You have to kiss a lot of frogs...
Manchester City fans have been in dreamland since the 2008 takeover, with genuine world-class talent thrilling the Etihad ever since. But it wasn't always that way, with the recently crowned Premier League champions having to put up with their fair share of dross over the years.
For every magnificent Argentine striker responsible for the most iconic moment in Premier League history, there's another who never kicked a ball despite setting City back £3.5m (back then, a princely sum).
Terrible signings weren’t just restricted to the pre-takeover days: there were plenty of expensive mistakes to go along with all the quality. We give you the 15 worst Manchester City signings in the Premier League era...
15. Jerome Boateng
Boateng joined City from Hamburg in 2010 for £10m. Before he’d even kicked a ball competitively he got injured – by an airhostess running into his knee with a drinks trolley as he travelled back from international duty with Germany.
He was mostly picked at right-back as Joleon Lescott and Kolo Toure vied to partner Vincent Kompany in the middle, duly struggled to make an impact and made just 16 appearances in the Premier League, five in Europe and three in the FA Cup – although none beyond the fifth round as City won their first trophy in 35 years.
Bayern Munich bought him despite a poor season, and Boateng has since gone on to win everything available to him. Fair play, really.
14. Bernardo Corradi
In Corradi’s defence, he played in Stuart Pearce’s exceptionally goal-shy City side that scored just 10 times at home through the whole of the 2006/07 season. (City’s top scorer in a truly forgettable Premier League season was Joey Barton with six goals.)
The reality was that Corradi wasn’t very good, managing three goals and two red cards in 25 Premier League appearances. Two of his strikes came in a 3-1 win at Fulham in November, and it didn’t help that those red cards came against Chelsea (on his debut) and in the derby against Manchester United.
13. Eliaquim Mangala
Mangala joined City from Porto in 2014 for the monumental sum of £42m, making him the sixth-most expensive defender in football history. Sadly, however, the Frenchman was nowhere near the standard required and his huge transfer fee is the reason why he makes this list.
The likes of Thiago Silva and Leonardo Bonucci went for considerably less than Mangala, who is still on the books at City with a contract that runs to 2020 after signing a one-year extension in March. But why?
12. Glauber
A cult hero among Manchester City supporters, 'Berti' made a single appearance on the last day of 2008/09, replacing Wayne Bridge for the final six minutes against Bolton. He joined on the same day as City legend-to-be Pablo Zabaleta during a busy summer in which the club signed seven players and Abu Dhabi United Group purchased it from Thaksin Shinawatra.
Berti gleefully told the club’s website: “Those 10 minutes were wonderful because every time I touched the ball the fans shouted my name. It was a really nice thing.” He left shortly after for Sao Caetano before finishing his career with Rapid Bucharest and MLS side Columbus Crew.
11. Maicon
Maicon could have been an inspired buy: a Champions League winner for just £3m; a flying Brazilian full-back renowned for bombing on. But the former Inter Milan player was the wrong side of 31, struggled with injuries and couldn't dislodge his Argentine rival Pablo Zabaleta from the starting XI.
Indeed, even when Zabaleta wasn't available, the right-back role was usually taken by the club's vice-captain Micah Richards. Maicon made just four Premier League starts in 2012/13 – his only City season before legging it back to Italy with Roma.
10. Jack Rodwell
Rodwell's career can be crudely split into two halves: star of tomorrow, and yesterday's man. At first he was elegant and able to play in central midfield or defence: the Southport-born man played for Everton aged 16 and represented England at U16, U17, U19, U21 and senior level. In August 2012, the 21-year-old joined Manchester City for an initial £12m – and pretty much nothing has gone right since.
He showed glimpses of his ability across two years at City, but only made seven Premier League starts and was shipped out to Sunderland, where he endured one of football's most incredible runs: the Black Cats didn’t win a game in which Rodwell started for a staggering 1,370 days.
After a tumultuous and poisonous spell on Wearside where he refused to cancel his contract, Rodwell has found a good home at Blackburn playing as a centre-back.
9. Roque Santa Cruz
The Paraguay international joined City for £17.5m in the summer of 2009, a year after boss Mark Hughes had made the same move between Blackburn and Manchester. Hughes had tried to sign Santa Cruz in summer 2008 and again in the winter window that followed, but Blackburn wanted £25m for their star striker who'd signed a new four-year deal in August.
Unfortunately for Santa Cruz, his biggest fan Hughes was fired in December – just hours after the former Blackburn striker had scored his first Premier League goals for the club in a 4-3 win over Sunderland.
City supporters had to wait until the following March for his only other league goal for the club, and Hughes’s replacement Roberto Mancini swiftly moved him on – initially on loan deals back to Blackburn and then Real Betis, before a permanent move to Malaga.
