11 rubbish free transfers that didn't live up to their billing

1. Ian Rush (Liverpool to Leeds, 1996) After his second spell at Liverpool came to an end in the summer of 1996, Rush was snapped up by a Leeds side who’d just finished 13th in the Premier League. The Welshman, then 34, was nowhere near as prolific as he’d been in his heyday, but Whites fans were still confident that his poaching instincts remained intact. Rush was a disappointment, however, scoring just three goals in 43 appearances before moving to Newcastle at the end of the campaign. 2. Winston Bogarde (Barcelona to Chelsea, 2000) Having previously represented Ajax, Milan and Barcelona, as well as pulling on a Netherlands shirt 20 times, Bogarde's free transfer toChelsea initially had Blues excited. A change in management at Stamford Bridge altered everything, though: the defender was brought in by Gianluca Vialli but utterly unfancied by his compatriot and successor Claudio Ranieri, who found no room in his plans for the Dutchman. Bogarde played only nine top-flight games – despite earning £40,000 per week – but stayed put for four years as Chelsea refused to budge on his wages with other clubs interested in taking him on loan. 3. Mark Bosnich (Man United to Chelsea, 2001) Despite later being labelled a “terrible professional” by Sir Alex Ferguson, Bosnich was re-signed by Manchester United in 1999, eight seasons after he’d left the Red Devils for Aston Villa. The arrival of Fabien Barthez led to the Australian's departure in 2001, though; Chelsea offered him an 18-month deal with a view to him challenging Carlo Cudicini for the No.1 jersey at Stamford Bridge. But after only 11 appearances in all competitions, the then-30-year-old was sacked by the west Londoners for failing a drugs test in 2002. 4. Arnau Riera (Barcelona to Sunderland, 2006) It’s not often that Sunderland sign players directly from Barcelona, so it was entirely understandable that Black Cats fans celebrated the addition of Riera –Lionel Messi’s captain in the Catalans’ B side, no less. “We really like the look of him,” manager Niall Quinn said at the time. “He's a creative player but he also likes a tackle. He has fantastic lungs, and he's the type of player you need to be to come to Sunderland. He ticks all the boxes." Despite all those qualities, Riera featured only twice for Sunderland and was eventually released in 2009 after underwhelming loan spells at Southend and Falkirk. 5. Joe Cole (Chelsea to Liverpool, 2010) It’s fair to say Steven Gerrard was thrilled by Cole’s arrival at Anfield in 2010. “Messi can do some amazing things, but anything he can do Joe can do as well, if not better,” the Liverpool captain remarked after the ex-Chelsea schemer penned a four-year deal worth around £90k per week with the Reds in 2010. “I really fancy Joe for the [Player of the Year] award this season.” In fairness to Gerrard, he was hardly alone in predicting great things for Cole on Merseyside. Instead, the England international never really recovered from being sent off on his league debut – there would be just nine Premier League starts in 2010/11, with niggly injuries partly to blame–and was shipped off on loan to Lille just 13 months after arriving. 6. Jose Bosingwa (Chelsea to QPR, 2012) A truly disastrous free transfer, Bosingwa pitched up at Loftus Road to great fanfare in August 2012 having won the Champions League with Chelsea just three months earlier. A goal on his second appearance for Rangers hinted at positive things to come, but it soon became clear that the Portuguese wasn’t the ideal man to have around in a relegation dogfight: the right-back refused to sit on the bench during December’s derby with Fulham (fined two weeks wages: a cool £130k), while he later infuriated supporters by being pictured laughing after a goalless draw with Reading confirmed QPR’s relegation in April. 7. Marouane Chamakh (Bordeaux to Arsenal, 2010) Another disappointing freebie in 2010, Chamakh actually made a promising start to life at the Emirates by netting 10 goals in his first 21 outings for Arsenal. Things soon went downhill, however, the Morocco international scoring just twice in his next 43 club appearances and generally looking out of his depth leading the line for a team with title ambitions. Chamakh went on to redeem his reputation a little at Crystal Palace and currently plies his trade for Cardiff in the Championship. 8. Michael Owen (Man United to Stoke, 2012) Owen joined Stoke after leaving Manchester United in 2012, with regular first-team football presumably high up on his list of priorities. A hamstring injury sustained early on in his stint at the Britannia Stadium proved a frustrating setback, however, and Owen struggled to displace Peter Crouch in Tony Pulis’s line-up thereafter. The former Liverpool goal-getter didn’t start a single Premier League match for the Potters, with eight of his nine appearances in all competitions coming as a substitute. Owen scored just once in that time and duly thought it best to hang up his boots in the summer of 2013. 9. Robert Pires (Villarreal to Aston Villa, 2010) FormerArsenalwideman Pires returned to English football four years after leaving north London, with Aston Villa handing him up a six-month deal in November 2010. The 37-year-old World Cup winner was considerably past his best by then, though, and sure enough failed to make much of an impression in any of his nine Premier League games for Gerard Houllier’s outfit. 10. Nicolas Anelka (Shanghai Shenhua to West Brom, 2013) Following spells at Arsenal, Liverpool, Manchester City, Bolton and Chelsea, Anelka made West Brom his sixth Premier League employers after leaving Shanghai Shenhua in 2013. Controversy had followed the Frenchman around throughout his career, and Anelka would soon demonstrate that he hadn’t chosen a quieter life at the age of 34: the striker celebrated a goal against West Ham by performing thequenelle gesture, a salute which has links to anti-Semitism in France. Banned and fined by the FA, Anelka never played for the Baggies again. 11. Victor Valdes (Barcelona to Manchester United, 2015) A torn anterior cruciate ligament brought Valdes’s Barcelona career to a premature end in 2014, with the goalkeeper having already announced that he wouldn’t be extending his contract at Camp Nou beyond that summer. After a period of training with the club, Manchester United offered the free agent a contract in January 2015. The Spaniard was only ever going to be a backup to compatriot David de Gea, but he was effectively banished from Old Trafford just six months later after supposedly refusing to play in a reserve match. The summer 2015 arrival of Sergio Romero probably didn't help either. New features you'd like every day on FourFourTwo.com