Top 10 Serie A flops

The first part to the Serie A season is enough for us to nominate candidates for the flop of the season if we take into account the summer signings. The unsuccessful transfers are known as ‘bidoni’ in Italy. There have been plenty of candidates for this list as the Italian clubs are experiencing financial problems lately and they are changing the focus from quality to quantity, and trying to bring as many players as possible for the specific amount of money. This is our list, together with brief explanations and we would also like to encourage you to make your own lists and tell us if we have forgotten anyone.

Here is our top of the flops of the football autumn in Serie A:

1. Ricardo Quaresma (Porto-Inter)

The Portuguese is playing so bad that Mourinho was forced to revert from his preferred 4-3-3 into 4-4-2 formation, disappointed with Quaresma’s performances. To add insult to injury, the fans at Meazza are booing Quaresma and Mourinho tries not to play him in home games. Inter are known as the graveyard of talents and Quaresma could easily enter the eternal list of Massimo Moratti’s flops.

2. Andriy Shevchenko (Chelsea-Milan)

Once a hero of San Siro returned home this summer, but only to spoil the myth created in his golden years in Milan. The Ukrainian continued his sad story from London. He is already looking like a veteran, firmly determined to earn some more money thanks to his old glory days. He is almost forgotten, and he wasn’t regular even in the unimportant UEFA Cup matches, thus he will probably try to return to Dynamo Kyiv this summer or finally hang up the boots.

3. Mancini (Roma-Inter)

The reports from Roma’s dressing room are suggesting that a lot of players were happy to see Mancini’s back. His problems with captain Totti are not a secret, but not many people know that the moody Brazilian also had problems with other teammates. A lot of his compatriots welcomed him to Inter but he still failed to blend in. Mourinho is not happy with his work rate and that is why he could easily accept Lyon’s offer to join them as the French club still remember Mancini’s goal that eliminated them from Champions League few years back.

4. Mathieu Flamini (Arsenal-Milan)

The good old story of Arsenal’s players is that they are showing much more in Wengers’ system than they are worth. Free agent Flamini chose Milan over Juventus, because of more money involved and made a mistake. With €4 million per year, he now have good place to watch Milan’s games, from the bench, and not even Gattuso’s injury did open the door to the starting 11. He is now watching how amateur Beckham is playing games and getting ready for the UEFA Cup campaign. From the first team regular in much stronger league than Serie A, Flamini turned into the well paid fringe player.

5. Christian Poulsen (Sevilla-Juventus)

His critics are saying that Juventus’ sporting director Alessio Secco went to Seville to buy Diego Capel but he made a mistake and brought his lookalike Christian Poulsen instead. Jokes aside, the Dane is not a bad player but Juventus executives mistook him for Maradona. He was asked to be creative and he has as much creativity as Collina has hairs on his head. This is why he quickly lost the starting place to youngster Claudio Marchisio. The fact that Poulsen earns €4 million per year and Marchisio just €100,000 shows what kind of job the club have done.

6. Juan Manuel Vargas (Catania-Fiorentina)

Vargas is a first team regular in Fiorentina but only because he was paid €12 million. Many pundits believe that Manuel Pasqual is a better player but sporting director Corvino doesn’t want to admit his mistake and he insists that the Peruvian plays on. If we remember the last season when he was the highly-rated player in Serie A, he now looks like a real amateur in Fiorentina. The fans had plenty of patience but the honeymoon is over and now the boos are pretty normal thing for him.

7. John Arne Riise (Liverpool-Roma)

The Norwegian is regular in Roma but only because coach Spalletti has no other options, that is to say all other left-backs are injured. Riise couldn’t fit in Roman ‘dolce vita’ style of play, as Benitez’s chess games are more him. Anyhow, he will add a new chapter in his career and that fact that Roma threw away 5 million is not his problem.

8. Rolando Bianchi (Manchester City-Torino)

He has been the resident of these lists in the past few years, ever since he left Reggina, whether it’s Serie A or Premiership. His transfer saga seemed like a soap opera. He first betrayed Torino and went to Lazio, and when Lazio couldn’t buy his contract, he immediately stated that it was his dream to play for the Bulls. President Cairo had a lot of problems getting the money to finance his transfer and made the mistake of a lifetime. Just three goals and place on the bench is the reality for once Serie A top scorer.

9. Nicolae Dica (Steaus-Catania)

The Romanian was playing for Zenga when Catania’s coach was creating a name for himself in Romania. He was paid €3 million, and that was Elephants’ transfer record. He is not playing, he is always complaining and feeling nostalgic. The home fans are so furious for the money spent that it wouldn’t be a surprise if they throw him in the mouth of Etna. We are of course joking, but Dica will not leave his mark in Serie A. The critics are saying: ‘not every Romanian is Adrian Mutu’.

10. Phillipe Senderos (Arsenal-Milan)

Swiss player was welcomed as a fresh blood in Milan’s aged team but he is not even close to the starting line-up. Not even numerous injuries to his defenders could persuade Ancelotti to give him a chance. We can honestly say that Billy Costacurta is more likely to come out of retirement than Senderos is to make his way into the starting line-up.

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