Transfer Talk: The January window’s biggest flops ever

The winter transfer window can make or break a season with clubs splashing the cash looking to maintain their challenge for trophies or turn around slumps.

And while there have been plenty of stars like Bruno Fernandes who made an immediate impact, not everybody can be a hero no matter how many zeros are in the transfer fee.

LiveScore run through five of the biggest January blunders from Premier League outfits.

Fernando Torres

Fernando Torres shocked us all when news broke that he was moving from Liverpool to Chelsea for £50million in January 2011.

The hitman eventually went on to win the FA Cup, Champions League and Europa League with the London side, which makes it seem odd he features on this list.

But after arriving as the then most expensive player in Premier League history, expectations were sky-high for the Spaniard who had scored 69 Premier League goals in three-and-a-half seasons at Anfield.

Managing just 20 strikes in 110 league appearances for Chelsea, and producing one of the worst open-goal misses of all-time against Manchester United, Torres was shipped out on loan to AC Milan in 2014.

Andy Carroll

Andy Carroll found himself calling Anfield home after Liverpool rushed to find a late replacement for fellow flop Torres on deadline day in 2011.

The Reds splashed £35m of the haul they had just been given by Chelsea to make the Newcastle striker the most expensive British footballer ever at the time.

Carroll was never on song for the Reds and scored just four times in 35 league matches in his only full season on Merseyside before joining West Ham in a £20m loss for the club.

Kim Kallstrom

Arsenal pushed ahead with signing Kim Kallstrom on loan despite the playmaker revealing he had injured his back playing football on the beach days before the move.

The Swede did not make his debut until March 25 and only managed four appearances for the Gunners before returning to Spartak Moscow.

Kallstrom did score a penalty in a shootout victory over Wigan in the FA Cup semi-finals, with Arsenal going on to win the trophy in the highlight of his short spell.

He later said: “Here, I walked in, hit the penalty, we won a trophy and then I walked out again.”

Kostas Mitroglou

Greek international Kostas Mitroglou was brought to England for £12million in January 2014 as Fulham unsuccessfully fought relegation from the Premier League.

The striker played just 151 minutes of action in three appearances and did not score for the Cottagers.

Mitroglou returned to Olympiacos on loan the following season, leaving Fulham to fight for promotion once again in the Championship.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan/ Alexis Sanchez

The January window brought double trouble for Arsenal and Manchester United with a 2018 swap deal doing very little for either club.

Alexis Sanchez turned from lion to pussycat after Old Trafford chiefs agreed to take his reported £390,000-a-week wages off the Gunners’ books — scoring three league goals in 32 games.