Transfer Steals/Busts 15/16

[yoplait]

Thought it would be fun to look back at the season that was and see what transfers worked and which flopped in the 2015/2016 season.

I'll start us off with two of the biggest Serie A transfers:

Steal:
Paulo Dybala - Juventus
At €32m euros, it would be hard to qualify someone as a steal after only a year. However, I think Dybala more than fits the bill. With 19G and 9A, Dybala was the engine of the Juventus attack. He for sure raised his market price, and should garner Juventus a hefty gain on eventual sale.

Bust:
Geoffrey Kondogbia - Inter Milan
At €31m, he was unable to break his way onto the start XI. He was often overlooked for the likes of Gary Medel and Felipe Melo. I could end it at Felipe Melo, but to reinforce, he had 1G and 1A all season, and looked like he never adjusted. While he is still young and there is time for him to right the ship, it will have to be sooner rather than later, or I can't see him staying in Milan for too much longer.

So, who do you guys have as your 15/16 steals and busts?

Click to read more...

 

[les Habs]

Bust:

Arda Turan

 

[Cucumber]

Steal: Martial

Bust: Depay

Across Europe

Steals: Di maria, Hernadez, Vidal, Kante, Payet

Busts: Benteke, Sterling, Pedro, Turan, Danilo,

 

[Evilo]

Kondogbia actually got much better by the end of the year.

 

[Deficient Mode]

Spending that much on Kondogbia was a mistake to begin with. I won't include loans in my list.

Bundesliga steals:
Julian Weigl - €2.5M and immediately became one of the best midfielders in the Bundesliga.

Chicharito - €12M transfer. A perfect fit for Leverkusen's attack and the fourth highest goal tally in the Bundesliga this season. Not easy to find a top class striker for that price.

Mitchell Weiser - Free. Arguably the best full-time RB in the league this season and a key part of Hertha's surprising run.

Busts:
Josip Drmic - €10M. Barely played at Gladbach and has already left the club. Weird transfer.

Julian Draxler - €36M. Kind of harsh as I think he had an ok season domestically and very good season in the CL, but for he wasn't able to replace de Bruyne's value or really justify the money Wolfsburg spent on him. Part of that is the context at Wolfsburg and things he couldn't control but alas.

 

[Chimaera]

11 goals is all it takes for potentially 58 million pounds to be a steal?


Shane Long had one less in way less time and he only cost 12 million a season ago. Is he a steal?

The definition of bust and a steal is really subjective. It's pretty much impossible for a guy who you paid 35+ million pounds for to be a steal. Whereas, a bust is pretty easy to judge if you're blowing 20+ million for them. Sure, it's possible for a guy you pay that much for to be so. I guess one could argue that Suarez, for the value, and for what he puts in goal wise might be a steal. But it's very hard to justify that claim.

 

[Luigi Habs]

Steal: Martial

Bust: Depay

Across Europe

Steals: Di maria, Hernadez, Vidal, Kante, Payet

Busts: Benteke, Sterling, Pedro, Turan, Danilo,

Lmao @ Martial. Sure he had a good season but given the price tag this would have been the least expected, anything else and it would have been a bust.

Vidal is not a steal, it was fair price with what was expected of him.

Benteke definitely a bust along with the names already mentioned. Kondogbia can definitely be considered a bust although he's been much better at the last stretch of the season.

 

[Blender]

Kante was easily the biggest steal.

 

[cgf]

Some more great values from the BuLi to add to DM's list.

-Lars Stindl was a great value buy at 3M.
-Darida was pivotal in Hertha's break through campaign for less than 4M.
-Muto was excellent value for Mainz at less than 3M.
-Gregoritsch was 3M well spent for HSV.
-Philipp Max was a nice get for Augburg at under 4M.
-Hoffenheim will eventually sell Schar for a lot more than the 4M they spent on him last summer.
-Schalke's 5M for Schopf was money well spent
-The 7.5M spent on Tah may be the best value of the year, even over Weigl.
-Kimmich for 8.5M was also an excellent value for FCB.

 

[East Coast Bias]

EPL only

Steals

Payet, Kante, Van Dijk, Alderweireld

Busts

Baba, Pedro, Sterling, Benteke, Memphis

 

[Chimaera]

I mean, James Milner, since he was free, is kinda a steal.

But the wages they had to give would make it a bit tough to sell.

In my book, a steal is a player who played like someone worth double or more than their value. If that can be said, it's a good chance they were a steal.

 

[Deficient Mode]

Some more great values from the BuLi to add to DM's list.

-Lars Stindl was a great value buy at 3M.
-Darida was pivotal in Hertha's break through campaign for less than 4M.
-Muto was excellent value for Mainz at less than 3M.
-Gregoritsch was 3M well spent for HSV.
-Philipp Max was a nice get for Augburg at under 4M.
-Hoffenheim will eventually sell Schar for a lot more than the 4M they spent on him last summer.

