The Premier League has long been a championship avoided by the biggest Spanish players, in the nineties of the last century very few Italians like Gianluca Vialli, Gianfranco Zola, Nicola Berti, Pierluigi Casiraghi...
Times have changed - the Premier League is no longer a league of brawlers but of masters - but the English media have been reminded of what strikers have not made it to the Island in the 21st century. The names are out of line, but the fans in England did not see from them what they expected and what they were brought in for.
The tabloid "San" thus compiled a list of 11 football players who, as stated, defrauded Premier League clubs.
MISTAKES OF FERGI AND BENITES
Diego Forlan was in Manchester United from January 2002 to the summer of 2004 after excellent games in the Argentinian Independiente.
Sir Alex Ferguson was believed to have brought in a new big star, but Forlan's episode in England was infamous. It took him 34 games to score his first goal, in four seasons he scored 17 times in all competitions.
In the summer of 2004, he moved to Villarreal and from that moment he started to show class. The Uruguayan later played with great success in Atlético Madrid, for years he was considered one of the best strikers in Europe.
The productive years in the Real Madrid shirt were the best recommendation for Rafael Benitez to bring Fernando Morientes to Liverpool in January 2005. However, it was a mistake - the Spaniard was unrecognizable for a season and a half at "Anfield".
Only nine goals in 45 games say that Morientes in Liverpool was not the real Morientes...
PREDATORS FROM SERIES A
Two natural goalscorers, footballers who "turned the game around" in Serie A - Ernan Crespo and Andriy Shevchenko - were only cameos in the Premier League. How?
In the summer of 2003, Crespo left Inter and became part of the rich Chelsea, but only 12 months later he was loaned to Milan. The Argentine then returned to London, with a slightly bigger role than before, but that was not it. After Chelsea, he spent three years at Inter again, where he proved that the environment of the Premier League simply did not suit him.
Shevchenko won everything in Milan, including the Ballon d'Or, but the moment to go to Chelsea was not ideal, it happened when the Ukrainian was slowly leaving the biggest stage.
He tried to end his troubles at Stamford by returning to the Rossoneri, but he did not make a name for himself in his second term in the City of Fashion.
THE SLAVE'S MISTAKE AND THE TIGER'S FAILURE
The story of Robinho and Manchester City has been told many times. When the Brazilian was leaving Real, he thought he was going to Chelsea (that was his wish for the whole summer of 2008), until he found out on the plane that his final destination was Manchester.
It turned out that the "citizens" made a better offer, that Real Robinja didn't ask anything...
Nothing suited Robin at the Etihad, so after two seasons he changed club, city and country - in August 2010, he signed for Milan.
"The tiger turned into a shy kitten" - that's how the English media described Radamel Falka's performance in the Premier League. He was in England twice (Manchester United, then Chelsea), but was so unconvincing on the pitch that the island's journalists wondered if he was the same man who scored so many goals for Porto and Atletico Madrid.
The popular Tigar scored only five times while playing for the "devils" and "blues".
DUCK, PIPITA, SOLDIER...
Chelsea again and again - miss. More precisely, two - Alejandro Pato, then Gonzalo Higuain.
The Brazilian made Europe crazy playing for Internacional and was a big enough talent that Milan spent 2007 million euros for him towards the end of 24.
There was everything in his career, he returned to his homeland as a young man, he was also in China (he is now in Sao Paolo), while the period in Chelsea is almost imperceptible.
The popular Patak was loaned to the Blues by Corinthians, scored one goal from the penalty spot and that was it - Chelsea decided not to buy him after the six-month contract expired.
And Higuain? He left Juventus on loan at Chelsea believing that Maurizio Sarri would revive his career. He didn't succeed before that in Milan, and he didn't succeed at "Stamford" either, so he is again a striker for Juve. And working with Sari again...
In 2013, Tottenham wanted to use the money from the sale of Gareth Bale to build a big team, but the then manager Andre Villas Boas missed with almost all the reinforcements.
Among them was Robert Soldado, whose last name means soldier in Spanish. He wasn't a Spurs soldier, far from it - he stayed for two seasons before returning to his homeland...
SHEVCHENKO IS NOT THE ONLY UKRAINIAN
Twenty years ago, transfers of 15-20 million euros were not a common occurrence. And even 18 million was spent by Tottenham to bring the star of Dinamo from Kyiv - Sergej Rebrov.
The Premier League then "swallowed up" the Ukrainian, and when the London club took over Glen Hoddle in the second part of the season, the door to the first team was closed to him.
He also tried at West Ham, which was in the Championship at the time, but Rebrov looked more like the player who worked wonders in Dynamo in tandem with Shevchenko.
The English climate didn't get the best out of Alvaro Morata either, another striker who didn't make it to Chelsea. Morata struggled in the blue jersey for two seasons, 24 goals did not justify the 66 million euros invested by Antonio Conte to bring him from Real Madrid.
He is now at Atlético, but he is still a Chelsea player until the Colcconeros buy out his contract on July 1, which is a matter of formality.
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