Van de Beek, Pepe, Shevchenko: Premier League's worst signing every season

With the clocks ticking ever closer to the start of the 2022/23 Premier League season, many top-flight clubs around the country are still working feverishly to try and bring in fresh faces for the new campaign.

An injection of new blood into a team can sometimes transform its prospects entirely. However, in an era when players attract frightening sums in transfer fees, making the wrong call when bringing in a new recruit can have negative consequences for years afterwards.

Every fan hopes that their club will unearth a world-class gem during their summer transfer window activity, but some Premier League transfers down the years have turned out to be complete failures.

Earlier this year, the HITC Sevens YouTube channel went back through the archives of doomed deals to name the worst Premier League signing from every season of the competition.

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We’ve taken a look at their conclusions below. When Premier League sides get it wrong, they’ve been known to do so in spectacular fashion.

1992/93: Torben Piechnik – FC Copenhagen to Liverpool | £500,000

Danish centre-back Piechnik starred for his country as they triumphed at Euro 92. However, he couldn’t adapt to Liverpool’s high defensive line and didn’t last long at Anfield under Graham Souness.

1993/94: Julian Dicks – West Ham to Liverpool | £1.5 million

Another Souness purchase that didn’t work out, the West Ham hardman never settled on Merseyside and was on his back to east London within 13 months.

1994/95: Brett Angell – Southend to Everton | £500,000

Striker Angell scored plenty of goals in the lower leagues, but couldn’t bring that form with him to Goodison Park. He