Oh yeah I forgot about Stindl and Darida. Both of them were great value. I might have included Bürki as well but I adjusted for how the German goalkeeping market seems to be, where you can apparently get a very good keeper for €5-8M or less.

 

[Jersey Fresh]

I mean, I know it looks super homerish to spout another couple players from the club I support, but I think the following are also totally legitimate choices (at least within the Premiership):

Manuel Lanzini (initial loan from Al-Jazira, then £8 million): little Argentine was a huge creative spark, but a real unknown value to start the season. Great dribbler, can spot a pass. Was really important to have a player like that alongside Payet.

Michail Antonio (£7 million from Nottingham Forest): What can you say about this guy? Couldn't get in the team for months, then injuries gave him a chance and he just ran with it. So powerful, great finisher, only knows how to give 150%. He played at RB for weeks and was still one of our best attackers. Love this guy.

 

[Cucumber]

Lmao @ Martial. Sure he had a good season but given the price tag this would have been the least expected, anything else and it would have been a bust.

Vidal is not a steal, it was fair price with what was expected of him.

Benteke definitely a bust along with the names already mentioned. Kondogbia can definitely be considered a bust although he's been much better at the last stretch of the season.

Was talking about utd signings with Depay and Martial. I should of specified.


Bust Jackson Martinez comes to mind when I realized Madrid paid 35m for him.

 

[Jeffrey]

It should be mentioned that sometimes it takes more than a year to properly grade a transfer.

 

[Live in the Now]

Jackson Martinez was an obvious bust when signed given his lack of goals against top teams while playing for Porto. Even against Portugal's top teams at that.

Given Atletico sold him for a profit I don't think it was a major bust to them.

 

[les Habs]

Some of the guys mentioned:

-di Maria: At that price he's hard to call a steal, but I'd say he was a smart buy as I noted at the time. Looks like he delivered in the league, but I think there's room for him to deliver more in the CL when it counts.

-Martinez: Bust if Atleti hadn't sold him, but they made a profit on him so for me he's not a bust. If we can do that with Turan I might cry.

-Milner: Absolute steal. IMO this isn't about factoring in wages, but even still they can't be that bad. Like I said over the Summer, City should have held on to him if they're concerned about having enough English players. I know this wasn't the deal, but all that cash and Milner for Sterling was great business by Liverpool.

-Pedro: I wouldn't call him a bust. I would say a mild disappointment, but who didn't disappoint for Chelsea? That's not an excuse, but he was their second leading scorer in the league.

-Vidal: Not sure I'd use the term steal again, but I thought Vidal was good business for Bayern and I think he lived up to the price tag. And this was apparently a player that Pep didn't want.

 

[Cucumber]

Some of the guys mentioned:

-di Maria: At that price he's hard to call a steal, but I'd say he was a smart buy as I noted at the time. Looks like he delivered in the league, but I think there's room for him to deliver more in the CL when it counts.

-Martinez: Bust if Atleti hadn't sold him, but they made a profit on him so for me he's not a bust. If we can do that with Turan I might cry.

-Milner: Absolute steal. IMO this isn't about factoring in wages, but even still they can't be that bad. Like I said over the Summer, City should have held on to him if they're concerned about having enough English players. I know this wasn't the deal, but all that cash and Milner for Sterling was great business by Liverpool.

-Pedro: I wouldn't call him a bust. I would say a mild disappointment, but who didn't disappoint for Chelsea? That's not an excuse, but he was their second leading scorer in the league.

-Vidal: Not sure I'd use the term steal again, but I thought Vidal was good business for Bayern and I think he lived up to the price tag. And this was apparently a player that Pep didn't want.

Ya you are right

 

[Power Man]

Mahrez : 400k


/thread

 

[les Habs]

Mahrez : 400k

You're being harsh. I wouldn't call him a bust.

 

[Power Man]

You're being harsh. I wouldn't call him a bust.

That's funny tbh

 

[ProPAIN]

How is Baba a bust? He played just fine when he got a chance. Made one really dumb mistake but to be fair not a lot of his teammates had great seasons either.

 

[Blender]

Mahrez : 400k


/thread

Huge steal yes, 15/16 season no. He was bought in January of 2014.

 

[yoplait]

Another steal seems to be Andre Gomes by Valencia. From the (little amount) games I saw, he looked real good. At €15m, it seems like a great buy as teams like Juventus and Man Utd are supposedly looking at him around the 30-40m dollar range.

 

[Power Man]

Huge steal yes, 15/16 season no. He was bought in January of 2014.

dammit