Is Bundesliga tax real? Ranking the last 35 Premier League signings from German’s top flight | OneFootball

Erling Haaland, Leon Bailey, Kai Havertz and Georginio Rutter all joined Premier League clubs from the Bundesliga.

Premier League clubs should proceed with caution when planning to open negotiations to sign a player from the Bundesliga. The track record of players coming from Germany to England is pretty horrendous. Of course, there are some players who manage to be a success. Just look at Erling Haaland, for example.

With Dominik Szoboszlai joining Liverpool and Moussa Diaby also linked with a move to Our League, we have ranked every Bundesliga signing from the last three Premier League seasons, not including the 2023 summer transfer window, so no Christopher Nkunku.

That also means success story Ilkay Gundogan and disappointment Henrikh Mkhitaryan do not feature in this list, because every player to move to the Premier League from the Bundesliga would be excessive, unnecessary, and quite frankly, far too much work.

35) Jean-Kevin Augustin (Leeds) Arguably the worst transfer of all time, this one.

Leeds signed Augustin on loan when they were in the Championship, including an obligation to buy if they were promoted. They were promoted, but due to the coronavirus pandemic, not until June, which was apparently past the deadline for meeting that obligation. They tried to wriggle their way out of paying the transfer fee but this one has gone to court, and has not gone in the Whites’ favour.

They ended up paying £40million for a player who played 48 minutes for them. Big yikes.

34) Georginio Rutter (Leeds) The bottom two on this list happen to be a pair of French strikers who joined Leeds. Take this as a sign, lads. Although, I don’t think Randal Kolo Muani fancies Plymouth Argyle away.

Why Leeds thought it was a good idea to invest over £35m in a 21-year-old with no Premier League experience and two goals in the Bundesliga that season when they were in the middle of a relegation battle is beyond everyone. A truly shambolic decision made by a mess of a board.

33) Jadon Sancho (Manchester United) Every time Sancho gets a mention on this website, it tends to be for all the wrong reasons. Unless you are Lewis Oldham, who backed the £73m Red Devils flop to be Erik ten Hag’s biggest success story.

After being chased by the club for over a year, Sancho has so far paid United back with a number of anonymous performances and has looked a shell of the man who notched 89 goal contributions for Borussia Dortmund in 104 Bundesliga appearances.

32) Ozan Kabak (Norwich) After an underwhelming loan spell with Liverpool, more on that soon, Kabak managed to get another bite at the Premier League cherry. This time, he helped Norwich get relegated.

31) Milot Rashica (Norwich) Norwich signed Kosovan forward Rashica in the same summer they brought in Kabak on loan. He joined after a decent spell at Werder Bremen, but he could not adapt to life in England and joined Galatasaray on loan last September after four Championship appearances. In the Premier League, Rashica scored once in 31 matches.

30) Kevin Mbabu (Fulham) This was a bizarre one. Fulham signed Mbabu for a measly £4m last July but sent him out on loan to Swiss side Servette in January after six Premier League appearances.

29) Wout Weghorst (Burnley) For a while, Burnley couldn’t be relegated. It was impossible. Their survival was inevitable. That was until big Wout Weghorst came along. Two goals in 20 league matches succumbed the Clarets to a year in the Championship. Twelve-million quid the big Dutchman cost them.

28) Ozan Kabak (Liverpool) Kabak received more laughs than praise during his time at Anfield.

27) Josh Sargent (Norwich) American international Sargent would be next to Rashica on this list if it wasn’t for a decent Championship season in a dysfunctional team. Norwich went down as Sargent scored two in 26 Premier League appearances, both of which came in the same game. 13 goals in the second tier last term shows he can have a future at Carrow Road, though.

26) Leon Bailey (Aston Villa) Signed from Bundesliga giants Bayer Leverkusen for a cool £25m in 2021, Bailey has failed to hit the heights expected of him. Injuries haven’t helped his cause, but you get the impression 2023/24 is his last chance to prove himself at Villa Park.

25) Naouirou Ahamada (Crystal Palace) Apparently, Ahamada played eight times in the Premier League after joining from Stuttgart for €12m in January. Thank the lord for Transfermarkt.

24) Ademola Lookman (Fulham) Lookman, like Kabak, features twice on this list. Also like the Turkish defender, both transfers from the Bundesliga were loans. The winger didn’t do much for Fulham and cost them a loan fee, whereas he did not for Leicester and had a more memorable spell at the King Power, which is why this move ranks a bit lower.

23) Chris Richards (Crystal Palace) Richards joined Palace last summer but failed to break into the first team thanks to the form of Marc Guehi and Joachim Andersen. He will need one or the other to get injured or leave to become a success at Selhurst Park.

22) Hee-chan Hwang (Wolves) You know what you will get from Hwang: lots of energy and a goal a month. Yep, that is about it.

21) Jean-Philippe Mateta (Crystal Palace) Mateta is similar to Hwang in the sense he is a striker who doesn’t score nearly enough. He offers a bit more all-round, mainly because he is massive. All in all, the Frenchman has been a bit of a disappointment at Selhurst Park after costing close to £10m.

