12 Players With The Best Debut Seasons At Premier League Clubs (Ranked) | OneFootball

Highlights

Pause

Unmute

Current Time 0:00

/

Duration 2:27

Loaded: 2.02%

There is always a sense of trepidation when a footballer from overseas is brought to the Premier League for the first time. It's a well-known fact that some players take time to get used to the pace and physicality of the division, and it's common that those who have shone elsewhere in Europe fail to ever adjust to English top-flight football. Look at players like Andriy Shevchenko, who only managed nine goals in two seasons after Chelsea broke the British transfer record to sign him from AC Milan in 2006.

On the flip side of that coin, some players waste absolutely no time settling in and can take to their new surroundings like a duck to water. Here at GIVEMESPORT, we thought we'd pick 12 of the most impressive debut seasons in Premier League history and decide who had the best one, from worst to best.

12 Michu

Michu earned cult hero status for his first season in the Premier League. He was almost a complete unknown in English football when he made the switch from Rayo Vallecano to Swansea City in 2012 for just £2m.

The Spanish forward scored twice on his debut and ended the season with 18 league goals as the Welsh side won the League Cup and exceeded expectations in the league with a ninth-place finish. Michu's performances saw him voted Player of the Year by both his teammates and the Swansea supporters.

11 Ole Gunnar Solskjaer

In the summer of 1996, as it became clear that Alan Shearer was going to turn down Manchester United, in favour of a move to their title rivals Newcastle United, Sir Alex Ferguson knew he would have to look elsewhere for reinforcements to his attacking options. He eventually settled on the relatively unknown Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

The Red Devils dished out just £1.5m to sign the 23-year-old from his native Norway, where he had been banging in the goals for Molde. To the surprise of many, he was able to immediately carry over that goalscoring form into the Premier League and finished as United's top scorer for the season, with 18 in the league to help his side win their fourth title in five seasons.

10 Ruud van Nistelrooy

Ruud van Nistelrooy was another foreign striker signed by Manchester United who managed to hit the ground running. His pedigree was a lot more known than that of Solskjaer's upon his arrival at Old Trafford, but the Dutchman still had to bounce back from an ACL injury that had put him out of action for nine months and delayed his transfer by a year.

Van Nistelrooy showed no signs of rustiness and immediately began to bang the goals in for United, scoring twice on his league debut. He ended his first season in England with 36 goals in 49 appearances and was named the PFA Players' Player of the Year.

9 Fernando Torres

Fernando Torres may not have helped Liverpool to a trophy, but there was still an extraordinary level of excitement after his first season at Anfield. After breaking through at an early age with Atletico Madrid, he was brought to the Premier League by Rafael Benitez for a then club-record fee in 2007.

After quickly forming a strong partnership with club icon Steven Gerrard, the Spaniard immediately hit the ground running. Torres ended his first year on Merseyside as the first Liverpool player in 12 years to score 20 league goals in a season and also became the most prolific foreign goalscorer in a debut campaign in England.

8 Diego Costa

After a challenging start to his playing career, Diego Costa finally found his stride in his final season at Atletico Madrid, scoring 36 goals as his side managed to win La Liga and reach the final of the Champions League. The forward was rewarded with a £32m move to Chelsea, where he was expected to be the leading striker as the Blues challenged for their first league title in five years.

Costa managed to live up to the billing, as well as antagonise almost every team he came up against with his aggression and wind-up tactics. His 20 goals in the league helped Chelsea win their fourth Premier League title, and their third under Jose Mourinho.

7 Jaap Stam

We move to the opposite end of the pitch now with gifted centre-back Jaap Stam. After the departure of Gary Pallister in the summer, Sir Alex Ferguson replaced him with the Dutchman, breaking the world transfer record for a defender in the process.

Stam looked to be the final piece in the jigsaw of a dominant Manchester United side who stormed their way to a historic treble. He made 51 appearances in all competitions and would spend three years at Old Trafford before he was sold in 2001, a decision Ferguson later admitted he regretted.

6 Jens Lehmann

Arsenal signing Jens Lehmann in 2003 was another necessary defensive addition that led to a record-breaking campaign. The experienced goalkeeper was seen as the successor to the legendary David Seaman, who had departed Highbury that summer.

In Lehmann's debut season in North London, the Gunners became only the second team in English football to go an entire league campaign unbeaten. The German played all 38 league matches, keeping 15 clean sheets and only letting in 26 goals, and proved to be a bargain acquisition at just £3m.

5 Kevin Phillips

Kevin Phillips is a unique name on this list as he is the only player who had previously played in the English pyramid, but never has a striker made the step up from second tier to Premier League football look so effortless. After a successful promotion campaign, during which Phillips scored 25 goals, Sunderland were tipped by many to struggle back in the top flight.

However, the Black Cats defied all the odds to finish in seventh place, just outside the UEFA Cup places. This was largely aided by the 'little and large' forward partnership of Niall Quinn and Phillips, with the latter bagging 30 goals in his first Premier League campaign, making him the first ever Englishman to win the European Golden Shoe.

4 Gianfranco Zola

A true testament to how much Gianfranco Zola impressed in his first season on English soil was that he won the FWA Player of the Year award despite only joining Chelsea in November. After dazzling in Italy with Napoli and Parma, Ruud Gullit managed to bring the talented forward to West London for £4.5m.

His wizardry and tendency for the spectacular lit up games and his name stands out within the first generation of world-class foreign exports to the Premier League. Zola ended his first campaign at Stamford Bridge with 12 goals in all competitions and helped the Blues win the FA Cup, their first major honour in 26 years.

3 Sergio Aguero

Sergio Aguero was one of the hottest names in Europe when Manchester City shelled out £35m to sign him from Atletico Madrid in 2011. Despite still only being 23, he was seen as having the necessary firepower to earn City their first league title of the Sheikh Mansour era.

They were right in that assessment as the Argentinian scored 23 league goals in his first season in England. His last-gasp winner against QPR on the final day of the season to snatch the league trophy away from their arch rivals Man United is arguably the most iconic moment in Premier League history.

2 N'Golo Kante

Leicester City's shock title victory in 2015/16 is the stuff of Premier League legend and one of the crucial events that led them to pulling it off was the signing of N'Golo Kante. As a hidden gem unearthed by scout Steve Walsh, who had also spotted Riyad Mahrez, the defensive midfielder was signed in the summer for just £5.6m.

Kante's relentless energy and outstanding tackling and interceptions made him an integral part of the Foxes' squad, and he played all but one of the league matches as they managed to pull off the impossible. Having made the PFA Team of the Year, he was signed by Chelsea the following summer for almost six times what Leicester paid for him.

1 Erling Haaland

Everyone remembers the scrutiny Erling Haaland was under when he washed up onto England's shores in the summer of 2022. His goalscoring record for a 22-year-old was frightening, but people questioned whether his poacher playstyle would be enough to make him truly effective in Pep Guardiola's set-up at Manchester City.

The Norweigan silenced those doubters almost immediately with two hat-tricks in his first month of Premier League football. He would go on to smash the record for most goals in a Premier League season with 36, and finished with 52 in 53 games in all competitions as the Citizens won the Treble.