torres, overall he's been poor especially when you factor in the transfer fee. However, he has still been part of an FA Cup and C.L winning club side and won the E.C with Spain getting the golden boot in the process. This doesn't tell the whole story of course but there are other players who have been worse than Torres and had more of a negative impact on the team. For me I'd go with Asprila for Newcastle as buying him cost Newcastle the P.L title that year as they adapted their team to fit him in when they were already romping the league.
ok so torres benchwarmed while chelsea won an fa cup and champions league but he did win medals.... 50mil? i would have to say Veron, shevchenko and then torres but i'd put carrol right up there. the first two didn't cost anyone anyhting more than pocket change... carroll blew LFCs one chance at rebuilding o nthe cheap.. we spet 40mil net under kenny dalglish and 35mil of it went o ncarroll effectively.
Veron wasn't the biggest flop the PL has seen. True he played nowhere near the level expected of him but he also wasn't that bad and played 20+ games in a title winning side. There have been a number of other players with big price tags who carried as much expectation but who delivered less. Shevchenko is the obvious one. United also got a decent amount of money for Veron by selling him to everyone's favourite pawn shop, Chelsea. Someone else mentioned Taibi and I'd put him above Veron as he was literally money for nothing! I wouldn't call Carroll a massive flop as he was never worth anything like the money Dalglish paid for him. Had Liverpool bought him for the £10million he was arguably worth at the time he would have just gone down as a gamble that didn't pay off because a new manager with a new style of play came in. I also wouldn't call Torres the biggest flop in PL history as let's be honest for a spell at Liverpool he was outstanding. Perhaps the biggest flop in Chelsea's history. Or is that Shevchenko? Or Winston Bogarde?
Torres was the biggest flop buy to date. His return on 50m minimal and insignificant what ever you say about the side he played in. NOF he is not the biggest prem flop as a player, but his purchase by chelsea could be the biggest flop. Sheva in his twilight years for 30m doesn't compare to a 27 year old for 50m
If you're going by that criteria BBF then Carroll was a worse purchase than Torres! Carroll was bought for a vastly inflated fee, hardly played and was then loaned out. He's had virtually no positive impact on Liverpool at all. As poor as Torres has been he will be able to point at goals that have mattered for Chelsea including one at the Nou Camp in a CL semi final.
It was 2-2 on aggregate before he scored. Had Torres missed and Barca won the ball back and scored then Barca would have gone through. Bit harsh to make out that Torres' goal didn't kill the tie.
Torres won the corner in the final that Drogba equalised from therefore without Torres they'd not have won.
That all depends on how you measure returns. I doubt Roman cares about the £50 million now Torres has played in a CL winning side, regardless of his contribution. I reckon he'd pay £100 million for you or me to play up front if you told him we'd do **** all but he'd still win the CL. Depends on how you look at it - Sheva cost as much in relative terms, when compared to the then transfer record, as Torres. But whereas Torres came in when Chelsea were pretty **** and needed to change it up, Sheva came in when Chelsea were flying under Mourinho. And he was arguably a big cause of Mourinho leaving due to Roman's interference and the introduction of Grant, which likely contributed to Chelsea not winning the league for the next three seasons. That said, Torres may be a big cause of Chelsea hiring Rafa. So yeah, he's the biggest flop in the history of forever
