5 Worst Players in Premier League History (Ranked) | OneFootball

Since the Premier League began in 1992, we have been treated to some fantastic players.

Peter Schmeichel, John Terry, Cristiano Ronaldo and Thierry Henry are just a few players to have taken the league by storm.

But, there have also been plenty of players at the opposite end of the spectrum. Whether it be expensive signings who have failed or gambles on unproven players, there have been some truly horrendous footballers to grace the Premier League.

It's time to find out who the worst five Premier League players of all time are.

5 Jozy Altidore

The American forward has enjoyed relatively impressive spells at clubs such as MLS outfit Toronto after leaving England, but, his numbers in the Premier League are, quite frankly, appalling.

While he possessed the raw attributes needed to succeed in the English game, he was grossly unable to put them to any consistent use. In 69 Premier League appearances, Altidore managed just two goals.

It is worth noting that he only played for struggling Hull City and Sunderland sides, but that return in front of goal isn't good enough. As mentioned, he has shown he can be a useful player, but he certainly wasn't that in the Premier League.

4 Junior Lewis

Junior Lewis was an English central midfielder who never scored or assisted in the Premier League.

He was a gangly player, very awkward on the ball, and is arguably Leicester City's worst-ever player. That takes some doing, and worst of all is the fact that very few people could make a case for him not winning those unwanted awards.

In total, Lewis made just 21 appearances in the Premier League and failed to impress to any degree in all of them.

3 Savio

The German wonderkid that never was.

West Ham signed Savio shortly after selling Craig Bellamy to Manchester City, with The Guardian revealing they broke their transfer record to sign the striker for approximately £9 million.

Despite Savio scoring just three goals in Serie B at this point in his career, he had just been named player of the tournament in the under-19 European Championship and there was cautious optimism concerning his potential to improve.

That, however, did not happen and Savio ended his Premier League career with just 10 appearances and failed to score or assist in any of them. The forward now plays for German non-league side BSC Sendling Munchen.

2 Massimo Taibi

According to The Mirror, Manchester United and Sir Alex Ferguson signed Taibi on the recommendation of Ferguson's brother - possibly the worst transfer decision they ever made.

The Italian's career started surprisingly well at United after he earned himself the Man of the Match award for his performance in a 3-2 win against Liverpool.

However, that was his one and only good performance in a Man United shirt. He later produced an absolute howler of a goalkeeping error to let a Matt Le Tissier strike through his legs and was also on the pitch for Chelsea's 5-0 thrashing of the Red Devils in 1999.

four appearances, keeping a grand total of zero clean sheets.

1 Ali Dia

And finally, the worst Premier League player of all time is... Ali Dia. Of course, it is, who else could be?

The story of how Dia's Premier League career began is objectively hilarious. It involves a friend of the striker's calling the then Southampton manager Graeme Souness and, disguised as the great George Weah, recommending 'his cousin' for a trial. It was a piece of deception that somehow worked.

Despite obviously being terrible during his trial, the Saints had an injury crisis, and he found himself on the bench come the weekend. A dreadful substitute appearance followed, and he never played for the club again.

Souness discussed this with Sky Sports back in 2020, revealing: "When Matt got injured, he came off and this guy came on. He was everywhere the ball had just been. It was as if he'd never been on a football pitch before.

"The story goes that we were kidded and conned by people, but that's not true. We decided on him within the first five minutes, but it's a good story. It's all Matt's fault for getting injured."