The World Cup is over and attention now turns to the transfer window as clubs race to get deals done before the start of the new season.

Lighting up the biggest tournament in world football is a proven way of securing a big-money move to another team.

England defender Harry Maguire was the Three Lions’ surprise package at Russia 2018 and is now being touted for a move to some of the Premier League’s elite.

Pony-tailed centre-half Domagoj Vida is being linked with Liverpool and West Ham after guiding Croatia to the final as they slipped to defeat to France.

His team-mate, Ivan Perisic, may have played his way back into Jose Mourinho’s good books and looks to have earned a place back on his transfer wishlist at Manchester United.

READ MORE: Thierry Henry already offered three jobs following Sky Sports exit

READ MORE: Revealed – The hidden meaning behind Man United’s new kit

Russia exceeded expectations on home soil and their golden boy, Aleksandr Golovin, is the subject of interest from London giants Arsenal and Chelsea.

History suggests most players signed off the back of their performances at a World Cup don’t succeed at their new clubs.

But directors of football and managers still find the possibility of plucking those unknowns into the bright lights of Europe’s top leagues just too tempting, especially as their scouting costs were just a TV licence.

Here are some examples of players who basically earned their entire career off the back of six weeks in the summer and some others who pretty much ruined their careers as a result of a post-World Cup move. Let this be a warning to anyone going to Russia hoping for a big move.

Winners

Philippe Albert

As a caveat, let me just clarify that it was much, much, much easier to find players who had flopped massively after earning a post-World Cup move than it was to find success but there have been a few and we start in Newcastle. How many players can say they earned a chant from the supporters to the tune of Rupert the Bear? Just one; Philippe Albert.

Albert earned a £2.6m move from Anderlecht to Newcastle off the back of his performances for Belgium at the 1994 World Cup in the USA. He was an instant hit thanks to his tendencies to abandon his post at centre-back and wander forward and after scoring a delightful 20-yard chip over Peter Schmeichel during that 5-0 defeat of Manchester United in 1996 cemented his cult hero stats on Tyneside forever.

Rio Ferdinand

Already a known quantity in England after impressing at Leeds following his £18m move from West Ham two years prior, Rio Ferdinand’s performances for the Three Lions at the 2002 World Cup in Japan and South Korea ultimately convinced Alex Ferguson to part with £30m for the 23-year-old, making him the world’s most expensive defender for the second time in two years.

To say he was a success at Old Trafford is an understatement; he won 13 trophies at Manchester United, including the Premier League title six times and the Champions League. Such a shame he marred it all by introducing the work ‘merk’ to the universal lexicon.

Fergie didn’t always get it right though – the less said about Kleberson (see the inset of the main image) – the better after the Brazilian flopped following his 2002 World Cup win.

Marcelo Salas

I really wanted to include Roberto Baggio here and it’s true that his performances at World Cup 1990 in his home country helped convince Juventus to pay Fiorentina £8m for his services, a move that saw riots on the streets of Florence given their hate for Juve. But he was already known in Italy, having come second behind Marco van Basten in the goalscoring charts in 1989.

SLIDESHOW: The 32 star players for every World Cup nation (Click image below)

Marcelo Salas’ move to Italy in 1998, meanwhile, truly was off the back of a lot of goals that summer. He had already scored 11 goals for Chile in qualifying as they made it to their first World Cup in 16 years and then banged in four goals in four matches in France. After his £18m move to Lazio off the back of those performances he couldn’t stop scoring, hitting 23 in his first season in Italy and 17 in his next as he helped Lazio win their first Serie A title since 1974 as well as the UEFA Super Cup, Coppa Italia and Supercoppa Italiana.

Losers

Marcos Rojo

Marcos Rojo did offer some clues to Manchester United that he may not be a brilliant defender; his rabona clearance against Bosnia in Argentina’s 2014 World Cup group stage game a case in point. United ignored the evidence and signed him anyway but it hasn’t worked out.

A string of injuries haven’t helped – with Rojo missing 500 days already since joining four years ago – but you know you’e in dire straits when Louis van Gaal starts picking 16-year-olds ahead of you. Jose Mourinho doesn’t seem to be a massive fan either – although he does appear to admire his nasty streak.

Stephane Guivarc’h

Everything about Stephane Guivarc’h’s 1998 move to Newcastle was weird; the fact that despite winning the World Cup with France that summer he didn’t score a single goal despite being basically their only recognised striker in the squad; the fact that Newcastle already had a target man in his mould by the name of Alan Shearer; then there was that funny little, random apostrophe in his last name.

Guivarc’h did score goals in France, but it just never happened in England. He lasted just four games at St James’ Park, despite scoring on his debut, and was shipped to Rangers where he won the SPL title before being sent back to France after one disappointing year in Britain. He now sells swimming pools in Brittany.

Oleg Salenko

Another man who played for Rangers features in our list of World Cup transfer flops and it’s Oleg Salenko. The Russian was joint top scorer at the 1994 World Cup and the fact that five of his six goals came in one game against Cameroon as they went out in the group stage, while Hristo Stoichkov had to single handily drag his nation to the quarter-finals surely will have annoyed the famously short-fused Bulgarian.

Anyway, Salenko’s goals earned him a move to Valencia in Spain but he never hit the ground running. A move to Rangers a year later for £2.5m followed but he fared even worse there where he dubbed the SPL “boring” and claimed he only moved because he thought they could win the Champions League. Oh, Oleg.