8. George Weah
Long before he became President of Liberia, Weah spent a few months at Manchester City following his release from Milan at the end of the 1999/2000 season.
Handed a reported £30,000-per-week wage by the board, Weah joined the club alongside Paulo Wanchope, Alf-Inge Haland, Darren Huckerby and Richard Dunne as manager Joe Royle told the City faithful: “These are bold signings. They are not about survival.”
He was right. 1995 Ballon d’Or winner Weah was gone by October, complaining about the lack of playing time, and City were relegated at the end of the campaign.
7. Lee Bradbury
Portsmouth striker Bradbury cost City a club record £3m in the summer of 1997. He lasted 15 months before being sold for half that price to Crystal Palace, who the following summer returned him to Pompey for £300,000.
His time at City was an unmitigated disaster despite a relatively respectable 10 league goals in 36 appearances as the Blues were relegated into the third tier for the first time in their history. Chairman Francis Lee said of the deal: “I was on holiday in Portugal when we signed Bradbury and 'd never seen him play.”
Take both R’s from his surname and that’s how he affectionately became known among the City support.
6. Laurent Charvet
Still used as the yardstick by which poor players are measured at City – “He was abject but he was no Laurent Charvet” – the French full-back joined City from Newcastle for £1m in 2000 when £1m was still quite a lot of money in football.
Quite quickly it turned out that whatever City paid was too much, as Charvet set about demonstrating he wasn’t fit for purpose.
True, he made 20 Premier League appearances in his first season – but City were relegated, and of the 20 he appeared in, they only won five. He made just three appearances the following season under Kevin Keegan before heading back to France with Sochaux after his contract was cancelled.
5. Gerry Creaney
It wasn’t just that Creaney was terrible for City, it’s that the board thought he was worth swapping fan favourite Paul Walsh – plus a load of money – for when bringing him in from Portsmouth in 1995.
Walsh had only joined City towards the end of the 1993/94 season with the club just outside the relegation zone. He quickly formed a good on-pitch relationship with another new signing, Uwe Rosler, and between them they got the goals to keep City up.
When the Blues finished 17th the following season, Brian Horton was sacked and in came Alan Ball. City didn’t win until November and were relegated in farcical circumstances at the end of the season. Three years, four loans and three goals for City later, Creaney moved back to Scotland with St Mirren.
4. Barry Conlon
The imposing Irishman didn’t cost City a penny in transfer fee, unlike many of those in this list. He signed as a youngster following his release from QPR in 1997, meaning there was little risk in signing him on a free transfer. But it quickly became apparent that he was hugely out of his depth – which is quite impressive for a 6ft 3in targetman.
Conlon had the opportunity to sign for Middlesbrough before joining City, going as far as passing a medical and scoring a hat-trick for their second string, but chose Manchester over Teesside because City offered more money. He started one league match and made a handful of substitute appearances, before tootling around northern lower-league clubs like a groundhopper's bus and enjoying a curious dalliance with third-tier Belgians Charleroi. Rubbish.
3. Jo
Jo arrived at the Etihad for a club record £19m in July 2008, having scored 44 times in 77 matches for Russian giants CSKA Mosco. Reflecting now, all things considered, he might be the worst pound-for-pound Manchester City signing of all time.
Two months before the Blues were taken over, Thaksin Shinawatra was owner and Jo was Mark Hughes’s first – and worst – signing after taking over from Sven-Goran Eriksson. “He’s a big guy, in stature and ability, so I think everybody will enjoy watching him play,” the Welshman cooed.
They didn’t. Jo scored one Premier League goal in 21 appearances.
2. Christian Negouai
Negouai enjoyed four years at City following a move from Belgian side Charleroi in the winter of 2001. In four years, however, he managed four starts, two knee operations and two goals – one with his hand and the other in the UEFA Cup against Welsh side TNS, with the Blues leading 5-0 from the first leg.
His one Premier League appearance came on Boxing Day 2004 against Everton, when he replaced Danny Mills at right-back after 80 minutes. He was sent off three minutes later. Negouai was abject and the mere mention of his name sends shivers down the spine of City supporters.
The biggest waste of £1.5m in club history.
1. Vicente Matias Vuoso
Striker Vuoso never kicked a ball in anger for Manchester City but still cost them a cool £3.5m in summer 2002, as Kevin Keegan's Citizens prepared for their first season back in the Premier League following relegation in 2001.
He joined from Independiente in his native Argentina, where he had been playing alongside Diego Forlan, but was packed off to Santos Laguna in Mexico the following summer and never returned.
Despite never featuring for City, Vuoso went on to have a very good career in Mexico, even representing their national side on 15 occasions after becoming naturalised. Coincidentally, he made his debut under former City boss Sven-Goran Eriksson.
