Marcus Rashford to Barcelona, Andy Carroll to Liverpool & the top 10 most 'undeserved' transfers in football history - ranked

"If you assess where Marcus Rashford is at as a professional footballer, you strive as a youngster to get to the very top and play for clubs like Manchester United, and when you’re there, you appreciate it. You don’t throw it away and say you want to leave. I find the whole episode very soul-destroying," United legend Teddy Sheringham told Sky Bet when asked for his opinion on Rashford’s imminent loan move to Barcelona.

"From my perspective, if you go from Manchester United to Barcelona, that’s a step up that he hasn’t deserved," he added, and it’s impossible to disagree with that take when looking back at Rashford’s last two seasons on the Red Devils’ books. He managed just 11 Premier League goals in 48 appearances, broke disciplinary rules, and eventually lost his place in the team after Ruben Amorim was appointed manager, which led to Aston Villa signing the inconsistent attacker on loan in January.

Rashford instantly started playing with a smile again at Villa Park, helping Unai Emery’s side reach the Champions League quarter-finals and finish sixth in the Premier League, but he still only scored four goals, and it wasn’t much of a surprise that the Villans did not take up their £40 million ($54m) buy option on the 27-year-old. After so much early promise, Rashford had become damaged goods; an overpaid, overrated attacker who did have the right mindset to reach the very top.

Barca do not see it that way, though. The Spanish title holders believe Rashford is the final piece in the puzzle to bring them Champions League glory in 2025-26, and he will now form part of an all-star forward line alongside Lamine Yamal, Robert Lewandowski and Raphinha.

It feels like Rashford is the luckiest man in football, but is he about to seal the most "undeserved" transfer in football history? بالجم ranks the top 10 contenders for that unwanted title:

“If you assess where Marcus Rashford is at as a professional footballer, you strive as a youngster to get to the very top and play for clubs like Manchester United, and when you’re there, you appreciate it. You don’t throw it away and say you want to leave. I find the whole episode very soul-destroying,” United legend Teddy Sheringham told Sky Bet when asked for his opinion on Rashford’s imminent loan move to Barcelona.

“From my perspective, if you go from Manchester United to Barcelona, that’s a step up that he hasn’t deserved,” he added, and it’s impossible to disagree with that take when looking back at Rashford’s last two seasons on the Red Devils’ books. He managed just 11 Premier League goals in 48 appearances, broke disciplinary rules, and eventually lost his place in the team after Ruben Amorim was appointed manager, which led to Aston Villa signing the inconsistent attacker on loan in January.

It feels like Rashford is the luckiest man in football, but is he about to seal the most “undeserved” transfer in football history? بالجم ranks the top 10 contenders for that unwanted title:

David Moyes famously tried to sign Gareth Bale and Cesc Fabregas after being personally selected by Sir Alex Ferguson to inherit the managerial reins at United in 2013, but ended up having to settle for Marouane Fellaini, the 6’4 Belgian midfielder known more for his afro hairstyle than his playing ability. Fellaini had been a reliable performer for Everton under Moyes, but a move to the then-Premier League champions was seen as a bridge too far for such a one-dimensional footballer.

That proved to be the case. Fellaini was jeered regularly by United fans in a miserable debut season that saw them slip out of the top six, with Moyes relieved of his duties after just eight months at the helm. Somehow, Fellaini clung on for another five seasons at Old Trafford, picking up FA Cup, Europa League and League Cup winners’ medals while becoming a favourite of Jose Mourinho’s due to his aerial ability, but he was never able to hold down a starting role, and United let him depart for Chinese Super League side Shandong Taishan for just £10.5m in January 2019.

Liverpool fans reacted in disbelief when Andy Carroll was chosen to replace Fernando Torres after the Spanish striker’s controversial switch to Chelsea in January 2011. The Reds broke their transfer record to sign Carroll, which was seen as a hasty move given he had only served as Newcastle’s first-choice No.9 for half a season.

All doubts over Carroll were quickly justified as he found the net only six times in 44 Premier League games for Liverpool. The towering English frontman’s finishing was wildly erratic and he couldn’t stay fit long enough to build any kind of momentum.

After replacing Kenny Dalglish as Liverpool boss in June 2012, Brendan Rodgers immediately decided Carroll wasn’t the right fit for his possession-based system, and he departed for West Ham after a hugely disappointing 18 months at Anfield.

Nicklas Bendtner’s future looked bleak after an underwhelming loan stint at Sunderland in 2011-12, in which he netted just eight goals. Arsenal had certainly grown sick of the Denmark striker’s inconsistency and off-pitch behaviour, but that didn’t dissuade newly-crowned Serie A champions Juventus from taking him off their hands in the most shocking deal of the 2012 summer window.

It would not turn out to be some miraculous masterstroke. Antonio Conte didn’t hand Bendtner his first start for Juve until October, and he suffered a serious injury in his next start some two months later, before being arrested for drink-driving in March.

Bendtner returned to action off the bench in a final-day clash against Sampdoria, but broke his wrist as the Bianconeri’s second successive title party was soured by a 3-2 defeat. The Arsenal loanee then went back to Emirates Stadium with no goals to his name from 11 appearances in Juve colours, and it’s fair to say that this particular transfer was a waste of time for all parties involved.

United were so desperate for a new striker after Rashford was sidelined with an injury in the winter transfer window of 2020 that they explored several emergency options, including potentially re-signing former academy graduate Josh King from Bournemouth. However, when they were priced out of a deal for King, United instead brought in former Watford star Odion Ighalo on loan from Shanghai Shenhua until the end of the season.

It should be noted that Ighalo had his moments in the Premier League with Watford, and scored five goals for Nigeria at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, but this was the mother of all panic moves from the Red Devils. Ighalo had no elite-level experience to speak of, and it was clear from the start that then-United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer didn’t fully trust him.

