Alexis Sánchez and six other stars who moved and flopped | OneFootball

Sometimes things just don’t work out, even for the biggest names in football. You get a big money move, then, for some inexplicable reason, it all falls apart.

Sound familiar?

Alexis Sánchez made his first Premier League start under Ole Gunnar Solksjaer on Sunday but looked a shadow of his former self up until he was subbed off for Anthony Martial in the second half.

Here are a few others who have changed clubs for big money and failed to deliver.

Fernando Torres

The most obvious name on the list.

Torres scored 33 goals in his first Liverpool season, a club record until Mohamed Salah came along. The Spaniard was also the fastest player to ever reach 50 league goals for the Reds.

He had scored Liverpool 81 goals in 142 appearances by the time he left Liverpool for Chelsea in a British record deal worth £50m.

He didn’t score for 903 minutes and ended his first half season at Chelsea with one in 18 appearances. Once feared by defenders everywhere, El Niño was never the same again.

Ángel Di María

The best player on the pitch in the 2014 Champions League final.

A new Manchester United player for a British record fee of £59.7m just four months later.

Out of Old Trafford after 12 months and widely considered a flop.

What a fall from grace.

Andriy Shevchenko

What is it with Chelsea and strikers?

Shevchenko had easily been one of the world’s leading strikers for years at Milan, so his arrival at Stamford Bridge would surely mean goals?

Signed for £30.8million (€43.875m) just shy of his 30th birthday, the Ukrainian was one of the all-time Premier League disappointments.

It soon became clear that things wouldn’t work out in west London and Shevchenko scored just nine times in 48 league games.

Nicolas Anelka

What could have been!

Anelka won plenty in his career, he can’t be considered a failure, but his time at Real Madrid was a huge let down.

After breaking through as a teenager at Arsenal, Real Madrid briefly made Anelka the world’s most expensive player by spending £22.3m on him. The Frenchman, still just 20, waited five months for his first Madrid goal.

He left the club after just one season and with just four goals under his belt.

Anelka went on to play for Liverpool and was an important part of a successful Chelsea side but he didn’t come close to fulfilling his potential.

Dennis Bergkamp

Before going on to become a legend at Arsenal, Bergkamp was considered a £7.1m (€11.25m) flop in Italy.

After winning the Uefa Cup with Ajax, Bergkamp was signed by Inter to inspire a new era at the club. However, he couldn’t fit into their drab style.

The Dutch forward scored 22 goals in 74 games for the Italian side, netting just 11 times in Serie A, before he was sold to Arsenal in 1995.

The rest is history.

Arda Turan

One of the star turns of Atlético Madrid’s title-winning side in 2014, Arda agreed a move to Barcelona.

Thanks a transfer ban on the Catalan club, he had to wait half a season for his debut. It wasn’t worth it.

He’s still technically contracted to Barcelona but has been with İstanbul Başakşehir since the start of last season.

Arda hasn’t rediscovered his old form there, unfortunately, and is now facing a potential 12-year jail term for a nightclub altercation.

So who’s next?

Alexis Sánchez isn’t suddenly a bad player. His talent hasn’t disappeared. But something’s up.

Maybe it’s just the natural decline of a 30-year-old, perhaps he really just needs a change of scenery.

Philippe Coutinho is in danger of making a list like this one day too if he doesn’t find his feet at Barcelona.

Let’s hope, for their sakes, they turn things around.