20) Ademola Lookman (Leicester) Spent 21/22 with Leicester before returning to Atalanta. Lookman scored six in 26 Premier League games.

19) Omar Richards (Nottingham Forest) Richards got injured right away and has not played a single game. It only felt fair putting him middle of the road, pretty much.

18) Sasa Kalajdzic (Wolves) The same applies to Kalajdzic, who did his knee on his Wolves debut. Poor sod.

17) Demarai Gray (Everton) Everton got Gray for a measly £1.5m and he has been pretty average, if not below average for them. He has been better than £1.5m, mind.

16) Moussa Niakhate (Nottingham Forest) One of 400 signings made by Forest last season, French central defender Niakhate left Mainz, where he was captain, to take on his first challenge in England.

15) Orel Mangala (Nottingham Forest) Mangala joined from Stuttgart and managed two goal contributions in 27 league matches in 22/23. There is a decent player in there and he showed it every so often during his maiden year in Nottingham.

14) Marc Roca (Leeds) Struggled whenever he didn’t have Tyler Adams next to him and could not adapt to the physicality of Our League. Roca is decent enough on the ball and probably did just about enough to justify the £8m Leeds paid to sign him. Reports suggest he is off to Spanish club Real Betis after the Whites’ relegation.

13) Kevin Schade (Brentford) Doesn’t score or assist enough yet but Schade’s game goes further than that. Brentford paid around £20m to sign the 21-year-old from Freiburg and is the newest recruit on this list having played the second half of last season on loan with the Bees.

12) Timo Werner (Chelsea) The huge £50m fee Chelsea paid to sign Werner was definitely a waste of money. Saying that, he was not as bad as people make out.

11) Marcel Sabitzer (Manchester United) Signed on loan for the second half of last season, Sabitzer filled a gap for Erik ten Hag and barely put a foot wrong at Old Trafford.

10) Robin Koch (Leeds) Koch is decent in the air, alright on the ball, versatile, always available, but not the most convincing defender in the world. Links to Manchester United, Newcastle United and Roma suggest he is a half-decent player.

9) Armel Bella-Kotchap (Southampton) The young German impressed us early on after making the move from Vfl Bochum. After a strong start, the wheels fell off the Southampton bus and they were relegated. Bella-Kotchap would still be a decent signing for one of the Big Seven, but he is definitely not the finished product.

8) Stefan Ortega (Manchester City) City landed Ortega on a free transfer in the summer of 2022. As far as back-up goalkeepers go, the German is one of the best in the world.

7) Tyler Adams (Leeds) Leeds made some questionable signings last season, but Tyler Adams was a brilliant one. For every Rutter and Brenden Aaronson, there is an Adams and Willy Gnonto, as the famous saying goes.

The American international is bound to leave this summer. He is far too good for the Championship. Manchester United, Aston Villa and West Ham are reportedly interested.

6) Taiwo Awoniyi (Nottingham Forest) “I also think that Taiwo Awoniyi will score two league goals all season”. That is what this idiot said in our 22/23 pre-season predictions.

Awoniyi proved me wrong, scoring a very respectable 10 in 27. Six of those came in the last four Premier League matches of the season and went a very long way to keeping Forest in the top flight. In those final four fixtures, without former Union Berlin striker Awoniyi’s goals, the Reds would have got one point. But they did benefit from his goals and picked up eight from a possible 12.

5) Kai Havertz (Chelsea) Struggled when he joined, then scored the winning goal in a Champions League final, became even worse, but left for £65m. That goal and the fact Chelsea recouped the vast majority of the £72m for Havertz sees him as high as fifth. The standard is pretty bad, isn’t it?

4) Thiago (Liverpool) There are not many footballers on the planet better technically than Thiago. Unfortunately for him and Liverpool, he is always bloody injured. Despite this, Thiago has still been a good signing; especially considering the Reds only paid £20m to sign him from Bayern Munich.

3) Ibrahima Konate (Liverpool) Continuing with the Liverpool trend, their £36m signing of Konate from Leipzig has been a very, very good one. Like Thiago, he does have his injury troubles, but he is definitely not as unlucky in that department as his Spanish teammate.

Konate and Virgil van Dijk have formed a very good partnership and if they can stay fit all season, Liverpool should finish inside the top four of the Premier League in 23/24.

2) Manuel Akanji (Manchester City) Nobody really expected much from Akanji when he joined from Bundesliga giants Borussia Dortmund but proved to everyone he is a top-class defender in his first 12 months at Manchester City.

The Swiss international played superbly as a central defender and even more impressively as a left-back. It turns out having out-and-out defenders in the full-back role makes you impossible to beat.

1) Erling Haaland (Manchester City) City should do business with Dortmund more often. Akanji has been excellent, Ilkay Gundogan’s £21m move in 2016 turned out to be one of the best signings in the club’s history, and Haaland has been…ridiculously impressive.