The Nigerian was restricted to just eight appearances between February and May, but he scored four goals, which inexplicably led United to extend his loan for another six months. That decision was made all the more baffling when Edinson Cavani arrived in October, and Ighalo was given just nine minutes of Premier League action in the first half of the 2020-21 campaign before being sent back to China.

Rashford scored 30 goals in all competitions for United for the first time in 2022-23, inspiring them to Carabao Cup glory and a third-placed finish in the Premier League. That convinced the Red Devils to tie Rashford to a new five-year contract worth a reported £325,000 a week, and he then passionately vowed to supporters: “As a United fan all my life, I know the responsibility that comes with representing this badge and feel the highs and lows as much as anyone. I can assure you that I will give everything to help the team reach the level we are capable of.”

To break that promise so flagrantly after being given such a huge vote of confidence is unforgivable. Rashford downed tools when United needed him most in a humiliating 2023-24 campaign under Erik ten Hag that was barely salvaged by success in the FA Cup. Then, when things inevitably got even worse in the following campaign, Rashford betrayed the club that gave him his start in the game by publicly pushing for the exits.

It doesn’t matter that Rashford showed glimpses of his best form again on loan at Villa. History shows that he tends to hide when the going gets tough, and Flick may come to regret drafting the England international into his all-conquering Barca squad.

Barcelona were permitted to complete an emergency signing outside the transfer window after Ousmane Dembele was ruled out for six months due to injury in February 2020. However, La Liga rules stipulated that the player Barca brought in must be a free agent or already playing in Spain, which left them with a very short list of targets.

Still, no one expected them to settle on former Middlesbrough flop Martin Branthwaite, who had notched only eight goals in 27 games after joining relegation-threatened Leganes permanently the previous summer. Barca had to pay a considerable sum for the Denmark international, too, and he repaid practically none of it over the next two-and-a-half years.

Braithwaite became a Copa del Rey winner while rubbing shoulders with Lionel Messi and Co, but scored just 10 times in 58 appearances, most of which came from the bench. He was completely out of his depth at Camp Nou, and it was no surprise when Barca terminated his contract in order to register new signings in 2022.

United showed they had learned nothing from the Ighalo saga when picking up Wout Weghorst on loan from Burnley in January 2023. The Dutchman was chosen to fill the boots of Cristiano Ronaldo, despite only scoring two Premier League goals for the Clarers as they suffered relegation to the Championship in the previous season.

Weghorst had rediscovered his scoring boots on loan at Besiktas before his move to Old Trafford, but that was in the Turkish Super Lig, and everyone seemed to realise that Weghorst was not good enough to lead the line for United, except Ten Hag, who kept faith in Weghorst as a nailed-on starter for 18 consecutive games even as he predictably notched just two goals in the famous red shirt.

There were no question marks about the Netherlands international’s work rate, but a lack of technical quality and killer instinct prevented him from earning a permanent contract at Old Trafford.

Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting’s first and only season in the Premier League was a disaster. Signed from Schalke in the summer of 2017, the Cameroon international was expected to be Stoke City’s main source of goals after the departures of Marko Arnautovic and Bojan Krkic, but he netted just five times in his maiden campaign as the Potters dropped back down to English football’s second tier for the first time in 10 years.

Stoke then agreed to terminate Choupo-Moting’s contract as he sought a transfer overseas instead of staying on to toil in the Championship. In a quite incredible twist of fate, Paris Saint-Germain answered the forward’s prayers, snapping him up on a two-year deal. It was certainly a case of the stars aligning for Choupo-Moting, who was rescued from Stoke by his former manager at Mainz, Thomas Tuchel, at a time when he could have easily just faded into anonymity.

Choupo-Moting did little to justify PSG’s gamble over the next two years, though, scoring only nine goals while also producing one of the worst misses of all time in a Ligue 1 clash with Strasbourg. He did, though, fall upwards again after leaving Parc des Princes as a free agent in 2020 as he went on to join German giants Bayern Munich.

AC Milan spent heavily to try and secure a return to the Champions League in the summer of 2017, bringing in the likes of Leonardo Bonucci, Andre Silva, Hakan Calhanoglu and Frank Kessie. But more than a few eyebrows were raised when they also signed Fabio Borini on loan from Sunderland, with an obligation to buy for £5.2m.

Borini, who infamously scored just three goals across a dismal three-year stint at Liverpool, managed only two in 26 Premier League appearances for Sunderland in 2016-17 as they were relegated to the Championship. The Italian forward was one of the biggest flops the English top-flight had ever seen, and his arrival at San Siro was just seen as more evidence of Milan’s status as fallen giants.

Surprisingly, Borini was deployed as a full-back throughout his debut season, and racked up an impressive 10 goal contributions for the Rossoneri, but his minutes were dramatically reduced under Gennaro Gattuso in 2018-19. The ex-Liverpool man became the spare part most outsiders expected him to be, and Milan eventually cut ties by shipping him off to Hellas Verona in January 2020.

Real Madrid‘s capture of Julien Faubert was always going to be the No.1 entry on this list. For sheer ridiculousness, it’s likely that no transfer will ever top the Frenchman’s loan switch to Santiago Bernabeu from West Ham in January 2009.

An Achilles injury sidelined Faubert for the majority of his debut season at West Ham, and the versatile winger was in and out of the team halfway through his second when Madrid came calling. The Frenchman was given the opportunity of a lifetime out of the blue, but spectacularly failed to make the most of it.

Faubert played just twice for Madrid, appeared to fall asleep on the bench during a game, and missed training when he mistakenly thought he had the day off. Real had a €1.5m purchase option on the loanee, but baulked at that small fee when realising he had absolutely no business being at one of the world’s biggest clubs.