da betway： Since the Middle-Eastern takeover of Manchester City in 2008, the frequency of terrible players featuring for City has become less of a regular thing of course.
da pixbet： Nevertheless, despite the influx of heavy spending at the club, City have still managed to buy poorly at times.
Half a dozen managers in a decade and a number of players has resulted in a number of shocking signings.
City themselves have managed to achieve the most successful and consistent period in their history.
Prior to the takeover, the club signed some abysmal players for bargain fees yet somehow managed to survive relegation from the Premier League – the closest coming in 2007 under Stuart Pearce.
Since then, a substantial amount of players who failed to live up to their whopping price-tag.
After a lot of debate, our Tavern landlord and locals have come up with the worst Manchester City XI from the past decade.
GK – Andreas Isaksson
“Sweden’s Petr Cech” one journalist called Isaksson as he made the move from Rennes to Manchester City in 2006.
Capped 42 times by his country at the time of his arrival it was fair to say City fans were excited at the prospect of a long-standing goalkeeper.
Disaster.
It’s literally the only word to describe his time at the club and our City regulars certainly agree.
Premier League football is renowned for its physicality and fast-paced and he was so below par it’s terrifying to consider the times he kept goal for City.
RB – Danny Mills
Stuart Pearce believed Danny Mills was capable of returning to the England side under his tutelage – honestly.
Mills kept Micah Richards, an England international, out of the City team under Pearce and there was literally nothing the former could do to overtake him as the club’s regular right-back.
Mills left City in 2009 when his contract expired and despite scoring a wonder-goal against Everton in 2005, the former Leeds United right-back was beyond useless.
Unless it involved hoofing a ball 50 yards to no one, then Mills wasn’t very good.
CB – Eliaquim Mangala
France international Eliaquim Mangala joined City in 2014 for a fee believed to be £42million. A scary fee for someone so incapable of playing Premier League football.
Slow, lethargic and clueless would not be too harsh to describe the former Porto defender as his two years at Manchester City seen him cause a number defensive mishaps resulting in City conceding a number of goals.
Mangala left City for Valencia on loan and remains in the same form from when he departed the club.
CB – Tal Ben Haim
The name alone would send shivers down the spine of any Manchester City fan. Israeli international Ben Haim joined City from Chelsea in 2008 as Manchester City aimed to challenge for European places under Mark Hughes.
There are literally zero positives from his City career with his style of play resulting in a number of blunders, effortless performances and collecting a whopping £75,000 weekly wage.
His appearances caused a large number of fights here at the Tavern.
Ben Haim left City just a year later joining another revolution at Portsmouth however when the club went into a financial meltdown.
Oh dear.
LB – Glauber Berti
Who? Brazilian left-back Glauber Berti joined City the same day as Pablo Zabaleta in August 2008 after Mark Hughes opted to offer him a contract after a successful trial with City.
Berti became a fan favourite as he never played for the entirety of the 2008-2009 season until the final game against Bolton.
He came on against Bolton to a rapturous applause from the City faithful and our City regulars at the Transfer Tavern.
Glauber left City shortly after when he wasn’t offered a one-year extension with his departure sending City fans into mourning.
CM – Gelson Fernandes
Swiss international Gelson Fernandes was signed by Sven Goran Eriksson in 2007 as the ‘Sven Revolution’ took control that summer.
Fernandes made the move from FC Sion aged just 21-years old and was a massive failure at City.
Apparently a dynamic box-to-box midfielder was signed but Fernandes was anything but dynamic during his City career.
His inability to keep up with the pace in England saw him depart City after just two seasons.
Saint-Etienne came calling in 2009 and all parties agreed that a move was best for everyone. Gelson scored Switzerland’s winning goal in their most infamous victory when they beat Spain at the 2010 World Cup.
CM – Ousmane Dabo
When Sylvain Distin handed up his much-coveted number 5 jersey to Dabo, City fans became excited at the thought of signing a Lazio midfielder.
Dreams soon turned to reality for our City locals here at the Tavern as Dabo was a shambles at Manchester City.
A poor holding midfielder and even worse at controlling game, Dabo was a disaster for the Sky Blues.
After a training ground confrontation with Joey Barton, Dabo left City just months later when he returned to Lazio initially on loan before a permanent transfer occurred.
AM – Nery Castillo
Remember the Copa America in 2007?
Nery Castillo made all the headlines for his stunning displays for Mexico during the tournament and became linked with Real Madrid and Barcelona amongst others.
Castillo opted for the greed of Shakhtar Donetsk instead of challenging himself at European football’s biggest clubs.
After a few short months in the Ukraine, Castillo was so desperate to leave he made £1.5million from his own pocket to force through a loan move to Manchester City.
A dislocated shoulder suffered against West Ham consequently ruled Castillo out of action for the remainder of the 2007-2008 season.
FW – Bernardo Corradi
There has been butter knife’s sharper than Bernardo Corradi’s time at Manchester City. The Italian was signed by Stuart Pearce in 2006 from Valencia for £2million when City had little financial power.
Corradi was sent off on his City debut against Chelsea and it all went downhill from there. A home game against Fulham was the highlight for fans as he scored twice in a 3-1 victory.
He left the following summer for £1million and was never seen on English shores again.
FW – Jo
Once City’s record signing but Jo could even be labelled the club’s worst ever striker.
A £19million fee was paid to CSKA Moscow for the Brazilian services in 2008 and it didn’t take Jo long to make us believe he would have rather been anywhere else.
Just one league goal for City against Portsmouth in 2008 was Jo’s contribution before he made the jump to Everton on loan just six months later.
Jo returned to City after a series of loan spells with Everton and Galatasaray and contributed with a number of goals in the Europa League.
FW – Roque Santa Cruz
Mark Hughes was almost desperate to ensure the Paraguayan and him were reunited once again.
In 2009, it finally happened when Hughes paid Blackburn £17million for his services before a number of long-term injuries made it nearly impossible for him to succeed.
Ironically, Santa Cruz scored his first goals for City on Mark Hughes’ last game in charge for City against Sunderland in December 2009. He returned to Blackburn on loan once again in 2011 before a loan spell at La Liga side Real Betis.