Eden Hazard, Philippe Coutinho and Tanguy Ndombele all flopped after arriving at their respective clubs for record transfer fees – while there has been some success stories
Nicolas Pepe has agreed a move to Turkish outfit Trabzonspor from Arsenal – just four years since becoming the Gunners’ record signing for £72million.
The 28-year-old arrived from Lille in 2019 after impressing in Ligue 1. However, it is safe to say he has not lived up to expectations following his big-money switch. Pepe scored 27 times in 112 appearances during his time at the Gunners and he has now left on a permanent deal for around £3m.
But Pepe is not the only record signing to have flopped in the Premier League or across Europe. Several players have become the most expensive recruit and not gone on to achieve what was expected, such as Phillippe Coutinho at Barcelona and Eden Hazard when he was at Real Madrid.
So, with that in mind, Mirror Football have taken a look at the record arrivals from the top-10 most valuable football clubs in the world – and a glance at the previous most expensive signings, too.