When it comes to wasting money on transfer fees, few clubs do it quite as well as Newcastle United. It is not easy to spend £100 million on transfer flops in less than 10 years – you wouldn’t think there was that many dodgy signings to be made. Click below to read how you do it.
15 Nicky Butt – £2 million – July 2004
Butt has never produced since arriving at St James’ Park. Injuries have not helped, but he struggled to even make an impact at Birmingham City in their relegation season. Now resigned to life as a bit-part player.
14 Andreas Andersson – £3 million – January 1998
Who? Andersson joined from AC Milan and left after just one season. He did make Sweden’s 2002 World Cup squad, but ended up playing in the Swedish league.
13 Stephane Guivarc’h – £3.5 million – June 1998
Snapped up as a World Cup winner, but managed just four matches before moving on to Rangers.
12 Silvio Maric – £3.65 million – February 1999
Another flop. Maric left after two seasons having made just 12 league appearances.
11 Christian Bassedas – £4.13 million – May 2000
One half of a Bobby Robson Argentinian double signing, Bassedas spent three seasons at Newcastle but never featured regularly and was loaned out to Tenerife. Now commentates on Premier League matches for Fox Sports en Espanol apparently.
10 Alain Goma – £4.7 million – July 1999
Spent one injury-hit, poor season at Newcastle before moving to Fulham at a loss.
9 James Milner – £5 million – July 2004
Still only 20, the former youngest ever Premier League goalscorer has become a bit of a misfit at Newcastle. Spent last season on loan at Aston Villa and came close to making the move permanent on deadline day.
8 Marcelino – £5.8 million – June 1999
Arguably the most dodgy Newcastle signing of all time. Always allegedly injured, his 17 games in three seasons work out at around £700,000 per game in transfer fees and wages.
7 Carl Cort – £7 million – July 2000
They sure do pick them. Another young talent who ended up spending more time in the treatment room than on the pitch.
6 Duncan Ferguson – £8 million – November 1998
Duncan Disorderly was an effective player, but even in the most over-inflated of transfer markets he was not worth £8 million especially given his injury record. Sure enough he spent most of his time on Tyneside in the physio’s room before moving back to Everton for half the price.
5 Hugo Viana – £8.5 million – June 2002
Viana was supposed to be the next big thing when he signed for Newcastle. He never lived up to expectations and ended up at former club Sporting on loan. Now at Valencia in a reported £1.5 million move. Ouch!
4 Jean-Alain Boumsong – £8.5 million – January 2005
Put in a series of awful performances before eventually being offloaded to Juventus for £3 million.
3 Laurent Robert – £9.5 million – August 2001
Showed flashes of brilliance but was never consistent enough to justify his transfer fee. Left on a free transfer to join Benfica.
2 Albert Luque – £10 million – August 2005
Has yet to look anything like a Premier League player, let alone a £10 million. Pies predicts a free transfer back to Spain in the summer.
1 Michael Owen – £17 million – August 2005
Actually makes Marcelino look good value for money at the moment. Owen is likely to have a record of 11 games for Newcastle in two years by the time he recovers from hi cruciate ligament injury.
GRAND TOTAL: £100.28 million
[Rob Parker]