Ranked: The 10 worst Premier League signings of the season so far

As we enter the second international break of the campaign the 2017/18 Premier League season has begun to settle into its rhythm, and after ten matches there is enough evidence to confidently assess the successes and failures of all 20 clubs.

It is also a good time to take a closer look at some of the new additions following another record-breaking summer transfer window. A total of £1.4 billion was spent – and unsurprisingly not all of this money was invested wisely.

It is far too early to write-off any new signings currently playing badly (it takes time to settle at a new club), but nevertheless there are some who, for such a large fee, are clearly not working out.

Here are ten of the worst Premier League signings this season…

10) Renato Sanches (Swansea City, loan)

The story of Renato Sanches’s career reads like an allegory for modern football’s alarming obsession with teenagers and how callously it treats them. So far this season Sanchez has looked utterly lost at the heart of a Premier League midfield, which is entirely understandable given the 20-year-old has played fewer than 50 senior matches in his career.

Sanches has been dispossessed more frequently (4.8 per 90 minutes) than any other Premier League player this season; he just isn’t mature enough to play for a struggling Premier League side. Both Swansea and Bayern Munich should end this deal in January and offer the youngster a chance to develop in Portugal.

9) Davide Zappacosta (Chelsea, £23 million)

Antonio Conte’s backup right wing-back will take great confidence from his relatively assured performance in the 1-0 victory over Manchester United last weekend, but this is hardly enough to shake the feeling he is a second-rate footballer. Zappacosta wasn’t cheap, and so far it looks as though he cannot deputise effectively for Victor Moses; right wing-back is fast becoming Chelsea’s most vulnerable area.

The Italian is featuring more frequently as the season progresses and is unlikely to start many matches once Moses is back from injury. However, his competent but uninspiring performances leave us questioning why Chelsea spent so much money on the 25-year-old.

8) Jay Rodriguez (West Bromwich Albion, £12 million)

Tony Pulis is enduring a very difficult season at West Brom as his attempts to make them a more attractive side continue to fail. Rodriguez has failed to impress so far despite scoring twice in the league, largely because he does not have the support from team-mates to exploit his technical ability or speed. He is quite clearly a bad fit for the club.

Rodriguez has played almost every minute of the season so far, which is great news given his injury history, but watching him play under Pulis is a jarring experience. Here is a talented footballer who would flourish in a quick, counter-attacking side, but instead he cuts an isolated figure and must endure constantly being shunted into different roles as Pulis works out how best to utilise him. Rodriguez should get better over time, but only when Pulis leaves.

7) Sandro Ramirez (Everton, £5.25 million)

One of several Everton signings who are a victim of circumstance, Sandro doesn’t deserve to shoulder this much responsibility; Everton should have reinvested some of the Romelu Lukaku money in an established striker, rather than expect great things from a 22-year-old with only one full season of senior football under his belt.

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Sandro has only started one game so far for the Toffees and is yet to score. More significantly, his strength-based playing style isn’t suited to Everton or the demands of the modern lone striker, which suggests he will never make a good foil for all those playmakers. It would be a big surprise if this deal ever works out.

6) Davy Klaassen (Everton, £23.6 million)

You can’t blame the Toffees’ new Dutch playmaker for failing to impress this season. After all, Klaassen, signed in mid-June from Ajax, probably didn’t expect Ronald Koeman to keep signing central attacking midfielders after his arrival. Wayne Rooney, Gylfi Sigurdsson, and Nikola Vlasic have thus far restricted Klaassen to just 190 minutes of Premier League football.

Klaassen is the sort of elegant but slight playmaker who will take time to adjust to life in England and, like Christian Eriksen, might be a star player within the next 18 months. But right now he is the poster boy for Everton’s bizarrely lopsided recruitment strategy and woeful start to the 2017/18 campaign.

5) Victor Lindelof (Manchester United, £31 million)

In September Jose Mourinho made it clear there was “no pressure” on his new Swedish centre-back following his continued absence from the starting eleven, but unfortunately this is no longer the case after his disastrous league debut in the 2-1 defeat to Huddersfield Town. Two errors within ten minutes of coming on left the 23-year-old looking woefully out of his depth.

Lindelof was more assured in United’s 2-0 EFL Cup win three days later, but he hasn’t even made the bench for their two subsequent league matches.

4) Jermain Defoe (Bournemouth, free)

This always looked like an odd signing, and so it has proved to be. Eddie Howe’s possession-based football doesn’t suit traditional poachers like Defoe, who at 35 is unable to adapt his game to suit the Cherries. In fact, Defoe has completely thrown Bournemouth off their rhythm; he has been playing up front alongside Joshua King, leaving Howe’s team struggling without a third central midfielder in the team.

Defoe has only netted once for his new club in ten matches and Bournemouth have won four points from the six games in which he has started. Tellingly, the former England striker has only started once since September, against Chelsea – and was withdrawn at half-time.

3) Roque Mesa (Swansea City, £11 million)

There isn’t much to say about Roque Mesa because we’ve hardly seen him in action. The Spaniard has been one of the most under-rated defensive midfielders in La Liga over the last two seasons for Las Palmas but has struggled to adapt to the English game thus far.

Mesa has only started once, in a 4-0 defeat to Manchester United in August in which he failed to complete a single defensive action; zero tackles, zero interceptions, zero clearances, and zero blocks.

2) Jairo Riedewald (Crystal Palace, £8 million)

Sadly for Riedewald, he is already the emblem of a failed experiment. Weighed down by the weight of Frank de Boer’s ill-fated tenure in charge of Palace, the 21-year-old Ajax graduate hasn’t started a match since the opening day of the season, when a 3-0 defeat at home to Huddersfield Town led to De Boer ruthlessly axing his marquee signing.

Riedewald is a possession-first defender – not unlike John Stones – and is highly regarded in his home country. In time, there is no reason why the Dutchman cannot be a big success in England, but for now relegation-threatened Palace cannot afford to risk nurturing a young centre-back. A loan move in January wouldn’t be a surprise.

1) Marko Arnautovic (West Ham United, £20 million)

No footballer symbolises their club more perfectly than Arnautovic. A lazy footballer who only intermittently shows class, the Austrian international is overpriced, overrated, and lacks any of the strong mental attributes needed to play in such a hostile stadium. He is the epitome of the club’s poor management and appalling transfer strategy.

Arnautovic is yet to record a goal or assist in 370 minutes of league football for the Hammers and completes a paltry 0.7 key passes per game – ranking him 94^th in the Premier League. Nobody quite knows why West Ham thought Arnautovic was worth £20 million, and David Moyes certainly won’t be able to work it out. His preference for hard-working, defensively-solid footballers makes Arnautovic the polar opposite of what Moyes is looking for.