Southampton: Mark Hughes blew everything with a £16 million flop.
He ultimately left St. Mary’s on a free transfer following an unsuccessful stint in England.
Southampton have played numerous blinders in the transfer market over the years as they have been able to turn profits on the likes of Virgil van Dijk, Romeo Lavia, Tino Livramento, and Sadio Mane, among others.
However, they also had a number of expensive flops throughout their most recent stint in the Premier League before their relegation to the Championship earlier this year.
*Includes the sell-on fee that Chelsea received from his move to Newcastle United this summer.
FFC recently published an article detailing Mauricio Pellegrino’s blunder in signing Argentine forward Guido Carrillo from Monaco in 2018 but he is just one of several examples of lacklustre recruitment over the last five years or so.
Indeed, another player who turned out to be a poor addition to the club was Norway international Mohamed Elyounoussi, who arrived at St. Mary’s in the summer of 2018.
How much did Southampton pay for Mohamed Elyounoussi?
The Saints reportedly splashed out a sizeable fee of £16m to secure the winger’s services from Swiss side FC Basel ahead of the 2018/19 campaign.
Mark Hughes was the club’s manager at the time and described him as an “exciting” signing after the forward had enjoyed a terrific time in Switzerland.
The talented winger appeared to be a promising addition for Southampton on paper as he had produced goals and assists on a regular basis for Basel throughout the previous two seasons.
In the 2016/17 campaign, Elyounoussi caught the eye with ten goals and 13 assists in 32 Super League outings for the Swiss outfit, although he did fail to chip in with a single goal or assist in three Champions League matches.
He followed that up with 11 goals and 15 assists in 33 top-flight games during the 2017/18 season and stepped up his game in Europe’s premier cup competition.
The Norwegian ace racked up two goals and two assists in eight Champions League appearances and averaged a Sofascore rating of 7.08 as his side were eventually knocked out by Manchester City in the last 16.
His impressive spell with Basel came after he started his career in his home country with 36 goals and 13 assists in 108 Eliteserien matches for Molde and Sarpsborg combined.
These statistics show that Elyounoussi had proven himself to be a reliable attacking outlet out wide in both Norway and Switzerland by that point in his career, which convinced Southampton and Hughes to lavish a £16m fee out to secure his signature in the summer of 2018.
How many goals did Elyounoussi score for Southampton?
However, the now-29-year-old dud was unable to carry his form over to English football as he struggled to deliver consistent performances out wide at St. Mary’s.